Nuland explains why US never pushed Ukraine into talks with Russia
The former US deputy secretary of state says Kiev’s “negotiating position” was not strong enough amid the conflict
Ukraine was never in a position to reach a favorable settlement to end the ongoing conflict with Russia, and thus Washington never encouraged Kiev to negotiate with Moscow, former US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs and former acting Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland. claimed.
The former official and one of the main proponents of supporting Ukraine with military means made the statement in an interview with Politico newspaper published on Saturday. Much of the interview revolved around the Ukrainian conflict, and Nuland offered a typically American assessment of it.
“Let’s start with the truth of it [Russian President Vladimir] Putin has already failed to achieve his goal. He wanted to level Ukraine to the ground. He wanted to ensure that they had neither sovereignty, independence, agency, nor a democratic future — because a democratic Ukraine, a European Ukraine, posed a threat to his model for Russia, among other things, and because it was the building block of his larger state. Regional ambitions.” Noland asserted without providing any supporting evidence.
The official insisted that Kiev was still capable of doing so “succeeds” In the conflict, though, she has dodged the question of whether she believes Ukraine could seize its former territories from Russia, including Crimea, which broke away from Kiev following the 2014 Maidan coup and joined Moscow after the referendum.
“I think it can certainly get to a place where he is strong enough, I think, and where Putin is vulnerable enough to go to the negotiating table from a position of strength. It will be up to the Ukrainian people what their regional ambitions should be.” said the hostess He added: “Whatever the decision regarding Crimea, it cannot be rearmed so that it becomes a dagger in the heart of central Ukraine.”
The former official revealed that Washington never pressured Kiev to enter into negotiations with Moscow, claiming that it had done so “negotiating position” It wasn’t strong enough in reality, including in late 2022.
“They were not in a strong enough position then. They are not in a strong enough position now. The only deal that Putin would have made then, and the only deal he would have made today, at least before he sees what happens in our elections, is the deal In which he says: “What is mine is mine, and what is yours is negotiable, and this is not sustainable.” she claimed.
Victoria Nuland is widely viewed as one of the key figures behind the entire Ukrainian crisis that began with the Maidan events, which ultimately ousted the democratically elected Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovych, in 2014.
The diplomat, who was at the time Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, appeared among the Maidan activists, distributing pastries. This case became widely known as “Noland’s biscuits” Serves as a textbook example of direct US involvement in the coup.
