The US Does Not Interfere in the Affairs of Sovereign Governments

A conversation between a State Department official and the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine posted on YouTube revealed a frank exchange on U.S. strategy for a political transition in that country, including a crude swipe at the European Union.

In the audio posted Tuesday, Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland told U.S. Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt she doesn't think Vitaly Klitschko, the boxer-turned-politician who is a main opposition leader, should be in a new government.

"So I don't think Klitsch (Klitschko) should go into the government," she said in the recording, which appeared to describe events that occurred in late January. "I don't think it's necessary. I don't think it's a good idea."

[...]

The leaked conversation appeared designed to embarrass the United States and fuel charges that the Ukrainian opposition is being manipulated by Washington.

In the YouTube audio, Nuland and Pyatt are heard discussing strategies to work with the three main opposition figures: Klitschko, Arseny Yatseniuk, former Ukrainian economy minister, and Oleh Tyahnybok, far-right nationalist opposition leader.

[...]

Pyatt suggested Nuland contact Klitschko personally to play to his "top dog" sensibilities.

"I think you reaching out directly to him helps with the personality management among the three and it gives you also a chance to move fast on all this stuff and put us behind it before they all sit down and he explains why he doesn't like it," he said.

[...]

Nuland referred to getting the United Nations involved in a political solution in Kiev.

"So that would be great, I think, to help glue this thing and have the U.N. help glue it and you know ... fuck the EU," she said in the recording, which was accompanied by still pictures of people mentioned in the call.

[...]

There was no immediate comment from Moscow but the video clearly plays into Russian accusations that the West is meddling in Ukraine. Russia sees Ukraine as its sphere of influence and has offered the cash-strapped Kiev a $15bn bailout to keep it in its orbit.

  alJazeera

A U.S. diplomat, Victoria Nuland, whose controversial telephone conversation about the political crisis in Ukraine was leaked on the Internet earlier this week, said on Friday that the recording was “pretty impressive tradecraft” but suggested it would not harm her ties with the Ukrainian opposition.

Nuland, assistant secretary of State for European and Eurasian affairs, also denied a Russian claim that Ukraine’s anti-government protesters are trained on the grounds of the U.S. Embassy in the capital, Kiev, calling it “pure fantasy.”

  alJazeera

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.