U.S. condemns latest Russian aggression against Ukraine, to offer more aid

The U.S. government condemns Russia’s aggressive
actions against Ukraine in the Black Sea on Nov. 25, U.S. Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo said in a Nov. 27 statement, calling upon the Russian and Ukrainian
leaders to engage in direct contact to resolve the situation. The Russian
attack on and detention of Ukrainian ships and sailors “is a serious escalation
and violation of international norms,” Pompeo said, calling upon Russia to
return the ships and sailors. During a Nov. 26 telephone call with the
Ukrainian president, Pompeo offered “full support and full assistance,
including military assistance, in order to coordinate what is necessary to do
to protect Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Poroshenko told
the CNN television network the next day.

At her Nov. 27 press briefing, U.S. State Department
Spokesperson Heather Nauert called upon European governments to refuse to
participate in the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline project with Russia. She
said U.S. diplomats will be engaged in talks with European allies on “doing
more to assist Ukraine” in the coming days and weeks. “Now, you may ask what
can European governments do,” she said. “Many governments have imposed
sanctions on Russia for its actions in Crimea, in Ukraine. Not all of those
sanctions, as I have been told and our experts have explained to me, have been
fully enforced.” As a second tangent of action, she referred to the current gas
pipeline project to be launched in 2020 bypassing Ukraine and Poland. “Is Nord
Stream 2 something that they want to continue with because it helps the Russian
governments, and is that the kind of support that they want to provide the
Russian government with, continuing to back Nord Stream 2 at this time?”

U.S. President Donald Trump said in a Nov. 27 interview
with the Washington Post that he might cancel his meeting with Russian
President Vladimir Putin planned for Nov. 30 at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires
after Russia’s attack on Ukrainian sailors in the Black Sea. The prior day,
Trump told reporters, “We don’t like what is happening either way. And
hopefully, they’ll get straightened out.”

Keith Dayton, the director of the George Marshall
European Center for Security Studies, began work as strategic advisor to
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry on Nov. 27 following a ceremony in which he was
presented by U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch. In his first meeting
with Ukraine’s Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak, they discussed the
implementation of defense reform projects, the introduction of civilian
monitoring of the Defense Ministry, increased procurement transparency, the
reform of military education, the conduct of defense review and the reforms of
the administration of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, reported the frontnews.eu
news site.

Zenon Zawada: Any
military escalation between Russia and Ukraine, as happened this week,
correspondingly results in increased tensions between Russia and the U.S. We
expect the U.S. will follow through will its attempts to pressure its EU allies
to respond to Russia’s latest aggression, but with limited results. Sanctions
enforcement is realistic, as well as a new round of sanctions. But abandoning
Nord Stream 2 is a bit unrealistic, considering how much has been invested in
it so far, particularly by German interests.

We believe Putin expects to have more support in
the EU in the mid-term perspective (three-to-five years), which is what has
emboldened his aggression against the Ukrainian state. In five years’ time, the
Nord Stream 2 pipeline will be fully functioning and nationalists will have
more influence in European legislatures. And by then, Putin expects his
European partners will allow him to deal with Ukraine as he sees fit. We don’t
see the U.S. as being able to undermine this trend in Europe.