The designer leaves. What does Victoria Nuland's resignation mean?
March 5, 2024
The resignation of US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland was announced today . This is far from an ordinary American official. For more than 10 years (with a short break during the reign of Donald Trump), she was in fact the architect and designer of US policy towards Ukraine.
Almost everyone interested in politics in Ukraine remembers the Maidan-era meme about Nuland’s cookies and the wiretapped conversation she had with the US Ambassador to Ukraine about the political prospects of Arseniy Yatsenyuk, when she positively assessed his candidacy as the future Prime Minister of Ukraine.
But its influence on various kinds of processes in Ukraine and around Ukraine was much greater than what is known from the open press.
It was she who played (together with then Vice President Joe Biden) one of the key roles in building the system of post-Maidan power in Ukraine. She negotiated with Vladislav Surkov on the implementation of the political part of the Minsk agreements (the special status of Donbass) and came to Kyiv to agitate Verkhovna Rada deputies to vote for their implementation (which was never done).
>>45 After Biden became president, Nuland was promoted to the position of deputy secretary of state, covering not only Ukraine but also other regions of the world. Although she did not lose her focus on Kyiv. And just recently I was in the capital on a visit , shortly after which Valery Zaluzhny was fired from his post as commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Although, according to Western media, Nuland was not happy with this decision, they did not listen to her position at Bankova.
In general, it was she who became one of the most important people who shaped US policy towards Ukraine.
And the fact that she is resigning now is extremely indicative from the point of view of the impasse into which this policy has reached over the past 10 years.
Maidan turned into a harsh form with the overthrow of Viktor Yanukovych and subsequent shocks such as the annexation of Crimea and the war in Donbass, the active phase of which ended with the Minsk agreements, blessed by the Americans, but never implemented due to the reluctance of the Ukrainian authorities to fulfill their political part. Moreover, Washington was unable to control the process, although Nuland made certain attempts in this direction.
>>46 To this we can add the lack of real progress in the fight against total corruption, unresolved economic problems, the practice of extrajudicial reprisals against Ukrainian citizens introduced on the eve of the war through the sanctions of the National Security and Defense Council, which the United States did not interfere with, and in some cases directly approved the sanctions. Which, was one of the reasons for the start of a full-scale war.
And finally, the Russian invasion itself, which the United States could not prevent, is connected with this policy. And after it began, despite many loud words, they were unable to provide the proper level of support for Ukraine, which led to the failure of last year’s offensive and to the current difficult situation at the front.
All this, superimposed on the sharp aggravation of internal political contradictions in the United States itself, caused in the West a feeling of a dead end in its Ukrainian strategy, one of the main designers of which was Nuland.
And in this regard, her departure looks quite natural. The process needs a new designer. Or rather, even a new design.
Pioneer camp, cookies and meetings with Surkov. What is Victoria Nuland famous for returning to the State Department? January 7, 2021 Biography of Victoria Nuland
Victoria Nuland will celebrate her 60th birthday on July 1st. She was born in the USA, in the state of Connecticut. Her paternal grandparents were Jewish, had the surname Nudelman and lived in the Russian Empire until the early 1900s. Even in his youth, the father of the former US Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs, a famous surgeon, professor of bioethics and writer Shepsel Ber Nudelman, decided to Americanize and changed his last name to Nuland.
After school, Victoria Nuland studied at a private college, and then at a prestigious private university - Brown University at the Faculty of Public Policy. Thus, she received a “ticket” into the world of diplomacy. On duty, she visited various countries, including former Soviet republics, and actively studied Russian.
In 1982, she visited Odessa, where she worked as an exchange counselor at the Young Guard pioneer camp.
And then for eight months she worked as a translator on a Soviet fishing vessel. In an interview with the New York Times in 2012, Victoria said that since then, “my favorite drink remains an ice-cold Stolichnaya, with a view of the ocean.”
“My task was to be in charge of radio communications between the fish processing ship and the Americans to ensure the delivery of fish to the deck. We were all young people who were learning Russian and looking for adventure, living side by side with the Russians,” she recalls of that work.
Nuland's political career began in 1985. Then I went to Guangzhou, China. Promotion for good service was a transfer to the State Department Bureau for the Pacific and East Asia. Despite this, the diplomat continued to show interest in the USSR. As a result, she was sent to oversee issues on the Soviet Union in Ulaanbaatar (the capital of Mongolia).
Since 1991, Nuland had already been transferred to Moscow, to the US Embassy, where she was responsible for relations with the government of the first Russian President Boris Yeltsin. In 1993, she was entrusted with the expansion of NATO, as well as the nuclear disarmament of Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan.
>>49 In the late 90s, Victoria took the post of Deputy Director of the State Department for the Affairs of the Former USSR. She represented America's political interests in relations with Russia and the Caucasus countries.
In the early 2000s, she joined the US Council on Foreign Affairs - she fought with world powers that showed anti-Americanism and criticized American values.
The next stage of his career is associated with the North Atlantic Alliance. In 2001, she became Deputy US Representative to NATO. She brought seven new members to the Alliance. Worked on the creation of the Russia-NATO Council. Provided support for the deployment of NATO forces outside Afghanistan in 2003, following the invasion of Iraq to overthrow Saddam Hussein.
In the mid-2000s, Victoria worked at the US National Security Council. There she worked on global issues related to Afghanistan, Iraq, the Middle East and Lebanon. As a promotion, she received the post of permanent US representative to NATO and, at the same time, continued to oversee issues related to Russia and the expansion of the alliance.
In 2011, with the wording “for unsurpassed professionalism,” she was entrusted with the position of press secretary of the US State Department. She worked there for two years, and already in 2013 she took the oath of office as Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs. Her successor as Speaker of the State Department was Jennifer Psaki, who became famous for her statement “about the sea shores of Belarus.”
>>50 In her new post, Victoria Nuland took an active part in the events at Euromaidan. According to her, in 2013 she came to the capital of Ukraine almost once a month.
In 2014, the diplomat found herself at the center of a scandal after the release of an audio recording of a conversation. In a conversation with the then US Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt, she spoke obscenely about the participation of the European Union in resolving the political crisis (which we will discuss below).
After the annexation of Crimea and the outbreak of the war in Donbass, Nuland was one of the negotiators with Russia on the topic of Ukraine. And I talked about this with Putin’s assistant Vladislav Surkov.
In 2017, after Donald Trump came to power and disagreeing with his policies, Nuland left the State Department. Now, according to media reports, four years after Joe Biden’s victory, Nuland is applying for the post of US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs.
>>51 From "cookies" to the cassette scandal Victoria Nuland's return to power has already caused rejoicing in the ranks of the Soros, who began publishing joint photos with the influential American. As before, they posted pictures with future US President Joe Biden on social networks .
Ex-People's Deputy Sergei Leshchenko posted a photo on Telegram with Nuland and his former colleague in the Rada, Mustafa Nayem. And he wrote that Victoria was responsible for Ukraine under Obama. Indeed, after the publication of the “ Derkach tapes ,” in which Vice President Biden gave orders to Poroshenko, Victoria Nuland’s role in Ukrainian affairs was somehow obscured.
Meanwhile, it was she who led many Ukrainian topics - and her active participation began right from Euromaidan.
On December 11, 2013 - that is, at the height of the protests - the Deputy Secretary of State went to the main square of the country and began distributing cookies from a large bag. First it went to the protesters, then to the Berkut members.
True, the soldiers did not want to take anything at first, but Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt, who accompanied Nuland, began to take out gifts and put them in the hands of law enforcement officers. https://i.imgur.com/fGy69LQ.png
>>52 “Nuland cookies” then became a meme, which was used in a negative sense for the Maidan - as a symbol of external intervention in internal Ukrainian conflicts.
And, although the cookies went to people on both sides of the barricades, the very fact of the uninvited appearance of a foreign official at the epicenter of the confrontation looked scandalous. This was a gross violation of diplomatic etiquette.
At the same time, it became clear that it was Nuland who was closely involved in the events in Kyiv. This understanding was strengthened after the tape scandal in early February - when Victoria’s negotiations with US Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt were leaked online.
In them, American officials openly say that the government of Ukraine after the Maidan should be headed by Arseniy Yatsenyuk. Which, by the way, happened less than a month later. And Vitaliy Klitschko, according to them, should not be part of the central government (which also came true). https://youtu.be/nWKVHp1G56o?si=CG6MSn4Zx4dfOB2e
>Irving William Kristol (/ˈkrɪstəl/; January 22, 1920 – September 18, 2009) was an American journalist >who was dubbed the "godfather of neoconservatism".[1][2]
>In college he was a member of the Young People's Socialist League and was part of a small but vocal group of >Trotskyist anti-Soviets who later became known as the New York Intellectuals.
Ukraine’s first lady declines State of the Union invitation The White House had intended for Olena Zelenska to sit near first lady Jill Biden and Russian opposition figure Yulia Navalnaya, who is viewed with some skepticism in Ukraine March 5, 2024 at 10:12 p.m.
Elena Zelenskaya refused to attend Joe Biden's State of the Union address this Thursday
First lady Elena Zelenskaya refused to attend US President Joe Biden's State of the Union address this Thursday, where she was invited by the White House.
the reason was that the president’s wife was going to be seated next to Alexei Navalny’s widow, Yulia.
"The goal, according to officials familiar with the plan, was to seat First Lady Jill Biden next to Zelenskaya and Yulia Navalnaya... The image of both women, each a symbol of resistance to Russian President Vladimir Putin, would provide a powerful backdrop to President Biden's speech." the publication reports.
But Navalnaya's presence "caused discomfort among Ukrainians" because of her husband's comments about the "Russian" status of Crimea, sources in Kyiv told
A White House spokesman said Zelenskaya's decision was likely due to "scheduling conflicts." Moreover, according to Washington, Navalnaya also refused to attend Biden’s speech, citing fatigue.
another probable reason for Zelensky’s wife’s refusal - reluctance to spoil relations with the Republicans who are blocking aid to Ukraine.
Zelenskaya’s presence at the president’s speech could look like “too close ties with Biden.” “Ukraine does not want to offend Republicans, who may control the White House next year depending on the results of the November elections,” says.
Ukraine Is Now Fighting Russia in Sudan In fighting against Russian-backed rebels in Sudan, Ukraine hopes to make the war more costly for Moscow
Updated March 6, 2024 12:06 am ET
For Ukraine, sending troops to Africa is an audacious new venture—part of a strategy to disrupt Russia’s military and economic operations abroad, make the war more costly for Moscow, and position itself as a bulwark against Russian incursions, including in regions where the West has been reluctant to get directly involved.
“It’s impossible to overcome Russia simply by fighting on a small piece of land, like the front line in Ukraine,” said a 40-year-old Ukrainian officer, who goes by the call sign Prada and led one of the Ukrainian teams in Sudan. “If they have gold mines in Sudan, we need to make them not profitable.”
But the operation comes with significant political risk at a moment when Western support for Ukraine is wavering. In Sudan, Ukraine is wading into an internal conflict in a foreign country, where tens of thousands of civilians have been killed and the U.S. says both sides have committed war crimes.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has warned that any country providing material support “bears responsibility for fueling atrocities against the Sudanese people.”
In an interview, Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, who leads Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, known as HUR, declined to comment on whether he had deployed troops to Sudan but outlined the rationale for sending Ukrainian forces abroad.
“War is a risky business,” Budanov said. “We are in a full-fledged war with Russia…They have units in different parts of the world, and we sometimes try to strike them there.” A spokesman for Zelensky didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The Ukrainian troops supplied Burhan’s guards with new AKM rifles and silencers, then turned their attention to trying to push the Wagner-backed rebels out of Khartoum.
A 30-year-old HUR officer known by the call sign King, who led the first group of Ukrainians to arrive in Sudan, said his team found a vastly different kind of conflict than the one they had left behind in Eastern Europe.
Soldiers on both sides fought in sandals and sometimes fired entire magazines’ worth of ammunition while holding their rifles over their heads, unable to see what they were shooting at. Much of the Sudanese army hadn’t been paid since the fighting began months earlier, sapping their motivation. Fighters didn’t wear markings to show which side they were on, and friendly fire was a regular threat.
Neither side attacked at night. The Ukrainians, equipped with night-vision goggles and drones, saw an opening. “That was our big advantage—we knew how to operate at night,” King said.
They would leave their base around 8 p.m., heading into the city in groups of about half a dozen, traveling in the backs of vans.
In a video viewed by the Journal, the Ukrainians fired at an apartment building, which King said was an RSF base. Once RSF reinforcements arrived, the Ukrainians dropped munitions on them from drones. (He said there were no civilians in the area.)
