Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman Jr. was in Minneapolis Tuesday talking about the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and Russia's president. Huntsman, who was a former Governor for Utah, served in Russia from 2017 to 2019. He shared some important insight into what he saw in his time in Russia.
“It's very telling when you walk into Putin's office and you see a portrait on the wall of Peter the Great, and that's not there by accident,” says Huntsman who has now served in every presidential administration since the presidency of Ronald Reagan, not counting the Biden Administration.
Huntsman was in Minneapolis to accept an award 2021 Bill Frenzel Champion of Free Trade Award hosted by the Economic Club of Minnesota. He told the group that Putin is a calculating dangerous man.
During his visit to Minneapolis, much of the focus was on the current war in Ukraine. Huntsman said he would not second guess any of the decisions made until now by this administration.
“So, to the people who were in power today who are making those national security calls, I don't care if you're a Republican or a Democrat or an Independent or anything else, we should wish them the best,” Huntsman said. “Because they have got a challenge the magnitude of which we have not seen since World War II.”
During his address in Minneapolis Huntsman did say that the U.S. could have done more over the years to foster diplomacy with Russia, but he believes Putin will not agree to any talks now, and he doesn't see any off ramps to this assault. In fact, Huntsman sees the conflict getting worse before it gets better, with Putin considering more aggressive moves.
“The land bridge across the Baltics to Kaliningrad (between Poland and Lithuania) is sought after,” explains the former Ambassador. “I wouldn't be surprised it to be probed (by Putin). If NATO didn't respond resolutely, then NATO would be the paper tiger that Putin has said for years it is. And part of what he's doing in Ukraine is to size up NATO, to see exactly how they respond and they're calculating based upon what NATO is doing. So I don't think NATO has a choice in the case of an incursion into the Baltics. I don't know that Putin will try that.”
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Huntsman has some insight into Vladimr Putin's mind, and how he might respond to this latest action.
“He doesn’t have anything to lose, because he has no market”, Huntsman explains. “We have everything to lose. And so do the markets of Berlin, and Paris, and London who are right there on the front lines. So what will he do in response? He’ll cut off the oil supply. And you’ll see oil prices over the next few days skyrocket.
Gas prices across the U.S. have already hit the highest average ever (not adjusted for inflation) and experts are predicting those numbers to rise.
He says as far as the impact of President Biden's ban on Russian oil, Putin is prepared and has nothing to lose. Huntsman added that he believes Putin is not capable of compromise or peace talks, but it might end up being that the Russian people will rise up.
“I think he's done. The Putin era is over. The only thing we need to now understand is the level of damage he's going to do as he goes. And I think that could be substantial.”
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