Musk accuses the U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs, Victoria Nuland, of warmongering in this conflict.
Interesting person, this Victoria Nuland...
en.wikipedia.org
From 2003 to 2005, Nuland served as the principal Deputy National Security Adviser to Vice President
Dick Cheney,
[18] exercising an influential role during the
Iraq War.[
citation needed] From 2005 to 2008, during President
George W. Bush's second term, Nuland served as U.S. ambassador to the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Brussels, where she concentrated on mobilizing European support for the
NATO intervention in Afghanistan.
Obama administration
[
edit]
In the summer of 2011, Nuland became special envoy for
Conventional Armed Forces in Europe[20] and then became
State Department spokesperson.
[21]
In May 2013, Nuland was nominated to act as
assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs[22] and was sworn in on September 18, 2013.
[23] In her role as assistant secretary, she managed diplomatic relations with fifty countries in Europe and Eurasia, as well as with NATO, the European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.[
citation needed]
Ukraine
[
edit]
During the
Maidan Uprising in Ukraine, Nuland made appearances supporting the Maidan protesters.
[24] In December 2013, she said in a speech to the US–Ukraine Foundation that the U.S. had invested over $5 billion on democratic skills and institutions, civic participation, and good governance in Ukraine since 1991. She stated that these were preconditions for Ukraine to achieve its European aspirations.
[25][24] The Russian government seized on this statement, claiming it was evidence the U.S. was orchestrating a
color revolution.
[24]
On February 4, 2014, a recording of a phone call between Nuland and U.S. ambassador to Ukraine
Geoffrey Pyatt on January 28, 2014, was published on
YouTube.
[26][27][28][29][30][31] The call followed an offer made on January 25, 2014, by Ukrainian president Yanukovych to include two members of the opposition in his government to calm the Maidan protests in Ukraine, one being that of his Prime Minister.
[32] Nuland and Pyatt voiced their opinions of this offer, specifically on the post of Prime Minister, giving their opinion of several opposition personalities. Nuland told Pyatt that
Arseniy Yatsenyuk would be the best candidate to hold this post.
[27][28] Nuland suggested the United Nations, rather than the European Union, should be involved in a full political solution, adding "fuck the EU". The following day, Christiane Wirtz, Deputy Government Spokesperson and Deputy Head of the Press and Information Office of the German Federal Government, stated that German Chancellor
Angela Merkel termed Nuland's remark "absolutely unacceptable."
[33] The president of the
European Council,
Herman Van Rompuy, condemned the remark as "unacceptable".
[34][35] Department of State spokesperson
Jen Psaki said the discussion was not evidence of any American plan to influence the political outcome, remarking that "It shouldn't be a surprise that at any point there have been discussions about recent events and offers and what is happening on the ground".
[36]
Nuland was the lead U.S. point person for Ukraine's
Revolution of Dignity, establishing
loan guarantees to Ukraine, including a $1 billion loan guarantee in 2014, and the provisions of non-lethal assistance to the Ukrainian military and border guard.
[37][38] Along with Secretary of State
John Kerry and Secretary of Defense
Ash Carter, she is seen as a leading supporter of defensive weapons delivery to Ukraine. In 2016, Nuland urged Ukraine to start prosecuting corrupt officials: "It's time to start locking up people who have ripped off the Ukrainian population for too long and it is time to eradicate the cancer of corruption".
[39] While serving as the Department of State's lead diplomat on the Ukraine crisis, Nuland pushed European allies to take a harder line on Russian expansionism.
[40]
During a June 7, 2016, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearing titled "Russian Violations of Borders, Treaties, and Human Rights", Nuland described U.S. diplomatic outreach to the former Soviet Union and efforts to build a constructive relationship with Russia. During her testimony, Nuland noted
de facto 2014 Russian intervention of Ukraine which she said, "shattered any remaining illusions about this Kremlin's willingness to abide by international law or live by the rules of the institutions that Russia joined at the end of the Cold War."
[41]