Friday, February 7, 2014

Victoria Nuland Responds: 'I am obviously not going to comment on private diplomatic conversations, other than to say it was pretty impressive tradecraft...'

At the video, Nuland's official response is at 1:35 minutes.

Previously, "Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland Caught on Tape: 'Fuck the EU'."

Also at WaPo, "In recording of U.S. diplomat, blunt talk on Ukraine" (via Memeorandum).

And now from the New York Times, "U.S. Diplomat’s Remark on European Union ‘Unacceptable,’ Merkel Says":

BERLIN — Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany on Friday sharply criticized a senior American diplomat who disparaged European Union efforts at diplomacy in Ukraine, calling “absolutely unacceptable” remarks by Victoria Nuland, the assistant secretary of state for European affairs.

Through a spokeswoman, Ms. Merkel added that Catherine Ashton, who directs European Union diplomacy, was doing exemplary work in Ukraine and that the 28-nation bloc was playing an active role in trying to calm the crisis that erupted in November after Ukraine’s president, Viktor F. Yanukovych, spurned an expected deal with Europe and turned instead to Russia for a $15 billion loan, since suspended.

Ms. Nuland, who has apologized for her remarks, was still in Kiev on Friday, continuing efforts to assemble a new government that would include opposition figures but still leave Mr. Yanukovych as president.

The intensity of the tussle between the West and Russia over Ukraine, a nation of 45 million people, was shown in sharp relief on Thursday, after an audiotape of Ms. Nuland’s conversation with the American ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt, was posted on Twitter by a Russian official. The origin of the audiotape remained unclear, but officials in Washington expressed suspicion that Russian intelligence services intercepted the phone call and posted its contents. Russian officials have denied involvement in the apparent eavesdropping...
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