Contrasting views of Russia show deepening Republican split over foreign policy

In the past week, President Donald Trump and senior Republican lawmakers have presented starkly different views of a top U.S. national security challenge: Russia, its war in Ukraine and the threat it poses to Europe and the United States. “A large majority ⁠of Republicans ... in the Senate and the House believe Russians are adversaries of the United States, that Moscow’s war on Ukraine is a Russian aggression that must not succeed," said John Herbst, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine with the Atlantic Council ​think tank. They include extending a requirement that the administration provide Congress with a comprehensive report on Russia’s military strength, strategy and objectives worldwide, its threats to NATO states and military and industrial targets, ⁠its objectives in Ukraine and cooperation with China, Iran and North Korea and its influence operations in the U.S.