FROM: THE STATE DEPARTMENT
Statement to Press at NATO Ministerial
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Antalya, Turkey
May 13, 2015
Thank you. Just very quickly (inaudible). Let me just say quickly that I’m very appreciative to my colleagues for their courtesy in recognizing that because I have to be back in Washington for the GCC meeting tonight we would speed up some of the topics that we needed to discuss.
And I was privileged to brief all of our NATO colleagues on the meetings held yesterday in Sochi with President Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov. I think there was strong agreement among all of the NATO members that this is a critical moment for action by Russia, by the separatists, to live up to the Minsk agreement. And that it is critical to be able to get the OSCE into areas of conflict, it is important to end the conflict in those areas, particularly Shyrokyne. They need to try to come to an agreement on a ceasefire. We need to see the full implementation of Minsk, and I think everybody here is united in the notion that our preference is not to have sanctions, but the sanctions will be there in an effort to try to secure the peace that everybody wants in Ukraine.
There’s unanimity among all of the members here in the urgency of the Minsk agreement being fully implemented, and that means that the reforms, the election process, the working groups, this is an enormous moment of opportunity for the conflict there to find a path of certainty and resolution. And we hope very, very much that President Putin, Russia, the separatists, will come together to work with the Government of Ukraine in order to fully implement it and make progress.
We also talked today about Syria, about Libya, about terrorism in general, and the responsibility of NATO to be able to come together to work on each of those challenges. And in addition we talked about the Iran nuclear talks and the unanimity between the P5+1 that we will move into these last six weeks of negotiations with a view to securing the good agreement that we have talked about, in which we will have adequate access, and in which the four pathways to a nuclear weapons will, in fact, be shut down. We’re very hopeful, everybody here is, that that can be a successful negotiation and bring about a transformation within the region.
Obviously, key to everybody is the question of the GCC meeting that we are having tonight and tomorrow at Camp David, and I think all of the member states feel very strongly that defining a more – a clearer defense arrangement between the GCC and other friendly countries and the United States is going to be critical to helping to push back against the terrorism, as well as some of the other activities that take place in that region that are unsettling to all of those countries. So we’re very hopeful – I think we had a very – though quick – lengthy exchange and in depth exchange.
One other thing: The United States stands very firmly behind the Wales commitments, with respect to NATO. We believe very strongly in NATO’s role, particularly on the southern flank in dealing with Libya, in dealing with some of the problems of migrants. And I hope that out of this will come a recommitment to the future mission over these next few years of a new headquarters, of a clearer definition of the mutuality of the role, and that countries will move towards the 2 percent financial commitments that reflect the shared responsibility of support for NATO.
So I apologize that I’m not able to take questions. I have to have another meeting, but I’m very grateful to everybody, and I’m particularly grateful – I want to thank my colleagues for recognizing the need for me to be in Washington for the GCC. Thank you very much.
Showing posts with label PRESIDENT PUTIN. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PRESIDENT PUTIN. Show all posts
Thursday, May 14, 2015
Friday, February 27, 2015
DOD OFFICIALS EXPLAIN TO CONGRESS THE EFFECTS OF SANCTIONS ON RUSSIA
FROM: U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
Sanctions Having a Mixed Effect on Russia, Officials Say
By Nick Simeone
DoD News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON, Feb. 25, 2015 – U.S. and European sanctions imposed on Russia for its support of Ukrainian separatists and the annexation of Crimea are having a significant impact on Russia’s economy but have not curtailed Moscow’s continued intervention in the region, two senior Defense Department officials told Congress today.
“We are hearing, for example, more dissatisfaction of the oligarchs, who to date have been very supportive of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin,” Christine E. Wormuth, undersecretary of defense for policy, told the House Armed Services Committee during a hearing on security threats to Europe that focused largely on Russia’s threat to Ukraine and Eastern Europe.
Regarding the sanctions, the Russian oligarchs “are concerned about the impact it is having on their businesses, on their own financial holdings, but it has not changed so far what Russia has been doing on the ground, and that is the great concern,” Wormuth said during her testimony.
She added, “That is where there is the need again to look at the overall package of cost-imposing strategies toward Russia and also support to Ukraine to see if we can change the calculus.”
Assistance for Ukraine
In addition to ongoing military exercises and a stepped-up NATO presence in Eastern Europe, the Obama administration has committed $118 million in nonlethal aid and training to the Ukrainian government in Kiev and a similar amount for fiscal year 2015.
Ukraine’s government, which has lost control of significant portions of the eastern part of the country to Russian-backed rebels since fighting began a year ago, has asked allies -- including the United States -- for lethal aid.
“There is various discussion of providing defensive lethal assistance in an effort to again raise costs on Russia, not from the perspective at all of being able to fundamentally alter the military balance … but to try to give Ukraine more ability to defend itself against the separatist aggression,” Wormuth said in answer to legislators’ questions. In fact, Wormuth and Air Force Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, Supreme Allied Commander Europe and commander of U.S. European Command, both told lawmakers they did not know how Putin would respond if the West began supplying lethal aid to the government in Kiev. However, “what we’re doing now is not changing the results on the ground,” Breedlove said.
More Economic Pressure
Wormuth said pressure should continue on all fronts and that stepped-up economic and financial isolation of Russia could prove more effective than providing lethal aid to the Ukrainian government, a move that she said could lead Russia to “double down” on its support for Ukrainian separatists and thereby escalate the conflict.
Ultimately, Breedlove said, he does not think the Ukrainian military is capable of stopping further Russian advances and that the best resolution to the year-old conflict remains a diplomatic one. Even so, neither he nor Wormuth expressed confidence that a cease-fire agreement reached earlier this month in Belarus -- the second such agreement in five months -- would hold.
“Mr. Putin has not accomplished his objectives yet in Ukraine, so next is probably more action,” Breedlove said. He suggested Moscow knows what lines are not worth crossing, testifying that while “pressure is being brought [by Russia] on nations to keep them from leaning West,” Breedlove felt the Russian president is well aware of NATO’s obligation to come to the defense of any member threatened with attack.
“I do believe that Mr. Putin understands Article 5, but I do not believe that that would preclude Mr. Putin from taking some actions in reaching out to the disparate Russian-speaking populations that are in some [of] our easternmost nations in NATO,” Breedlove said, referring primarily to the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
Turning to another security concern, both defense officials described instability in the Middle East, in particular the control that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has over territory just to the south of Europe.
“The flow of returning foreign terrorist fighters to Europe and the United States in both the near- and mid-term poses a significant risk, including to our forward-based forces in Europe,” Breedlove said, and “is likely to grow more complex for the next decade or longer.”
Sanctions Having a Mixed Effect on Russia, Officials Say
By Nick Simeone
DoD News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON, Feb. 25, 2015 – U.S. and European sanctions imposed on Russia for its support of Ukrainian separatists and the annexation of Crimea are having a significant impact on Russia’s economy but have not curtailed Moscow’s continued intervention in the region, two senior Defense Department officials told Congress today.
“We are hearing, for example, more dissatisfaction of the oligarchs, who to date have been very supportive of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin,” Christine E. Wormuth, undersecretary of defense for policy, told the House Armed Services Committee during a hearing on security threats to Europe that focused largely on Russia’s threat to Ukraine and Eastern Europe.
Regarding the sanctions, the Russian oligarchs “are concerned about the impact it is having on their businesses, on their own financial holdings, but it has not changed so far what Russia has been doing on the ground, and that is the great concern,” Wormuth said during her testimony.
She added, “That is where there is the need again to look at the overall package of cost-imposing strategies toward Russia and also support to Ukraine to see if we can change the calculus.”
Assistance for Ukraine
In addition to ongoing military exercises and a stepped-up NATO presence in Eastern Europe, the Obama administration has committed $118 million in nonlethal aid and training to the Ukrainian government in Kiev and a similar amount for fiscal year 2015.
Ukraine’s government, which has lost control of significant portions of the eastern part of the country to Russian-backed rebels since fighting began a year ago, has asked allies -- including the United States -- for lethal aid.
“There is various discussion of providing defensive lethal assistance in an effort to again raise costs on Russia, not from the perspective at all of being able to fundamentally alter the military balance … but to try to give Ukraine more ability to defend itself against the separatist aggression,” Wormuth said in answer to legislators’ questions. In fact, Wormuth and Air Force Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, Supreme Allied Commander Europe and commander of U.S. European Command, both told lawmakers they did not know how Putin would respond if the West began supplying lethal aid to the government in Kiev. However, “what we’re doing now is not changing the results on the ground,” Breedlove said.
More Economic Pressure
Wormuth said pressure should continue on all fronts and that stepped-up economic and financial isolation of Russia could prove more effective than providing lethal aid to the Ukrainian government, a move that she said could lead Russia to “double down” on its support for Ukrainian separatists and thereby escalate the conflict.
Ultimately, Breedlove said, he does not think the Ukrainian military is capable of stopping further Russian advances and that the best resolution to the year-old conflict remains a diplomatic one. Even so, neither he nor Wormuth expressed confidence that a cease-fire agreement reached earlier this month in Belarus -- the second such agreement in five months -- would hold.
“Mr. Putin has not accomplished his objectives yet in Ukraine, so next is probably more action,” Breedlove said. He suggested Moscow knows what lines are not worth crossing, testifying that while “pressure is being brought [by Russia] on nations to keep them from leaning West,” Breedlove felt the Russian president is well aware of NATO’s obligation to come to the defense of any member threatened with attack.
“I do believe that Mr. Putin understands Article 5, but I do not believe that that would preclude Mr. Putin from taking some actions in reaching out to the disparate Russian-speaking populations that are in some [of] our easternmost nations in NATO,” Breedlove said, referring primarily to the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
Turning to another security concern, both defense officials described instability in the Middle East, in particular the control that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has over territory just to the south of Europe.
“The flow of returning foreign terrorist fighters to Europe and the United States in both the near- and mid-term poses a significant risk, including to our forward-based forces in Europe,” Breedlove said, and “is likely to grow more complex for the next decade or longer.”
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
REMARKS BY SECRETARY KERRY AND MEXICAN FOREIGN SECRETARY MEADE
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks With Mexican Foreign Secretary Jose Antonio Meade
Press Availability
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Secretariat of Foreign Affairs
Mexico City, Mexico
May 21, 2014
MODERATOR: (In progress, via interpreter) – couple of questions for both secretaries.
FOREIGN SECRETARY MEADE: (Via interpreter) Good morning. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome the Secretary of State of the United States, John Kerry. It is a great pleasure for us to receive him in our country, in this first official visit that he has had in our country. We have beyond a strong relationship; we have a very close dialogue, a dialogue that has a lot of actually (inaudible) different subjects which are important for both countries.
This time, we had a look at the progress of the different dialogue spaces. Is it working? Is the translation working?
SECRETARY KERRY: The translation’s working, but it cuts in and out.
FOREIGN SECRETARY MEADE: (Via interpreter) Well, so again, I welcome Mr. Kerry for – and I want to thank him for being here.
As I was saying, we have beyond a strong relationship and we have had a very good dialogue in this process. And this time, we have had a look at the progress of the different dialogue spaces that we have had in this program fostered by both administrations. The purpose is to follow up on the commitments made last year. We had the opportunity to look at the progress made in terms of the high-level economic dialogue and the progress being made in the national – in the U.S.-Mexican council for fostering innovation.
The idea is to foster companies – small and medium-sized companies – and to empower women. We started the Bilateral Forum on Higher Education, Innovation, and Research, a space that brings different institutions together – all of those in charge of developing public policies in order to make of education a key element.
As a result of this, a first group of Mexicans has left to improve their English, and this really shows the pace that we want to achieve, the type of mechanisms that we want to implement together. In Mexico, we want to exchange wellbeing opportunities for citizens in both countries, for Mexican communities in the United States. These communities have played an important role in terms of culture and economy, and they represent the future of our region.
We’re taking advantage of our network of consulate officers, always paying attention to the rights of citizens. In Mexico, we are trying to improve our economy, knowing that this joint venture will make of North America the most competitive region in the world. Again, I want to thank Mr. Kerry for his time, for his willingness to have this open dialogue, and be welcome.
SECRETARY KERRY: Good afternoon, everybody. Buenas tardes. I am very happy to be here. I want to thank my friend, Pepe, for his welcome here. He’s been a great partner. We have talked many times. And as I commented earlier, the education/innovation/research bilateral discussion, I think, (inaudible) my first or second point that I made when I first became Secretary of State. We’ve had an excellent cooperative relationship. President Obama was here in March. That’s his fifth trip. Vice President Biden here last September. So we will continue to be growing the strength of this relationship with high-level visits, and most importantly, with a cooperative agenda.
We’ve had a very constructive and very in-depth discussion this morning with the – you okay?
(Break.)
SECRETARY KERRY: Is the translation working?
PARTICIPANT: No.
SECRETARY KERRY: No, I can tell it’s not. (Inaudible.) (Laughter.) Should we test it? One, two, three, four, five, testing. One, two, three, four, five.
PARTICIPANT: Yeah, it’s working now.
SECRETARY KERRY: So I was saying that we had a very comprehensive and very constructive working lunch, and I’m now looking forward to an afternoon meeting with President Pena Nieto and also a meeting with major businessmen and women from Mexico.
There are really few countries with whom the United States enjoys as dynamic and as close a relationship as the one that we enjoy with Mexico. Our interests are obviously intertwined in many ways. We are neighbors, but we also have a common set of objectives, a common set of goals and aspirations. And because of our histories, our people are connected as closely as any two peoples on Earth.
As I said in January when Foreign Secretary Meade visited the State Department, when one of us prospers, both of us prosper; when one of us succeeds, we all succeed. And as North America itself becomes increasingly competitive as a continent, then our futures are going to be linked even more closely together.
Foreign Secretary Meade and I covered a lot of ground today. And the fact is that more than a billion dollars a day passes between us in bilateral trade. That literally translates into thousands of jobs, from Baja to Yucatan, from Boston all the way to Los Angeles. We all benefit from that economic relationship. When Presidents Obama and Pena Nieto met last year, they agreed to create a new high-level economic dialogue in order to foster more trade and more jobs and to spur even greater economic development, and most importantly, better opportunity for the citizens of both of our countries.
Today, I will meet with business leaders, this evening, and we’re going to talk about how we can use that dialogue in order to advance our interests and to ensure that our citizens have an even greater amount of opportunity and benefit from the growth that takes place between our countries.
Frankly, it is our citizens who ultimately define the relationship between us. And to make sure that that continues, we have invested time and energy in strengthening the education, research and innovation ties between our nations. Today, we had former Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, former Cabinet member and now president of the University of California; we had the president of Arizona State University; we had other education leaders here working with your secretary, the secretary of education of Mexico, and other education leaders in Mexico – not just to talk, but to define between us a real agenda, a real set of objectives that will see more students from America study here in Mexico, and more Mexicans study in America, that will see us have more research and innovation projects where we create the jobs and the opportunities of the future. And I am convinced that this is the way that we’re going to strengthen our ties as well as, ultimately, our security and our economies.
Part of the cooperation that we’re focused on comes in the form of these educational exchanges. Already, there are 14,000 Mexicans studying in the United States every year, and 4,000 Americans studying here in Mexico. We want both numbers to grow. President Obama has set a target of 100,000 students going each way between the United States and Mexico, Central America, Latin America. We believe that that is achievable, and we’re ready to do more in order to achieve it.
Part of the reason that I’m also excited about the scientific and the research and innovation exchange is because of the essential role that that plays in clean energy, in dealing with the problem of climate change, and in helping especially with the clean technology initiative, the challenge which I’ll address later today. We have an opportunity to be able to create more jobs that are sustainable and that speak to the future of both of our countries. Clean energy is the mother of all markets. It’s the biggest market in the world. And all of us can benefit by moving in that kind of direction.
Finally, Foreign Secretary Meade and I discussed our cooperation on security and immigration – always issues of concern, but issues on which we are making significant progress. We reaffirmed our commitment to meeting our shared challenges in the spirit of a shared responsibility and mutual respect that characterizes – and must characterize – our bilateral relationship.
The world saw the seriousness of Mexico’s commitment to security with the remarkable capture of El Chapo, and we applaud our neighbors for all of their efforts in that initiative. We will continue to work together to respond to threats of transnational criminal organizations and to recognize that they pose a threat not to one country or the other but to both countries simultaneously.
I also reaffirmed to Foreign Secretary Meade that President Obama is determined to reform our immigration system, a goal that a majority of the American people support. It is the right thing to do. Reform, done the right way, will not only benefit our security and our economy, but it will provide for long-overdue relief to immigrant families that include many Mexican-Americans. So that is a very fundamental commitment by the President and myself and the Administration that we’re going to everything in our power to move. The Senate, as you know, has passed legislation; the House of Representatives has the bill in front of it. We’ hope that we can get that bill taken up. This is a matter of fundamental justice, fundamental relationship between countries. It needs to be done, it’s long overdue, and we hope we can make it happen.
So Foreign Secretary Meade, thank you for your always very generous welcome. Thank you for your partnership, and we look forward to continuing to work together, and I look forward to answering the questions with you.
MS. HARF: Great. Well, our first question comes from Tricia – excuse me – Tricia Zengerle of Reuters. Go ahead.
QUESTION: Thank you, sirs. For Secretary Kerry: The dialogue between President Maduro and the opposition has broken down and there’s growing unrest in Venezuela. There’s concern that time’s running out. What are the United States and Mexico prepared to do to address the crisis? And more importantly, what can the two governments do? Is the United States finally prepared to impose sanctions? And lastly, for Mr. Secretary: Has President Putin outmaneuvered the United States by signing an energy deal with China?
And for Foreign Minister Meade: What are your concerns about the direction of the crisis in Venezuela, and what is your assessment – what is Mexico’s assessment – about what can be done and what should be done?
Thank you very much.
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, with respect to Venezuela, substantial effort has been made by the Unasur Group, personal engagement by the foreign ministers of Brazil, Colombia, and Ecuador, along with the papal nuncio. And we have had high hopes that this effort to mediate was going to produce a product that would put Venezuela on the route to recovery – recovery in terms of its economy and recovery in terms of the politics, the relationship of the government with the people.
Regrettably, there has just been a total failure by the Government of Venezuela to demonstrate good-faith actions to implement those things that they agreed to do approximately a month ago. And so we believe that what is important for the Venezuelan Government now to honor the dialogue process and to restore the civil liberties of opposition leaders who have been unjustly imprisoned and to protect the human rights of those who were simply trying to exercise their democratic right to express dissent.
The power is in the hands of the government, and the government has to exercise that power in a responsible way in order to make the choices to create stability and a way forward in Venezuela. All of this region will benefit if they will honor the agreements that have been made.
So we are witnessing an impatience that is growing in the neighborhood, and we consider ourselves to part of the neighborhood. We have great concern about the instability that is created as a result of what is happening in Venezuela. And again and again, we have said to Venezuela: We’re prepared to have a normal relationship. We are not engaged in any activities in Venezuela, except – in fact, we’ve purposely tried to encourage others: the foreign ministers I named and the papal nuncio. I personally visited in Rome with the secretary of state, His Eminence Cardinal Parolin, and we discussed the possibility of the Vatican being engaged as a mediator.
This is important for all of us. Our interest is for a stable, peaceful, democratic Venezuela that respects the interests of its people. And so our hope is that sanctions will not be necessary. Our hope is that we can move in the direction of reconciliation and a political path forward. But Congress clearly – the Congress of the United States is discussing those sanctions now. They have already passed some legislation reflecting that attitude; they’re moving it. And our hope is that the leaders, that President Maduro and others will make decisions that will make it unnecessary for them to be implemented. But all options remain on the table at this time, with the hopes that we can move the process forward.
With respect to President Putin and China, we don’t see any relationship whatsoever to an agreement with respect to gas and an energy supply between Russia and China that they’ve been working on for 10 years – for 10 years. This isn’t new. This isn’t a sudden response to what’s been going on. And if the world benefits as a result of that, it’s fine. That’s not what’s at stake here.
What’s at stake here is whether or not Russia is going to decide to respect the right of Ukrainians to be able to decide their future. And I don’t personally think that Russia signing a deal with China for gas that they’ve been working on for 10 years has any impact on what is about to happen in Ukraine, which is the people hopefully are going to have a chance to have an election.
And we welcome President Putin’s statement two days ago that he has instructed the troops that have been bivouacked on the border of Ukraine to move back to their home bases, to move away from there. If that happens – and we’re watching carefully – that’s extremely constructive. It’s positive. And we hope that – and the president has also – President Putin made other statements with respect to the separatist process going forward.
So it is possible with cooperative effort by everybody engaged here – the Europeans who have been involved in – most recently in some of the efforts to create a dialogue; working with the UN, with us, and with others; the efforts of the government of Kyiv; the interim government in Kyiv; and the efforts, obviously, of some leaders particularly in the east, recently, who have demonstrated courage in standing up for law and order and for a restoration of the process that will free people from this conflict.
So hopefully, we, in fact, are in a good moment – not a moment of one party outwitting another, but at a constructive moment where there’s a possibility of the people of Ukraine being able to determine their future, and all of us trying to find a way to further de-escalate this crisis. That’s our goal and that’s what we’re focused on.
FOREIGN SECRETARY MEADE: Secretary Kerry, thank you. Mexico has always believed that the way through conflict is dialogue. We have been very supportive of the dialogue process in Venezuela, but believe – we believe that this dialogue has to have some characteristics for it to be successful. We believe that the dialogue first has to be respectful; the dialogue has to – of course, to be inclusive; and the dialogue should bring about refocus.
In order for that dialogue to be meaningful, it should be held in an environment which is clearly respectful of human rights. We have stated that here. We have stated that in Venezuela when I went for my unofficial visit, but we have also stated that of which – for that process and that dialogue process to be very respectful of our democratic institutions. Latin America has worked very hard to generate the conditions for democracy to be born. So we think that the dialogue should have all of these characteristics, but at the same time it should be held within the context of the democratic institutions that we have constructed and with so much effort within the Latin American region.
MODERATOR: (In Spanish.)
QUESTION: (Via interpreter) This is a question for Secretary Kerry. When President Pena came into office, the level that he would have with the United States was questionable, especially in terms of unity. After one year and a half, what do you think about the relationship of this administration with the United States?
You said that the United States doesn’t have any interest in Venezuela, only to foster dialogue. But how can you explain that in Mexico, we learned some time ago that U.S. operatives was spying the candidate Pena Nieto. And recently, we found out that many of the telephone calls are wired. How can you explain this to the Mexican population in terms of migration? Is it true that President Obama has – it is true that President Obama has been fostering the reform, but it seems that he’s going into history as the president that has deported the most migrants. I know that this is something related to Congress, but I don’t know what is the position of President Obama and how he wants to go into history.
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, I believe President Obama will go down in history as the president who has held himself and his Administration accountable to the highest standards of transparency and accountability. The President has personally committed his Administration, which it has accomplished, to take an in-depth analysis of precisely what was happening, which everybody here knows President Obama didn’t order because he was in the Senate – and not even in the Senate – when much of this was put in place. And President Obama
And President Obama has ordered a process of accountability and transparency, and has been willing to lay it out for the world to see and understand that process of accountability. He gave a speech recently in which he set up new standards by which he believed the United States ought to behave, and I will tell you, because I was the author in the United States Senate with Senator John McCain of privacy with respect to the Internet and other uses, that we both believe very, very powerfully in the right of people to privacy (inaudible).
Now at the same time, the President of the United States has a fundamental responsibility to protect our people and to help protect people in the rest of the world who are potentially targeted by vicious extremists, terrorists in various parts of the world. The fact is that we have, because of our capable intelligence-gathering, been able to thwart many plots which would’ve resulted in the loss of civilian lives in one attack or another. There’s a delicate balance, and President Obama has worked very, very hard to achieve that balance. No President, I think, in our history has laid open as willingly for everybody to judge what we are doing as a guideline or as a standard by which we are going to try to balance this equity between security and protection and prevention versus privacy and respect for the rights of all of our citizens. And I think the President will actually be measured as having taken the most extraordinary steps of any president in our history in order to try to put that relationship back in balance.
Now, with respect to the relationship with President Pena Nieto and Mexico, I am convinced that our relationship is as strong and as vital as it has been. It is as productive on cross-border issues, on immigration issues, extradition issues, deportation issues; on our mutual interests in the economy; on our mutual interests of innovation, research, education that we’ve just been talking about – I don’t think we’ve ever had as in-depth and as repeated a series of meetings in an effort to make sure we’re on track. Now, does everything change overnight? No. I wish it did in lots of respects. But we are on track, with the agenda that we have set and the relationship that has been created, to deal with any bumps in the road, to work through difficulties of border police or policing or military, other kinds of things.
We’re working cooperatively. That’s what’s important. And we have made tremendous gains in the actual cooperation day to day in those endeavors. So I think the people of the United States and the people of Mexico should be pleased with the direction that we’re moving in. It’s open, it’s transparent, it’s accountable, and it’s productive. And I think we’re headed in the right direction.
FOREIGN SECRETARY MEADE: (Via interpreter) I’ll make further comments. This meeting has given us the opportunity to open a dialogue about different topics. At the beginning, President Pena Nieto had two objectives. He was convinced that Latin America could be very dynamic, even competitive. He thought that Latin America could be the most dynamic and economic region. He’s convinced that in order to have a good dialogue with the United States, it was necessary to find different spaces for different topics.
As the Secretary Kerry was saying, we have a million (inaudible) every year, and we have had benefits of this exchange. But we want to have a more structured dialogue so we can talk about migration, security in a framework of the right of migrants. That’s something that Mexico has always fostered, and we agree with President Obama. Security is a shared responsibility.
Apart from those two important subjects, Mexico and the United States are investing in education. We are investing capital – human capital – to increase the number of students going to the other country. We are talking about entrepreneurship; we are talking about empowering women; we are talking about giving people the power to manage their own businesses; we are talking about climate; we are talking about multilateral dialogues. And these have been achieved. We have the commitment of Obama’s Administration, and with the help of Secretary Kerry we have achieved a very well-balanced dialogue that will bring us together, that will bring us closer to this objective of making Latin America a very competitive region.
So the relationship between the two countries can be seen in terms of respect, with the necessary spaces to talk about very important topics. Today we are talking about education, the Bilateral Forum on Higher Education, Innovation, and Research. This type of initiatives will make sure that Latin America will be a point of the spear in order to achieve the competitiveness that we want to achieve. Thank you very much.
FOREIGN SECRETARY MEADE: (Via interpreter) Good morning. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome the Secretary of State of the United States, John Kerry. It is a great pleasure for us to receive him in our country, in this first official visit that he has had in our country. We have beyond a strong relationship; we have a very close dialogue, a dialogue that has a lot of actually (inaudible) different subjects which are important for both countries.
This time, we had a look at the progress of the different dialogue spaces. Is it working? Is the translation working?
SECRETARY KERRY: The translation’s working, but it cuts in and out.
FOREIGN SECRETARY MEADE: (Via interpreter) Well, so again, I welcome Mr. Kerry for – and I want to thank him for being here.
As I was saying, we have beyond a strong relationship and we have had a very good dialogue in this process. And this time, we have had a look at the progress of the different dialogue spaces that we have had in this program fostered by both administrations. The purpose is to follow up on the commitments made last year. We had the opportunity to look at the progress made in terms of the high-level economic dialogue and the progress being made in the national – in the U.S.-Mexican council for fostering innovation.
The idea is to foster companies – small and medium-sized companies – and to empower women. We started the Bilateral Forum on Higher Education, Innovation, and Research, a space that brings different institutions together – all of those in charge of developing public policies in order to make of education a key element.
As a result of this, a first group of Mexicans has left to improve their English, and this really shows the pace that we want to achieve, the type of mechanisms that we want to implement together. In Mexico, we want to exchange wellbeing opportunities for citizens in both countries, for Mexican communities in the United States. These communities have played an important role in terms of culture and economy, and they represent the future of our region.
We’re taking advantage of our network of consulate officers, always paying attention to the rights of citizens. In Mexico, we are trying to improve our economy, knowing that this joint venture will make of North America the most competitive region in the world. Again, I want to thank Mr. Kerry for his time, for his willingness to have this open dialogue, and be welcome.
SECRETARY KERRY: Good afternoon, everybody. Buenas tardes. I am very happy to be here. I want to thank my friend, Pepe, for his welcome here. He’s been a great partner. We have talked many times. And as I commented earlier, the education/innovation/research bilateral discussion, I think, (inaudible) my first or second point that I made when I first became Secretary of State. We’ve had an excellent cooperative relationship. President Obama was here in March. That’s his fifth trip. Vice President Biden here last September. So we will continue to be growing the strength of this relationship with high-level visits, and most importantly, with a cooperative agenda.
We’ve had a very constructive and very in-depth discussion this morning with the – you okay?
(Break.)
SECRETARY KERRY: Is the translation working?
PARTICIPANT: No.
SECRETARY KERRY: No, I can tell it’s not. (Inaudible.) (Laughter.) Should we test it? One, two, three, four, five, testing. One, two, three, four, five.
PARTICIPANT: Yeah, it’s working now.
SECRETARY KERRY: So I was saying that we had a very comprehensive and very constructive working lunch, and I’m now looking forward to an afternoon meeting with President Pena Nieto and also a meeting with major businessmen and women from Mexico.
There are really few countries with whom the United States enjoys as dynamic and as close a relationship as the one that we enjoy with Mexico. Our interests are obviously intertwined in many ways. We are neighbors, but we also have a common set of objectives, a common set of goals and aspirations. And because of our histories, our people are connected as closely as any two peoples on Earth.
As I said in January when Foreign Secretary Meade visited the State Department, when one of us prospers, both of us prosper; when one of us succeeds, we all succeed. And as North America itself becomes increasingly competitive as a continent, then our futures are going to be linked even more closely together.
Foreign Secretary Meade and I covered a lot of ground today. And the fact is that more than a billion dollars a day passes between us in bilateral trade. That literally translates into thousands of jobs, from Baja to Yucatan, from Boston all the way to Los Angeles. We all benefit from that economic relationship. When Presidents Obama and Pena Nieto met last year, they agreed to create a new high-level economic dialogue in order to foster more trade and more jobs and to spur even greater economic development, and most importantly, better opportunity for the citizens of both of our countries.
Today, I will meet with business leaders, this evening, and we’re going to talk about how we can use that dialogue in order to advance our interests and to ensure that our citizens have an even greater amount of opportunity and benefit from the growth that takes place between our countries.
Frankly, it is our citizens who ultimately define the relationship between us. And to make sure that that continues, we have invested time and energy in strengthening the education, research and innovation ties between our nations. Today, we had former Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, former Cabinet member and now president of the University of California; we had the president of Arizona State University; we had other education leaders here working with your secretary, the secretary of education of Mexico, and other education leaders in Mexico – not just to talk, but to define between us a real agenda, a real set of objectives that will see more students from America study here in Mexico, and more Mexicans study in America, that will see us have more research and innovation projects where we create the jobs and the opportunities of the future. And I am convinced that this is the way that we’re going to strengthen our ties as well as, ultimately, our security and our economies.
Part of the cooperation that we’re focused on comes in the form of these educational exchanges. Already, there are 14,000 Mexicans studying in the United States every year, and 4,000 Americans studying here in Mexico. We want both numbers to grow. President Obama has set a target of 100,000 students going each way between the United States and Mexico, Central America, Latin America. We believe that that is achievable, and we’re ready to do more in order to achieve it.
Part of the reason that I’m also excited about the scientific and the research and innovation exchange is because of the essential role that that plays in clean energy, in dealing with the problem of climate change, and in helping especially with the clean technology initiative, the challenge which I’ll address later today. We have an opportunity to be able to create more jobs that are sustainable and that speak to the future of both of our countries. Clean energy is the mother of all markets. It’s the biggest market in the world. And all of us can benefit by moving in that kind of direction.
Finally, Foreign Secretary Meade and I discussed our cooperation on security and immigration – always issues of concern, but issues on which we are making significant progress. We reaffirmed our commitment to meeting our shared challenges in the spirit of a shared responsibility and mutual respect that characterizes – and must characterize – our bilateral relationship.
The world saw the seriousness of Mexico’s commitment to security with the remarkable capture of El Chapo, and we applaud our neighbors for all of their efforts in that initiative. We will continue to work together to respond to threats of transnational criminal organizations and to recognize that they pose a threat not to one country or the other but to both countries simultaneously.
I also reaffirmed to Foreign Secretary Meade that President Obama is determined to reform our immigration system, a goal that a majority of the American people support. It is the right thing to do. Reform, done the right way, will not only benefit our security and our economy, but it will provide for long-overdue relief to immigrant families that include many Mexican-Americans. So that is a very fundamental commitment by the President and myself and the Administration that we’re going to everything in our power to move. The Senate, as you know, has passed legislation; the House of Representatives has the bill in front of it. We’ hope that we can get that bill taken up. This is a matter of fundamental justice, fundamental relationship between countries. It needs to be done, it’s long overdue, and we hope we can make it happen.
So Foreign Secretary Meade, thank you for your always very generous welcome. Thank you for your partnership, and we look forward to continuing to work together, and I look forward to answering the questions with you.
MS. HARF: Great. Well, our first question comes from Tricia – excuse me – Tricia Zengerle of Reuters. Go ahead.
QUESTION: Thank you, sirs. For Secretary Kerry: The dialogue between President Maduro and the opposition has broken down and there’s growing unrest in Venezuela. There’s concern that time’s running out. What are the United States and Mexico prepared to do to address the crisis? And more importantly, what can the two governments do? Is the United States finally prepared to impose sanctions? And lastly, for Mr. Secretary: Has President Putin outmaneuvered the United States by signing an energy deal with China?
And for Foreign Minister Meade: What are your concerns about the direction of the crisis in Venezuela, and what is your assessment – what is Mexico’s assessment – about what can be done and what should be done?
Thank you very much.
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, with respect to Venezuela, substantial effort has been made by the Unasur Group, personal engagement by the foreign ministers of Brazil, Colombia, and Ecuador, along with the papal nuncio. And we have had high hopes that this effort to mediate was going to produce a product that would put Venezuela on the route to recovery – recovery in terms of its economy and recovery in terms of the politics, the relationship of the government with the people.
Regrettably, there has just been a total failure by the Government of Venezuela to demonstrate good-faith actions to implement those things that they agreed to do approximately a month ago. And so we believe that what is important for the Venezuelan Government now to honor the dialogue process and to restore the civil liberties of opposition leaders who have been unjustly imprisoned and to protect the human rights of those who were simply trying to exercise their democratic right to express dissent.
The power is in the hands of the government, and the government has to exercise that power in a responsible way in order to make the choices to create stability and a way forward in Venezuela. All of this region will benefit if they will honor the agreements that have been made.
So we are witnessing an impatience that is growing in the neighborhood, and we consider ourselves to part of the neighborhood. We have great concern about the instability that is created as a result of what is happening in Venezuela. And again and again, we have said to Venezuela: We’re prepared to have a normal relationship. We are not engaged in any activities in Venezuela, except – in fact, we’ve purposely tried to encourage others: the foreign ministers I named and the papal nuncio. I personally visited in Rome with the secretary of state, His Eminence Cardinal Parolin, and we discussed the possibility of the Vatican being engaged as a mediator.
This is important for all of us. Our interest is for a stable, peaceful, democratic Venezuela that respects the interests of its people. And so our hope is that sanctions will not be necessary. Our hope is that we can move in the direction of reconciliation and a political path forward. But Congress clearly – the Congress of the United States is discussing those sanctions now. They have already passed some legislation reflecting that attitude; they’re moving it. And our hope is that the leaders, that President Maduro and others will make decisions that will make it unnecessary for them to be implemented. But all options remain on the table at this time, with the hopes that we can move the process forward.
With respect to President Putin and China, we don’t see any relationship whatsoever to an agreement with respect to gas and an energy supply between Russia and China that they’ve been working on for 10 years – for 10 years. This isn’t new. This isn’t a sudden response to what’s been going on. And if the world benefits as a result of that, it’s fine. That’s not what’s at stake here.
What’s at stake here is whether or not Russia is going to decide to respect the right of Ukrainians to be able to decide their future. And I don’t personally think that Russia signing a deal with China for gas that they’ve been working on for 10 years has any impact on what is about to happen in Ukraine, which is the people hopefully are going to have a chance to have an election.
And we welcome President Putin’s statement two days ago that he has instructed the troops that have been bivouacked on the border of Ukraine to move back to their home bases, to move away from there. If that happens – and we’re watching carefully – that’s extremely constructive. It’s positive. And we hope that – and the president has also – President Putin made other statements with respect to the separatist process going forward.
So it is possible with cooperative effort by everybody engaged here – the Europeans who have been involved in – most recently in some of the efforts to create a dialogue; working with the UN, with us, and with others; the efforts of the government of Kyiv; the interim government in Kyiv; and the efforts, obviously, of some leaders particularly in the east, recently, who have demonstrated courage in standing up for law and order and for a restoration of the process that will free people from this conflict.
So hopefully, we, in fact, are in a good moment – not a moment of one party outwitting another, but at a constructive moment where there’s a possibility of the people of Ukraine being able to determine their future, and all of us trying to find a way to further de-escalate this crisis. That’s our goal and that’s what we’re focused on.
FOREIGN SECRETARY MEADE: Secretary Kerry, thank you. Mexico has always believed that the way through conflict is dialogue. We have been very supportive of the dialogue process in Venezuela, but believe – we believe that this dialogue has to have some characteristics for it to be successful. We believe that the dialogue first has to be respectful; the dialogue has to – of course, to be inclusive; and the dialogue should bring about refocus.
In order for that dialogue to be meaningful, it should be held in an environment which is clearly respectful of human rights. We have stated that here. We have stated that in Venezuela when I went for my unofficial visit, but we have also stated that of which – for that process and that dialogue process to be very respectful of our democratic institutions. Latin America has worked very hard to generate the conditions for democracy to be born. So we think that the dialogue should have all of these characteristics, but at the same time it should be held within the context of the democratic institutions that we have constructed and with so much effort within the Latin American region.
MODERATOR: (In Spanish.)
QUESTION: (Via interpreter) This is a question for Secretary Kerry. When President Pena came into office, the level that he would have with the United States was questionable, especially in terms of unity. After one year and a half, what do you think about the relationship of this administration with the United States?
You said that the United States doesn’t have any interest in Venezuela, only to foster dialogue. But how can you explain that in Mexico, we learned some time ago that U.S. operatives was spying the candidate Pena Nieto. And recently, we found out that many of the telephone calls are wired. How can you explain this to the Mexican population in terms of migration? Is it true that President Obama has – it is true that President Obama has been fostering the reform, but it seems that he’s going into history as the president that has deported the most migrants. I know that this is something related to Congress, but I don’t know what is the position of President Obama and how he wants to go into history.
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, I believe President Obama will go down in history as the president who has held himself and his Administration accountable to the highest standards of transparency and accountability. The President has personally committed his Administration, which it has accomplished, to take an in-depth analysis of precisely what was happening, which everybody here knows President Obama didn’t order because he was in the Senate – and not even in the Senate – when much of this was put in place. And President Obama
And President Obama has ordered a process of accountability and transparency, and has been willing to lay it out for the world to see and understand that process of accountability. He gave a speech recently in which he set up new standards by which he believed the United States ought to behave, and I will tell you, because I was the author in the United States Senate with Senator John McCain of privacy with respect to the Internet and other uses, that we both believe very, very powerfully in the right of people to privacy (inaudible).
Now at the same time, the President of the United States has a fundamental responsibility to protect our people and to help protect people in the rest of the world who are potentially targeted by vicious extremists, terrorists in various parts of the world. The fact is that we have, because of our capable intelligence-gathering, been able to thwart many plots which would’ve resulted in the loss of civilian lives in one attack or another. There’s a delicate balance, and President Obama has worked very, very hard to achieve that balance. No President, I think, in our history has laid open as willingly for everybody to judge what we are doing as a guideline or as a standard by which we are going to try to balance this equity between security and protection and prevention versus privacy and respect for the rights of all of our citizens. And I think the President will actually be measured as having taken the most extraordinary steps of any president in our history in order to try to put that relationship back in balance.
Now, with respect to the relationship with President Pena Nieto and Mexico, I am convinced that our relationship is as strong and as vital as it has been. It is as productive on cross-border issues, on immigration issues, extradition issues, deportation issues; on our mutual interests in the economy; on our mutual interests of innovation, research, education that we’ve just been talking about – I don’t think we’ve ever had as in-depth and as repeated a series of meetings in an effort to make sure we’re on track. Now, does everything change overnight? No. I wish it did in lots of respects. But we are on track, with the agenda that we have set and the relationship that has been created, to deal with any bumps in the road, to work through difficulties of border police or policing or military, other kinds of things.
We’re working cooperatively. That’s what’s important. And we have made tremendous gains in the actual cooperation day to day in those endeavors. So I think the people of the United States and the people of Mexico should be pleased with the direction that we’re moving in. It’s open, it’s transparent, it’s accountable, and it’s productive. And I think we’re headed in the right direction.
FOREIGN SECRETARY MEADE: (Via interpreter) I’ll make further comments. This meeting has given us the opportunity to open a dialogue about different topics. At the beginning, President Pena Nieto had two objectives. He was convinced that Latin America could be very dynamic, even competitive. He thought that Latin America could be the most dynamic and economic region. He’s convinced that in order to have a good dialogue with the United States, it was necessary to find different spaces for different topics.
As the Secretary Kerry was saying, we have a million (inaudible) every year, and we have had benefits of this exchange. But we want to have a more structured dialogue so we can talk about migration, security in a framework of the right of migrants. That’s something that Mexico has always fostered, and we agree with President Obama. Security is a shared responsibility.
Apart from those two important subjects, Mexico and the United States are investing in education. We are investing capital – human capital – to increase the number of students going to the other country. We are talking about entrepreneurship; we are talking about empowering women; we are talking about giving people the power to manage their own businesses; we are talking about climate; we are talking about multilateral dialogues. And these have been achieved. We have the commitment of Obama’s Administration, and with the help of Secretary Kerry we have achieved a very well-balanced dialogue that will bring us together, that will bring us closer to this objective of making Latin America a very competitive region.
So the relationship between the two countries can be seen in terms of respect, with the necessary spaces to talk about very important topics. Today we are talking about education, the Bilateral Forum on Higher Education, Innovation, and Research. This type of initiatives will make sure that Latin America will be a point of the spear in order to achieve the competitiveness that we want to achieve. Thank you very much.
Friday, April 25, 2014
SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS ON UKRAINE
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks on Ukraine
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
State Department Press Briefing Room
Washington, DC
April 24, 2014
It has now been a week since the United States, the European Union, Russia, and Ukraine met in Geneva. We did so after a phone call between President Putin and President Obama, in which both leaders expressed a desire to avoid further escalation in Ukraine. We met in Geneva with a clear mission: to improve security conditions and find political solutions to the conflict threatening the sovereignty and unity of Ukraine. And right there in Geneva, EU High Representative Ashton and I made clear that both Russia and Ukraine had to demonstrate more than good faith. They needed to take concrete actions in order to meet their commitments.
The simple reality is you can’t resolve a crisis when only one side is willing to do what is necessary to avoid a confrontation. Every day since we left Geneva – every day, even up to today, when Russia sent armored battalions right up the Luhansk Oblast border – the world has witnessed a tale of two countries, two countries with vastly different understandings of what it means to uphold an international agreement.
One week later, it is clear that only one side, one country, is keeping its word. And for anyone who wants to create gray areas out of black, or find in the fine print crude ways to justify crude actions, let’s get real – the Geneva agreement is not open to interpretation. It is not vague. It is not subjective. It is not optional. What we agreed to in Geneva is as simple as it is specific.
We agreed that all sides would refrain from violence, intimidation, and taking provocative actions. We agreed that illegal groups would lay down their arms and that, in exchange for amnesty, they would hand over the public buildings and spaces that they occupied. We agreed that to implement these objectives – and this is important, to implement this – monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe would have unfettered access to parts of Ukraine where they were needed most. And we agreed that all parties would work to create that access and to provide help to the OSCE in order to do this. We agreed that the OSCE would report from the ground whether the rights, security, and dignity of Ukrainian citizens was being protected.
From day one, the Government of Ukraine started making good on its commitments – from day one. From day one, Prime Minister Yatsenyuk has kept his word. He immediately agreed to help vacate buildings. He suspended Ukraine’s counterterrorism initiative over Easter, choosing de-escalation, despite Ukraine’s legitimate, fundamental right to defend its own territory and its own people. From day one, the Ukrainian Government sent senior officials to work with the OSCE, in keeping with the agreement, to send them to work in regions where Russia had voiced its most urgent concerns about the security of Russian speakers and ethnic Russians. And on day one, Prime Minister Yatsenyuk went on live television and committed his government publicly to all of the people of Ukraine that – and these are his words – committed them to undertake comprehensive constitutional reform that will strengthen the powers of the regions. He directly addressed the concerns expressed by the Russians, and he did so on day one.
He also made a personal appeal to Russian-speaking Ukrainians, pledging to support – and again, these are his words – a special status to the Russian language and the protection of the language. And in keeping with his Geneva commitments, Prime Minister Yatsenyuk has publicly announced amnesty legislation – once more, in his words – for all those who surrender arms, come out of the premises and will begin with the Ukrainian people to build a sovereign and independent Ukraine. That is a promise made by the interim government to the people of Ukraine.
And by complying with actions requested by Russia, like removing the barricades in the Maidan and cleaning up the square and ensuring that all ongoing demonstrations in Kyiv are actually government-approved and peaceful, Ukraine is thereby taking tangible, concrete steps to move beyond the division of the last months. That is how a government defines keeping your word. That is leadership that upholds both the spirit and the letter of a Geneva agreement.
The world has rightly judged that Prime Minister Yatsenyuk and the Government of Ukraine are working in good faith. And the world, sadly, has rightly judged that Russia has put its faith in distraction, deception, and destabilization. For seven days, Russia has refused to take a single concrete step in the right direction. Not a single Russian official, not one, has publicly gone on television in Ukraine and called on the separatists to support the Geneva agreement, to support the stand-down, to give up their weapons, and get out of the Ukrainian buildings. They have not called on them to engage in that activity.
In fact, the propaganda bullhorn that is the state-sponsored Russia Today program, has been deployed to promote – actually, Russia Today network – has deployed to promote President Putin’s fantasy about what is playing out on the ground. They almost spend full time devoted to this effort to propagandize and to distort what is happening or not happening in Ukraine. Instead, in plain sight, Russia continues to fund, coordinate, and fuel a heavily armed separatist movement in Donetsk.
Meanwhile, Russian leaders are making increasingly outrageous claims to justify their action – that the CIA invented the internet in order to control the world or that the forces occupying buildings, armed to the teeth, wearing brand new matching uniforms and moving in disciplined military formation, are merely local activists seeking to exercise their legitimate rights. That is absurd, and there is no other word to describe it.
But in the 21st century, where every citizen can broadcast messages, images, and video from the palm of their hand, no amount of propaganda is capable of hiding such actions. No amount of propaganda will hide the truth, and the truth is there in the social media and across the pages of newspapers and in the video of televisions for all of the world to see. No amount of propaganda can withstand that kind of scrutiny today.
The world knows that peaceful protesters don’t come armed with grenade launchers and automatic weapons, the latest issue from the Russian arsenal, hiding the insignias on their brand new matching military uniforms, and speaking in dialects that every local knows comes from thousands of miles away. The world knows that the Russian intelligence operatives arrested in Ukraine didn’t just take a wrong turn on the highway. In fact, we have seen soldiers wearing uniforms identical to the ones Russian soldiers wore in Crimea last month.
As international observers on the ground have borne witness, prior to Russia’s escalation, there was no violence. There was no broad-scale assault on the rights of people in the east. Ukraine was largely stable and peaceful, including in the south and the east. Even as we were preparing to meet in Geneva, we know that the Russian intelligence services were involved in organizing local pro-Russian militias. And during the week leading up to the Geneva meetings, separatists seized at least 29 buildings. This is one more example of how Russia is stoking the very instability that they say they want to quell.
And in the weeks since this agreement, we have seen even more violence visited upon Ukrainians. Right after we left Geneva, separatists seized TV and radio stations that broadcast in the Ukrainian language. The mayor of Slovyansk was kidnapped the very day after the parties committed to end the violence and intimidations. Two days ago, one journalist was kidnapped and another went missing, bringing the total number of kidnapped journalists into the double digits. That same day, two dead bodies were found near Slovyansk. One of them was a city councilmember who had been knocked unconscious and thrown in a river with a weighted backpack strapped to him.
The Government of Ukraine has reported the arrest of Russian intelligence agents, including one yesterday who it says was responsible for establishing secure communications allowing Russia to coordinate destabilizing activities in Ukraine. And then, just this morning, separatist forces tried to overrun another arms depot.
Having failed to postpone Ukraine’s elections, having failed to halt a legitimate political process, Russia has instead chosen an illegitimate course of armed violence to try and achieve with the barrel of a gun and the force of a mob what couldn’t be achieved any other way. They’ve tried to create enough chaos in the east to delay or delegitimize the elections, or to force Ukraine to accept a federalism that gives Russia control over its domestic and foreign policies, or even force Ukraine to overreact and create an excuse for military intervention. This is a full-throated effort to actively sabotage the democratic process through gross external intimidation that has brought inside Ukraine, and it is worse even.
We have seen this movie before. We saw it most recently in Crimea, where similar subterfuge and sabotage by Russia was followed by a full invasion – an invasion, by the way, for which President Putin recently decorated Russian special forces at the Kremlin.
Now Russia claims that all of this is exaggerated, or even orchestrated, that Ukrainians can’t possibly be calling for a government free of corruption and coercion. Russia is actually mystified to see Ukraine’s neighbors and likeminded free people all over the world united with Ukrainians who want to build a better life and choose their leaders for themselves, by themselves.
Nobody should doubt Russia’s hand in this. As NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander in Europe wrote this week, “What is happening in eastern Ukraine is a military operation that is well planned and organized and we assess that it is being carried out at the direction of Russia.” Our intelligence community tells me that Russia’s intelligence and military intelligence services and special operators are playing an active role in destabilizing eastern Ukraine with personnel, weapons, money, operational planning, and coordination. The Ukrainians have intercepted and publicized command-and-control conversations from known Russian agents with their separatist clients in Ukraine. Some of the individual special operations personnel, who were active on Russia’s behalf in Chechnya, Georgia, and Crimea have been photographed in Slovyansk, Donetsk, and Luhansk. Some are even bragging about it by themselves on their Russian social media sites. And we’ve seen weapons and gear on the separatists that matches those worn and used by Russian special forces.
So following today’s threatening movement of Russian troops right up to Ukraine’s border, let me be clear: If Russia continues in this direction, it will not just be a grave mistake, it will be an expensive mistake. Already the international response to the choices made by Russia’s leaders is taking its toll on Russia’s economy. Prime Minister Medvedev has alluded to the cost Russia is already paying. Even President Putin has acknowledged it.
As investors’ confidence dwindles, some $70 billion in capital has fled the Russian financial system in the first quarter of 2014, more than all of last year. Growth estimates for 2014 have been revised downward by two to three percentage points. And this follows a year in which GDP growth was already the lowest since 2009. Meanwhile, the Russian Central Bank has had to spend more than $20 billion to defend the ruble, eroding Russia’s buffers against external shocks. Make no mistake that what I’ve just described is really just a snapshot and is also, regrettably, a preview of how the free world will respond if Russia continues to escalate what they had promised to de-escalate.
Seven days, two opposite responses, and one truth that cannot be ignored: The world will remain united for Ukraine. So I will say it again. The window to change course is closing. President Putin and Russia face a choice. If Russia chooses the path of de-escalation, the international community – all of us – will welcome it. If Russia does not, the world will make sure that the cost for Russia will only grow. And as President Obama reiterated earlier today, we are ready to act.
Friday, March 28, 2014
READOUT: PRESIDENT OBAMA'S CALL WITH PRESIDENT PUTIN
FROM: THE WHITE HOUSE
Readout of the President’s Call with President Putin
President Putin called President Obama today to discuss the U.S. proposal for a diplomatic resolution to the crisis in Ukraine, which Secretary Kerry had again presented to Foreign Minister Lavrov at the meeting at the Hague earlier this week, and which we developed following U.S. consultations with our Ukrainian and European partners. President Obama suggested that Russia put a concrete response in writing and the presidents agreed that Kerry and Lavrov would meet to discuss next steps.
President Obama noted that the Ukrainian government continues to take a restrained and de-escalatory approach to the crisis and is moving ahead with constitutional reform and democratic elections, and urged Russia to support this process and avoid further provocations, including the buildup of forces on its border with Ukraine.
President Obama underscored to President Putin that the United States continues to support a diplomatic path in close consultation with the Government of Ukraine and in support of the Ukrainian people with the aim of de-escalation of the crisis. President Obama made clear that this remains possible only if Russia pulls back its troops and does not take any steps to further violate Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. President Obama reiterated that the United States has strongly opposed the actions that Russia has already taken to violate Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
BRITISH, U.S. DEFENSE LEADERS MEET OVER CRIMEA-UKRAINE SITUATION
FROM: U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
U.S., British Defense Leaders Discuss Ukraine, NATO
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, March 26, 2014 – U.S. and United Kingdom defense leaders today reiterated that there must be consequences for Russia following President Vladimir Putin’s forced annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel hosted British Defense Secretary Philip Hammond at the Pentagon. The two discussed a range of subjects, but the main focus was Ukraine, Hagel said at a news conference with Hammond after their meeting.
“I thanked Secretary Hammond for the U.K.'s steadfast support of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity and for the U.K.’s important contributions to NATO,” Hagel said. “We reaffirmed the strong commitment of both our countries to NATO's collective defenses, as President Obama has emphasized throughout his trip to Europe.”
Economic and diplomatic sanctions that have been imposed against Russia by the European Union and the United States will further isolate Russia, Hagel noted. “As the leaders of both our countries and the other G-7 nations affirmed this week in the Netherlands, we will continue to coordinate closely on future actions and sanctions we may take against Russia,” he added.
Hammond said Russia’s action was completely unacceptable, and he called the Russian occupation of Crimea “illegal annexation of a sovereign territory.”
The United Kingdom stands with the United States and the rest of NATO in opposing the Russian action and supports “wide-ranging economic and diplomatic sanctions to force President Putin to stop his bullying behavior,” Hammond said.
“The Russian government should be in no doubt that should there be further acts of aggression, there will be further consequences for Russia,” he added.
Hammond confirmed that in addition to the offer of Royal Air Force Typhoon combat jets to bolster the Baltic air policing mission, the United Kingdom is working with its allies and partners to scope options for additional measures of reassurance to Eastern European and Baltic allies.
Hammond stated that evidence suggests that the Russian agenda is being run by Putin personally. “Other Russian players, including [Defense] Minister [Sergei] Shoigu, may express views, but it's a moot point, and we cannot know, we do not know, to what extent all of those people are really inside the inner circle in which President Putin is planning this exercise,” the British leader said.
The situation in Ukraine demonstrates the continued need for NATO, Hagel said. “The essential character and commitment of this alliance, of its 28 members to one another, remains unchanged, but we will look for new ways to collaborate and improve the alliance’s capabilities and readiness,” the secretary said. “That means we will make continued necessary investments in defense.”
The two men and their staffs also discussed the progress of the campaign in Afghanistan.
Both countries are grappling with budget constraints, and both leaders look on this as an opportunity to explore new areas of cooperation. Hammond said the United States and United Kingdom could work together in nuclear deterrence, special operations forces, intelligence, unmanned aerial vehicles, surveillance aircraft and carrier strike regeneration.
U.S., British Defense Leaders Discuss Ukraine, NATO
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, March 26, 2014 – U.S. and United Kingdom defense leaders today reiterated that there must be consequences for Russia following President Vladimir Putin’s forced annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel hosted British Defense Secretary Philip Hammond at the Pentagon. The two discussed a range of subjects, but the main focus was Ukraine, Hagel said at a news conference with Hammond after their meeting.
“I thanked Secretary Hammond for the U.K.'s steadfast support of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity and for the U.K.’s important contributions to NATO,” Hagel said. “We reaffirmed the strong commitment of both our countries to NATO's collective defenses, as President Obama has emphasized throughout his trip to Europe.”
Economic and diplomatic sanctions that have been imposed against Russia by the European Union and the United States will further isolate Russia, Hagel noted. “As the leaders of both our countries and the other G-7 nations affirmed this week in the Netherlands, we will continue to coordinate closely on future actions and sanctions we may take against Russia,” he added.
Hammond said Russia’s action was completely unacceptable, and he called the Russian occupation of Crimea “illegal annexation of a sovereign territory.”
The United Kingdom stands with the United States and the rest of NATO in opposing the Russian action and supports “wide-ranging economic and diplomatic sanctions to force President Putin to stop his bullying behavior,” Hammond said.
“The Russian government should be in no doubt that should there be further acts of aggression, there will be further consequences for Russia,” he added.
Hammond confirmed that in addition to the offer of Royal Air Force Typhoon combat jets to bolster the Baltic air policing mission, the United Kingdom is working with its allies and partners to scope options for additional measures of reassurance to Eastern European and Baltic allies.
Hammond stated that evidence suggests that the Russian agenda is being run by Putin personally. “Other Russian players, including [Defense] Minister [Sergei] Shoigu, may express views, but it's a moot point, and we cannot know, we do not know, to what extent all of those people are really inside the inner circle in which President Putin is planning this exercise,” the British leader said.
The situation in Ukraine demonstrates the continued need for NATO, Hagel said. “The essential character and commitment of this alliance, of its 28 members to one another, remains unchanged, but we will look for new ways to collaborate and improve the alliance’s capabilities and readiness,” the secretary said. “That means we will make continued necessary investments in defense.”
The two men and their staffs also discussed the progress of the campaign in Afghanistan.
Both countries are grappling with budget constraints, and both leaders look on this as an opportunity to explore new areas of cooperation. Hammond said the United States and United Kingdom could work together in nuclear deterrence, special operations forces, intelligence, unmanned aerial vehicles, surveillance aircraft and carrier strike regeneration.
Friday, February 28, 2014
PRESIDENT OBAMA'S STATEMENT ON UKRAINE
FROM: THE WHITE HOUSE
Statement by the President on Ukraine
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
5:05 P.M. EST
THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon, everybody.
Over the last several days, the United States has been responding to events as they unfold in Ukraine. Throughout this crisis, we have been very clear about one fundamental principle: The Ukrainian people deserve the opportunity to determine their own future. Together with our European allies, we have urged an end to the violence and encouraged Ukrainians to pursue a course in which they stabilize their country, forge a broad-based government and move to elections this spring.
I also spoke several days ago with President Putin, and my administration has been in daily communication with Russian officials, and we've made clear that they can be part of an international community’s effort to support the stability and success of a united Ukraine going forward, which is not only in the interest of The people of Ukraine and the international community, but also in Russia’s interest.
However, we are now deeply concerned by reports of military movements taken by the Russian Federation inside of Ukraine. Russia has a historic relationship with Ukraine, including cultural and economic ties, and a military facility in Crimea, but any violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity would be deeply destabilizing, which is not in the interest of Ukraine, Russia, or Europe.
It would represent a profound interference in matters that must be determined by the Ukrainian people. It would be a clear violation of Russia’s commitment to respect the independence and sovereignty and borders of Ukraine, and of international laws. And just days after the world came to Russia for the Olympic Games, it would invite the condemnation of nations around the world. And indeed, the United States will stand with the international community in affirming that there will be costs for any military intervention in Ukraine.
The events of the past several months remind us of how difficult democracy can be in a country with deep divisions. But the Ukrainian people have also reminded us that human beings have a universal right to determine their own future.
Right now, the situation remains very fluid. Vice President Biden just spoke with Prime Minister -- the Prime Minister of Ukraine to assure him that in this difficult moment the United States supports his government’s efforts and stands for the sovereignty, territorial integrity and democratic future of Ukraine. I also commend the Ukrainian government’s restraint and its commitment to uphold its international obligations.
We will continue to coordinate closely with our European allies. We will continue to communicate directly with the Russian government. And we will continue to keep all of you in the press corps and the American people informed as events develop.
Thanks very much.
END
5:09 P.M. EST
5:09 P.M. EST
Friday, February 21, 2014
READOUT: PRESIDENT OBAMA'S CALL WITH PRESIDENT PUTIN
FROM: THE WHITE HOUSE
Readout of President Obama’s Call with President Putin
President Obama called Russian President Vladimir Putin today to discuss Ukraine and a range of other global issues. On Ukraine, they exchanged views on the need to implement quickly the political agreement reached today in Kyiv, the importance of stabilizing the economic situation and undertaking necessary reforms, and the need for all sides to refrain from further violence. They also spoke about the situation in Syria, including the importance of efforts to advance a political solution, concerns over the humanitarian crisis and the necessity of a strong UN Security Council resolution on the issue, and the need for the Assad regime to adhere to its commitment to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons program. In addition, they discussed U.S.-Russian cooperation in the P5+1 process on Iran. The President also congratulated Russia on its hosting of the Olympic games.
Readout of President Obama’s Call with President Putin
President Obama called Russian President Vladimir Putin today to discuss Ukraine and a range of other global issues. On Ukraine, they exchanged views on the need to implement quickly the political agreement reached today in Kyiv, the importance of stabilizing the economic situation and undertaking necessary reforms, and the need for all sides to refrain from further violence. They also spoke about the situation in Syria, including the importance of efforts to advance a political solution, concerns over the humanitarian crisis and the necessity of a strong UN Security Council resolution on the issue, and the need for the Assad regime to adhere to its commitment to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons program. In addition, they discussed U.S.-Russian cooperation in the P5+1 process on Iran. The President also congratulated Russia on its hosting of the Olympic games.
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