Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist, said in his speech, “The U.S. southern border matters a lot more than the Ukrainian border.” He added: “I’m more worried about how the cartels are deliberately trying to infiltrate our country than a dispute 5,000 miles away, cities we can’t pronounce, places that most Americans can’t find on a map.”

Other speakers include Candace Owens, a popular podcast host who this week urged her three million Twitter followers to read Putin’s remarks on Ukraine “to know what’s *actually* going on.” Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman who has gained a following on the right, said on Twitter: “This war and suffering could have easily been avoided if Biden Admin/NATO had simply acknowledged Russia’s legitimate security concerns.”

It would be a mistake to infer that such remarks represent a majority of Republicans, said Quin Hillyer, a longtime conservative commentator.

“It is not as widespread as it is loud,” Hillyer said. “The real debate among conservatives is about how to react rather than whether to sympathize with the Russians.” He pointed to polling suggesting that Republican voters are more anti-Putin than is widely assumed.