Why US Defense Secretary Hegseth’s tie is causing a stir

Russian national colors?

Fuss over US Secretary of Defense’s tie

A tie concerns social media users and even the US Vice President. Was it a faux pas by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth?

During Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Washington, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wears a tri-color tie. People in Russia are rejoicing: the Trump confidant wore the Russian national colors at lunch with the Ukrainian delegation, several Russian media reported. “Pentagon boss wears tie in the colors of the Russian flag at the meeting between Trump and Zelensky,” the Russian state news agency Tass headlined a report.

In fact, the defense minister’s tie was white, blue and red striped – like the Russian national flag. Putin’s man for economic relations, Kirill Dmitriev, shared a picture of Hegseth and the emoji of a Russian flag on X. Below that in the comments he wrote the abbreviation WWG1WGA. This stands for “Where we go one we go all” (Where one of us goes, all go), one of the most popular sayings of the right-wing extremist QAnon movement, which, among other things, played a role in the storming of the Capitol in Washington.

This in turn brought US Vice President JD Vance onto the scene. He also reported to X. “Maybe he was just wearing America’s colors,” Vance wrote of a post that also suggested Hegseth was wearing Putin’s colors. In the comments, users noted that the Hegseth tie can be ordered online in the US as a “patriotic tie.” The US Secretary of Defense has not yet issued a statement.

Others, however, noted that the pattern was very close to the look of the Russian flag. And you can buy a similar tie called the “Russia Tie” online. Another user disagreed with Vance: “It’s the colors of America, but that’s not how we show it. It’s a tie with a Russian flag.” Many patriotic clothing items such as ties in the USA feature the red and white stripes of the flag and then white stars on a blue background.