Manafort's Departure Is "A Good Sign For Ukraine" — Former Bush Advisor

What You Need To Know:

✅ Rove: "People will point out to Donald Trump that the U.S. would set a dangerous precedent" if perceived to be accepting illegal takeovers of other countries by its neighbor;
✅ Karl Rove was appointed senior advisor to the administration of U.S President George W. Bush (2001-2008);
✅ The U.S presidential hopeful's mixed messages on Ukraine and admiration for Russian leader Vladimir Putin has caused concern across eastern Europe in the run-up to November's vote.

In the months leading up to November's election, various statements by the Republican presidential candidate on Ukraine and NATO's role have set off alarm bells across the former Soviet bloc. During an interview on the ABC News show 'This Week', he even appeared not to mention the violations of international law when referring to Russia's military invasion of Crimea, Ukraine's Black Sea peninsula. 

According to the New York Times, he told presenter George Stephanopoulos “the people of Crimea, from what I’ve heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were. And you have to look at that, also.”

Trump also said President Vladimir Putin is 'not going into Ukraine', despite the fact Russian troops have been documented by NATO, the E.U., independent journalists and leading human rights groups for at least two years. 

The flurry of mix messages and convoluted soundbites are likely related to Mr. Trump's widely known links to Paul Manafort, a man charged with overhauling the campaign of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia in February 2014 following mass demonstrations.

Karl Rove said Trump made the correct move in letting Paul Manafort go, a change that was "a good sign for Ukraine."

"When he read the information that was revealed about Manafort's ties, how close he was to the (Russian) regime....Trump did the right thing by saying, this is an issue, I didn't know about these things, you're out", Rove explained. 

The U.S political consultant also condemned President Obama's withdrawal of missile defense shield systems from Poland and the Czech Republic, installed in those countries during the years of the Bush administration. 

"Putin was probably laughing the night...the morning that he heard about the removal of the missile defense installations because he got them (moved for) free".

Mr. Rove also defended the reaction of George W. Bush to Russia's military advance into Georgia during 2008, during the interview with Hromadske TV.

Hromadske's Josh Kovensky spoke to George W. Bush's former senior advisor Karl Rove who spoke on the sidelines of the Yalta European Strategy (YES) conference in Kyiv.