What the US and the EU Are Saying Has Become Just a Bit Louder

The publishing of talks between diplomats over the issue of Ukraine might have an impact on the ability of Brussels to find workable solutions.

The U.S. is not happy with the inability of the EU to regulate the situation in Ukraine. Recordings of calls between the assistant for the U.S. secretary of state, Victoria Newland, and American Ambassador Jeffrey Pyatt showed their discontent; the release of [these recordings] started a serious scandal. Nuland has already apologized to her partners within the EU; however, she has not put into question the authenticity of the released recordings. The White House believes that those responsible for the leaks may have been close to the Russian government. As a result, political analysts in Ukraine have become convinced that the leaks present an advantage for the U.S.

The audio logs from a phone conversation between Victoria Nuland and Jeffrey Pyatt were already up on Youtube on Feb. 4 after being uploaded by user Re Post. Over the course of the call, Nuland discussed a plan to regulate the Ukrainian crisis in which one of the leaders of the opposition movement, Arseny Yacenyuk, was to assume a position within the government. In addition, she noted skepticism towards the idea that the leader of the UDAR party, Vitaly Klitschko, would be promoted to being a member of the new Cabinet of Ministers. By all accounts, the recording was made towards the end of January, right after Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich proposed making Yacenyuk the prime minister and Klitschko the vice-minister for humanitarian affairs.

The recordings seem to indicate that Washington is not happy with some of the countries in the EU, which are not agreeing to take part in talks with the leaders of Ukraine. The secretary of state’s assistant is convinced that it’s not worth trying to convince their EU allies to change their views, and that it would be best to simply ignore them. “So that would be great, I think, to help glue this thing and to have the UN help glue it,” admitted Nuland, adding, “and with regards to the EU, well, they can deal with it.”* The original recording itself, however, is somewhat less polite, as Nuland says, “And you know, fuck the EU.”

Interest in the audio logs was not immediate, but rather, after they were alluded to on Feb. 6 on Twitter by the deputy prime minister of Russia Dmitry Loskutov. In an interview, sources close to the U.S. administration revealed that Washington has no doubt that Russian agents were responsible for interception and dissemination of the conversation. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney commented that “The video was first noted and tweeted out by the Russian government.” He added, “I think it says something about Russia’s role.”

In addition, Russian experts have noted that the Ukrainian security services are themselves quite adept at dealing with intelligence of a technical nature. As demonstrated by an analysis of internet traffic conducted by Kommersant, Dmitry Loskutov is by no means the first to bring attention to the scandal-causing material. Before him, several dozens of less-popular users of Twitter and Youtube from Russia and Ukraine were able to upload the clip. A user going by the handle Re Post put a page up on Youtube a month earlier, in addition to putting up over 250 new clips relating to the situation in Ukraine.

Nonetheless, Washington continues to try and smother the scandal. Victoria Nuland has refused to comment on the “private diplomatic conversation.” These kinds of tactics keep the attention of the heads of EU institutions. In support of Brussels, only the Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel has stepped up. In her opinion, Victoria Nuland’s words are “totally unacceptable,” and the EU is “working with great intensity to calm down the situation in Ukraine,” [according to comments made by the Deputy Spokeswoman for the German Government Christiane Wirtz].

All things aside, it’s clear that the leadership of the EU is making the U.S. feel nervous. Evidence of this is given by a clip from a recording between European Head of Diplomacy Helga Schmid and the EU ambassador in Kiev, Jan Tombinski, which was uploaded onto Youtube on the Feb. 4 by Re Post. “The Americans are going around telling people we're too weak while they are tougher on sanctions … But what you should know is that it really bothers us that the Americans are going around naming and shaming us,” said Helga Schmid. Jan Tombinski replied, saying, “We are not in a race [to see] who is the toughest. We have other instruments.”

After seeing how the situation is unfolding, Russian officials believe that the publication of the recordings is going to stick a wedge between the U.S. and the EU. “Nuland revealed that her words were the unofficial position of the U.S. There’s little doubt that it’s going to calm the Europeans, as that is still a position to take,” said the Head of the Duma for International Relations Alexey Pushkov, in a post on his Twitter account yesterday.

In addition, political analyst Dmitry Ponamarchuk assured Kommersant that, all in all, the scandal is for the benefit of the U.S. “If the Americans really wanted to keep it a secret, it would've stayed that way. However, the U.S. is genuinely unhappy with passivity on the part of the EU with regards to events in Ukraine, which is why recordings of conversations from the EU have begun to appear,”** noted a source for Kommersant. How close to the truth this is will be revealed on Feb. 10. The results of talks by the European Commission gives indication that it is by no means out of the question that there will be some sanctions against the abuses of Ukrainian civil servants.

*Editor’s note: The quotation immediately before the asterisk is just a paraphrased version of the quotation following the asterisk. The paraphrased version was not said, but is included by the original author for dramatic effect.
**Editor’s note: This quotation, accurately translated, could not be verified.