Former NATO commander calls McCarthy's ouster "great day for Putin"

The Hill reported the information.

Retired Admiral James Stavridis, former Supreme Allied Commander Europe, said the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy was a "great day" for Russian leader Vladimir Putin, adding that he had not seen this level of disorder in relations between Washington and the rest of the world in his lifetime.

"I feel as though we’re … kind of disconnected here at home. We have extreme parties on both sides that don’t want to cooperate, don’t want to come to any sort of agreement," Stavridis said.

Stavridis noted that the failure in the House of Representatives and the dismissal of the speaker is a first in American history. He expressed concern about the message the speaker's ouster sends to Putin ahead of an election year.

"A great day for Vladimir Putin when he watches the US Congress rip itself apart and find itself unusable to have a speaker in place. What does Putin decide to do? He will double-down on trying to undermine US elections," Stavridis said.

He added that in his opinion, Putin will worsen and intensify the divisions between Democrats and Republicans both in society and in Congress.

• On September 30, Kevin McCarthy said that Ukraine aid money should be excluded from the supplemental spending bill to prevent a shutdown.

• The government was on the verge of shutting down as McCarthy said he planned to make a last-minute vote before midnight.

• On October 1, US President Joe Biden signed a bill to temporarily fund the government for 45 days, which had been approved by the Senate and House of Representatives. Before the signing, the White House issued a statement saying that the agreement does not include new funding to continue supporting Ukraine.

• October 4, the House of Representatives dismissed Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the lower house of the US Congress.