On May 28, US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Walker held a briefing for journalists in Washington, during which he outlined the position of the United States on working with the new authorities of the country - President Vladimir Zelensky and his cabinet.
According to Volcker, the United States, together with the new leadership of Ukraine, will continue to implement the same agenda that was held while working with the administration of Petro Poroshenko. At the same time, the special representative declared that the former president had done “excellent work” in the area of reforming Ukrainian statehood.
However, the United States will continue to support "democracy, free and fair elections" in Ukraine, therefore, they respect the right of the Ukrainian people to choose their leaders independently.
“And just as we worked very closely with the previous president and the government of Ukraine, we intend to work very closely with President Zelensky and his team to advance the same agenda aimed at reforms, progress and development of Ukraine,” Volker said.
In this case, the American diplomat stressed that Washington did not give Zelensky advice on appointments to key positions.
According to Vladimir Olenchenko, senior researcher at the Center for European Studies at the Institute for World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the statement by the US Special Representative for Ukraine is directly addressed to the new President Zelensky and his administration. His goal is to recall the role of the United States in Ukrainian and international politics in general.
“Kurt Volcker’s statement is intended to refresh the US presence in Ukraine, remind the new Ukrainian authorities that the US is not going to weaken its activities and will continue to use Ukraine as a tool in Russian-American relations,” the political analyst said in an interview with RT.
At the same time, according to Olenchenko, such statements demonstrate the uncertainty of the United States that they managed to gain a foothold in Ukraine.
“The slightest push, and they can remain out of work, and therefore remind the Ukrainian leadership that they are interested in maintaining their presence,” the expert added.
Arms supplies
During the briefing, Volker said that the United States would continue to supply Ukraine with weapons and military equipment, as well as to consult on what types of weapons are needed by the Ukrainian military. According to him, this position fits into the framework of "normal interaction with a country developing its defense capabilities."
- President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky on a visit to Donbass
“Ukraine, like any other country in the world, has the right to self-defense ... The United States is ready to work with Ukraine in the same way as with other countries of the world, supporting their legitimate defense needs,” the American diplomat said.
Recall, on May 23, the US Senate proposed to allocate $ 300 million for military assistance to Ukraine from the funds of the American defense budget for 2020 (a decision was made to allocate $ 250 million for 2019). Of these, $ 100 million is intended solely for the supply of lethal weapons. In addition, the senators want to expand the range of categories of assistance in the field of security, providing means of coastal defense and anti-ship missiles.
At the same time, at the end of 2018, the Ukrainian Armed Forces received 37 Javelin launchers and 210 missiles to them worth $ 47 million from the United States. to end the armed conflict. At the same time, Volker then emphasized that the Javelin were transferred to Kiev on the condition that they could not be applied on the demarcation line in the conflict zone in the Donbas.
Moscow has repeatedly stated that it is not a party to the conflict in the east of Ukraine, and warned the United States and other Western countries about supplying arms to Kiev. Russian diplomats noted that the supply of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with new types of weapons leads to an escalation of the internal conflict with the unrecognized republics of Donbass.
Priority in the relationship
During the briefing, Kurt Volker also said that Washington is considering the situation in Ukraine as one of the priorities in the context of relations with Russia.
“Yes, I would like to make contacts with Russia in the near future. But at the moment I don’t know what form it will be, ”Volker told reporters.
- US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Walker
- Reuters
- © Valentyn Ogirenko
According to him, a meeting with representatives of Russia can be held after the parliamentary elections in Ukraine, which will be held in the fall. It is worth noting that since 2017, Volker met several times with the presidential aide Vladislav Surkov, but they failed to make progress in resolving the conflict - Moscow has repeatedly criticized Walker’s positions and called them non-constructive.
In addition to direct contacts with Russia, the American diplomat also did not rule out holding a meeting of the Norman Four.
“As for the Norman format, it is in the competence of Germany and France. They discussed the meeting in the Norman format, perhaps in July, but there are no exact dates yet. And this will require the consent of both Ukraine and Russia, ”he said.
In the international committee of the Council of Federation, Volcker’s statement was skeptical.
“For Mr. Volcker, the time interval, when he could offer a variety of options for communication, contacts, discussion of any topics, is lost in an arithmetic progression. Therefore, it is difficult to say exactly what he is going to discuss. But we always said in such cases that we were glad of the extended hand, ready to discuss all the topics if they are aimed at solving one main task - the implementation of the Minsk agreements, the cessation of hostilities in eastern Ukraine, ”said Senator Oleg Morozov in an interview with RT.
According to Olenchenko, during Poroshenko’s rule, Walker all the time put forward unrealizable ideas to resolve the issue in Eastern Ukraine.
“The United States is shying away from supporting the Minsk agreements, and offering its options that would only aggravate relations between Russia and Ukraine,” the expert said.
“We need political will”
According to the ex-adviser to the president of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma, political analyst Oleg Soskin, for the USA Russia is a serious obstacle in the matter of strengthening American positions on the world stage, therefore they need another regional ally who would be able to restrain the Russian Federation in the military-political sphere in Eastern Europe .
“Washington wants to weaken Moscow so that it can’t act in Latin and Central America near by the United States. For this reason, they will strengthen Ukraine. At the same time, Zelensky will not be able to pursue an independent policy from Washington, because Ukraine today is on the verge of default, and Volker reminds him of this, ”Soskin explained in an interview with RT.
In turn, Vladimir Olenchenko believes that it will be difficult for Washington to increase its influence on Ukraine, since the country's population is drawn to the West, but not to the United States, but to the European Union.
“Ukrainians are not very pleased to be a tool in the hands of American politicians. It will be difficult for Americans, because even when they had a completely compliant leadership in the person of Poroshenko, they could not radically advance in increasing their presence, ”the expert believes.
In his opinion, there are two options for Zelensky: either he will be able to show himself as a politician who can resolve the conflict, or he will start repeating the same steps and statements that his predecessor made.
“In any case, it depends on the leadership of Ukraine, no matter what Kurt Volker says and the forces behind him. Here we need political will, an understanding of the prospects and a focus on the welfare of the population and Ukraine as a whole, ”the political scientist concluded.