Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, the would-be assassin who appeared to be lying in wait for former President Donald Trump as he played a round at his international golf course in Palm Beach on Sunday, claimed in an interview with the New York Times that he traveled to Ukraine in 2022 to support the war effort. Routh’s social media accounts are filled with pro-Ukraine content, including claims of fundraising efforts to recruit U.S. soldiers for the conflict in Ukraine, as well as support for other nations like Taiwan and South Korea. He also mentioned working to recruit former Afghan soldiers for the fight in Ukraine.
According to a 2023 New York Times article, Routh, a former construction worker from North Carolina, currently resides in Hawaii, which aligns with details from his social media profiles. “Ryan Routh, a former construction worker from Greensboro, N.C., is seeking recruits from among Afghan soldiers who fled the Taliban. Mr. Routh, who spent several months in Ukraine last year, said he planned to move them, in some cases illegally, from Pakistan and Iran to Ukraine. He said dozens had expressed interest,” the Times profile said.
Routh told the outlet, “We can probably purchase some passports through Pakistan, since it’s such a corrupt country.” The report indicated that it remains unclear whether he was successful in recruiting foreign troops. However, one former Afghan soldier confirmed that Routh had reached out and expressed interest in joining the fight, provided he could leave Iran, where he was living illegally.
A Semafor report published from March, 2023 named Routh as the head of the International Volunteer Center (IVC) in Ukraine, a private organization that works to “empower volunteers” and other non-profit groups that work to “enhance the distribution of humanitarian aid throughout Ukraine,” according to the IVC’s website. In a 2022 interview with Newsweek Romania, Routh detailed his dedication to the Ukrainian war effort, explaining that he was actively working to recruit fighters for the International Legion Defense of Ukraine, a unit within Ukraine’s Ground Forces.
WATCH:
“The question as far as why I’m here — To me, a lot of the other conflicts are grey, but this conflict is definitely black and white,” Routh said. “This is about good versus evil. This is a storybook, you know, any movie we’ve ever watched, this is definitely evil against good.” Routh also appears to have appeared in a propaganda video for the Abov Battalion, a radical Ukrainian militia with Nazi ties.
WATCH:
According to a report by the Associated Press, Routh was convicted in 2002 of possessing a weapon of mass destruction. A December 2002 report from the News & Record in Greensboro, North Carolina, detailed an arrest involving a man with the same name who had been apprehended after a three-hour standoff with law enforcement. He was reportedly found in possession of a fully automatic rifle.
Disclaimer: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.