Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., said Monday that President Trump is playing into Russian President Vladimir Putin’s hands by wavering on the U.S. commitment to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

“Putin’s objective is to weaken the West, weaken the Western alliance. So when the president challenges NATO and the commitment to NATO, it's falling right into Mr. Putin's hand by weakening the trans-Atlantic partnership, by weakening the [European Union], weakening NATO,” Cardin told CNN on Monday morning. “All that is part of Putin’s game-plan to strengthen Russia's influence in the region.”

Cardin said believes that Putin thinks he can get away with almost anything since he has not seen direct action taken against him by the Trump administration.



"Mr. Putin's objective is to weaken the West and weaken the Western alliance," says Sen. @BenCardinforMD adding that Trump's attacks on NATO are "falling right into Mr. Putin's hand" https://t.co/ATYxdZdOVq pic.twitter.com/vunmBvBo64 — New Day (@NewDay) November 26, 2018



On Sunday, the Ukrainian navy said Russia’s coast guard seized three Ukrainian vessels after opening fire on them and wounding two crew members, according to the Associated Press .

A few hours later, Trump insisted that Europe “pay their fair share for military protection.”

“Europe has to pay their fair share for Military Protection. The European Union, for many years, has taken advantage of us on Trade, and then they don’t live up to their Military commitment through NATO. Things must change fast!” the president posted to Twitter Sunday.

