Rick Scott downplays alleged ties between George Soros, Volodymyr Zelenskyy

If Sen. Rick Scott was ever concerned about Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy having ties to George Soros, you wouldn’t have known it Wednesday.

During an interview with Gainesville’s 97.3 FM “The Sky,” Scott sidestepped questions about Zelenskyy being what the host called a “puppet” for Soros, by pointing out the urgency of the current war in Ukraine and the necessity for U.S. support.

“New democracies, it’s really painful to get to where you want to go,” Scott said. “You look around the world, places (where) we believe they have really good democracies now. In the beginning it was really hard, and hard to make sure there’s no corruption.”

“I’m sure that Ukraine, like other new democracies, they struggle to try to make sure there’s no corruption,” Scott added.

In sidestepping the question about Soros, Scott avoided trafficking in theories increasingly popular on the far right that Ukraine’s Zelenskyy is the latest face of so-called “globalism.” Zelenskyy has said he has never met Soros and claims that assertions of his influence in Ukraine are an “exaggeration.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Scott affirmed that the U.S. position should be in favor of a Ukraine win.

“We want Ukraine to win,” Scott said. “If Ukraine loses, where is (Vladimir) Putin going next?”

“Is he going to go into Poland, and then we have our men and women fighting because they’re part of NATO? Is he going to go into Lithuania? Where is he going to go?”

Scott has taken a more hawkish position on the war in Ukraine than other major Florida Republicans, including advocating for a transfer of Polish planes to Ukraine, and contending that the U.S. should help enforce a no-fly zone. Marco Rubio has said that kind of aggressive play could catalyze World War III.

“We have got to do everything we can. If the Ukrainian people want us to defend their freedom,” Scott said, “let’s give them the resources to do it.”