Meet the Press interviews for 2023 races: on Foreign Policy

Doug Burgum: I think Putin is running a large criminal organization

BURGUM: I think he's running a large criminal organization. And I think we're seeing the tip of that with the Wagner Group. I mean, it's like we can't think of Russia today under Putin like a country. The Wagner Group was operating 65 shell companies all over the world. They controlled gold mines in Central African Republic. When they were down helping out in Syria, there's contracts where they took over 25% of the oil production in Syria. That's a large criminal organization.

Q: Right. So in a President Burgum administration, does Ukraine support change?

BURGUM: Well, we have to win the war in Ukraine.

Q: Period?

BURGUM: Period. We have to do that. And it's unfortunate that we're even in this spot.