AP Photo/Matt Freed Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, applauds the crowd after speaking at a campaign event at Penn State Behrend Erie Hall on Saturday, Oct. 26, in Erie, Pennsylvania.

WILMINGTON, Del. — Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance says Russia is an enemy of the United States, but argues that treating Moscow as an enemy would be counterproductive.

The Ohio senator also said Donald Trump is committed to NATO, the transatlantic military alliance seen as a bulwark preventing further Russian aggression in Europe; but the former president vowed to “finish the process that we started under my administration, which is a fundamental reassessment of NATO’s purpose and NATO’s objectives.” mission.”

Vance made clear in a series of television interviews broadcast Sunday, nine days before the election, that if Trump returned to the White House, he would pressure European members to spend more on defense and that their administrations would work to quickly end Moscow’s sanctions. The war in Ukraine began in February 2022, when Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered to send troops to the border.

“We’re not at war with it, and I don’t want to be at war with Vladimir Putin’s Russia,” Vance said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” when pressed about whether Russia is an enemy. Vance said, “We must be careful about the language we use in international diplomacy. “Frankly, we can admit that we have hostile interests with Russia.”

Last week, US officials confirmed that North Korea had sent 3,000 troops to Russia for training before they could potentially be deployed to Ukraine. US officials say Russia is stepping up a disinformation campaign aimed at sowing distrust in the results of the US election on November 5.

Authorities on Friday confirmed Moscow’s role in the creation of a video showing the destruction of mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania, in the latest Russian effort to spread misinformation on social media.

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris argued that Trump was too friendly with Putin and that Trump’s return to the White House would be disastrous for Ukraine and America’s European allies.

Vance has been cautious about supporting more sanctions against Russia, saying the Biden administration’s use of the tool for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was as effective as “wet fireworks.”

“I don’t think we should overreact to anything. “What we need to do is encourage our American friends to be careful,” Vance told CBS “Face the Nation.” “Don’t trust everything you see on social media. And of course we should step back where appropriate. But the real question is: What is the appropriate response to a country that produces social media videos? I won’t make any commitment to living here.

Trump boasts of having an effective relationship with Putin while in office. The former president praised the Russian leader, suggested cutting off U.S. funding to Ukraine, and repeatedly criticized NATO.

The former president said he would not defend NATO members who fail to meet defense spending targets and warned Russia that he would “encourage” alliance countries he sees as “criminals” to “do whatever they want”.

Vance underlined that the Trump administration will continue to support NATO but will lean on Europe to increase defense spending.

NATO announced in June that 23 of its 32 member states had met the alliance’s defense spending target of 2% of GDP this year. This is an almost fourfold increase compared to 2021, when only six countries reached the target.

“Of course we will honor our NATO commitments,” Vance said. “But I think it is important that we recognize that NATO is not just a customer of prosperity. “There must be a real alliance.”

Former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, a leading Republican critic of Trump and a supporter of Harris, said Trump’s approach to Putin “shows a complete lack of understanding of the importance of our allies in keeping the peace.”

“Trump is talking about our allies like he’s a mob boss,” Cheney said on CNN’s State of the Union. “He can’t seem to understand that we must have allies to keep the peace.”

In wide-ranging interviews with CNN, Vance also downplayed Trump’s recent comments about ending the federal income tax.

“If what I’m planning comes out, there’s a way to make it go away,” Trump told Fox News last week. He told podcaster Joe Rogan on Friday that he’s serious about replacing the income tax with an income tax by raising tariffs.

Trump has also promised to eliminate taxes on tips, Social Security and overtime pay if elected.

“He’s talking enthusiastically about something that he thinks is less focused on than reducing tip taxes,” Vance said of Trump’s call to repeal the federal income tax.