The modern conservative movement that cut its teeth in the Cold War with Russia now finds itself riven by deep divisions over how to handle the Eurasian giant and its ruthless leader, Vladimir Putin.

Led by former President Donald Trump, a sizable chunk of conservatives questions the U.S. role in helping Ukraine repel Russia’s invasion. That includes those who are broadly skeptical of most international commitments, those who specifically question the Biden administration’s handling of Russia and some who go so far as to admire Mr. Putin himself.

Benjamin H. Friedman, policy director at Defense Priorities, a Washington think tank, said Russia has become central to how the right sees itself — and Mr. Biden.

“I think one big effect of the Trump administration was to make Russia and by extension Ukraine a very partisan issue, and to breed all kinds of sympathy for Russia among Republicans, largely because they see it as part of their conservative identity and a way to oppose the establishment that is more hawkish on Russia,” he said.

Mr. Trump’s most recent foray into U.S.-Russian matters was at CNN’s town hall this month, where the former president refused more than once to pick sides between Ukraine and Russia.

He said that the important thing was brokering a peace deal.

“I don’t think in terms of winning and losing,” he said. “I think in terms of getting it settled so we stop killing all these people.”

That follows years of interactions with Mr. Putin — including some that were one-on-one, where not even his advisers know what was said — that infuriated the left and fueled wild speculation about Russia having the goods on Mr. Trump and the now-discredited claims that Mr. Trump colluded with the Kremlin to win the 2016 election.

But while Mr. Trump has had some oddly fawning moments of praise for Mr. Putin, his supporters say there’s a much more basic idea behind his reluctance to pick sides in the war.

“When Trump first ran, his populist movement was based on three things: bringing jobs back to America through tariffs, closing the border, and getting out of these wars,” said John Fredericks, a radio host and co-chair of Mr. Trump’s 2016 Virginia campaign. “This isn’t about a victory. This is about lives being saved. Trump’s position on that has never wavered.”

Those who are surprised by Mr. Trump’s reluctance to embrace the war with Russia don’t understand the principles of Mr. Trump’s Make America Great Again movement, he said.

Skepticism over foreign entanglements runs deep within the GOP.

A recent Pew Research survey found that Republican voters by a 71% to 29% margin want the U.S. to focus on problems at home rather than paying attention to problems overseas. That is a 17-point jump since 2019 in the percentage of Republicans who want the nation to focus more on domestic problems.

“Republicans and independents who lean toward the Republican Party are more likely to want to pay attention to domestic issues, rather than be active in foreign affairs, and are more inclined to say the U.S. should follow its own interests,” according to the Pew poll analysis.

Pew also said Republicans are marginally more favorable toward Mr. Putin than Democrats.

The Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy released a poll last month that found 52% of MAGA-identifying Republicans believe Putin is a better president than Mr. Biden.

To be sure, most of the party’s big voices in Washington — including many of Mr. Trump’s former Cabinet members — do support an active U.S. role in backing Ukraine.

That includes former Vice President Mike Pence. He said that in the Ukraine war, the U.S. should embrace a “Reagan Doctrine” in which the Reagan administration backed anti-Communist insurgents wherever they might be, though updating the policy to support anti-Russia forces.

“Ukraine is willing to fight, so let’s give them the support they need to win, so we don’t have to fight ourselves,” Mr. Pence said at a recent event by the conservative advocacy group FreedomWorks. “We don’t have to choose between prosperity at home and security abroad. Those who claim we do have a pretty small view of the greatest nation on earth.”

Nikki Haley, a former ambassador to the United Nations and official contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, said it is wrong to “say the U.S. shouldn’t care about Ukraine because this war isn’t our fight.”

“They say we should ignore Ukraine so we can focus on China,” she said in a recent op-ed. “That is backward. China loses if Ukraine wins.”

But other 2024 hopefuls take the Trump route or hedge their bets, saying the United States has shouldered too much of the financial burden after sending an estimated $75 billion in humanitarian, economic and military aid to Ukraine. 

That includes Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is expected to announce his run for the GOP presidential nomination this week. He recently described the Russian invasion as a “territorial dispute.”

Mr. DeSantis said he is more concerned about “securing our own border in the United States than I do about the Russia-Ukraine border.”

He also said, “It seems like the establishment … they ignore the problems that we have here at home as Americans.”

Mr. DeSantis said the nation could do more to hurt Mr. Putin by unleashing the nation’s energy supplies than supporting an “open-ended blank check policy.”

Vivek Ramaswamy, an underdog contender in the GOP presidential race, is running on a similar message. He said he would not spend another dime of taxpayers’ money “directly supporting Ukraine.”

He added the caveat: “I don’t think it was a good thing that Russia invaded Ukraine. It is not like I am rooting for Russia to win this.”

• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.