Ron Paul: It's too early to tell if my views on Russia will damage Rand's 2016 campaign

Asked about the convincing evidence that separatists armed and funded by Russia were behind the attack, Paul said “I don’t think the facts are totally in. We could say the same thing about the western Ukrainians, they’re getting outside support.”

Paul said the media focuses too much on alleged Russian culpability and not enough on “the US and European participation in the coup of [former Ukrainian President Viktor] Yanukovych.”

“They’re very much involved in Ukraine,” Paul said of the U.S. “Special forces are there, the CIA is there. They were very much involved in Yanukovych’s removal.”

The U.S. is “every bit as involved and who knows, maybe more involved than Putin is.”