The US isn’t seeking another Cold War but is calling on Russia to listen to the opinion of the rest of the world in the situation around Ukraine, US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland said in an interview with TASS.
— Foreign Minister Lavrov has said today, while talking about Ukraine, that "a solution will certainly be found, I have no doubt about it." He also added that Russia is "always prepared for dialogue on the condition that it is based on equality and respect for each other’s interests."
What is your response to that, Madam Secretary?
— My response to this is that we tried for months, and months and months to talk to Russia, about its security concerns in November, in December, in January and in February, and we are still ready to talk to Russia.
But President Putin has to end this war. He is turning Ukraine into rubble.
And as he gets ready for martial law in Russia, he will turn his own country into a prison.
But when we come to the table, Russia must be willing to tell the truth.
In every encounter that we had, whether it was my, Secretary Blinken with Lavrov, again and again and again, including in January and February, or whether it was President Biden with President Putin, they both said Russia will never invade Ukraine. And here we are. So if they're ready to stop lying, and if they are ready to stop bombing and shelling, then of course, the world is ready to talk.
— In the Biden administration's opinion, what are we moving toward in international relations in light of what's going on? Is the post war system as we knew it gone and this is the beginning of the Second Cold War. What is the way to mitigate the fallout and cap the conflict potential, which is clearly rising?
— Dmitry, nobody wants a new Cold War.
Least of all, the Russian people should not want to be thrown back to 1979, which is what President Putin seems to want to do to Russia.
But Russia needs to listen to the opinion of the world. 141 countries in the UN yesterday, condemned Russia's aggression against Ukraine.
So in the Cold War, Russia had a camp and we had a camp. If Russia does not end this war and get out of Ukraine, it will be isolated on a small island with a bunch of sub countries and the rest of us 141 countries will go forward and build a prosperous future, while Russia suffers a complete economic and technological isolation from the rest of the world for these crimes that is perpetrating in Ukraine.
— Does the United States intend to respect Russia's red lines, do you acknowledge that certain security issues and concerns that Russia is talking about like bringing Ukraine into NATO, continuing to move NATO to Russia's doorstep, are non-negotiable?
— Dimitry, the United States proposed in our long response to Russia's concerns that we were prepared to talk about the vast majority of the issues Russia put on the table, everything from ensuring that we had deconfliction of military activities, reduction of military exercises. We even said that we never had any intention to put offensive weapons into Ukraine.
But what we were not going to do was tell another country, how, with whom it could align. Nor were we going to allow Russia to make decisions for NATO.
That said, what needs to be understood is that NATO is a defensive alliance. NATO does not attack unless it is attacked. We never had any intention of going after Russia. And we certainly had no intention in the near term, as my president had made clear, Ukraine had a lot of work to do.
So this whole business is manufactured by president Putin. And frankly, it was never about NATO. It was about his desire to reincorporate Ukraine into Russia and recreate the Soviet Union. And that is absolutely obvious, because he never came back to the negotiating table after our response. Instead, he launched this war.
And what I want to say to your readers above all, is that our hearts go out not just to the Ukrainian people for their suffering, but also to all of the young Russians that Putin has sent into Ukraine to kill and be killed. More than 6,000 Russians are dead now. More than 30 Russian aircraft down, more than 10 Russian helicopters down. This is a tragedy for Russia too and it needs to end. And we stand with those Russian people, as Tony Blinken said yesterday, who were calling for an end to this war and a return to peace and a return to diplomacy.
— Madam Secretary, this brings me to my next point. <…> My question is does the United States accept that what we're seeing in Ukraine right now happened, at least in part, because Moscow had to react to the West's inability to take into account its hard security?
— Dimitry, there is never an excuse in the 21st century, when there is a diplomatic option, to invade another country, to shell into cities, to destroy schools and hospitals, to send a million Ukrainians now into refugee status. There is no excuse for the bloody carnage that Putin is wreaking on Ukraine now, and that he's forcing Russia's young soldiers to inflict on Ukraine.
— The conditions for this conflict were clearly created, at least in part by the West.
— You and I can argue all day long if you want. Ukraine posed zero threat to Russia, NATO posed zero threat to Russia.
It is Putin who has to create the fantasy of the threat in order to get what he's wanted all along, which is to reincorporate Ukraine, reincorporate Belarus, take your country back to some 1979 Soviet fantasy. And that wasn't a great time for Russia. <…>
— The United States has made it clear over the last days that it will work to try and make Russia quote a pariah on the world stage end quote. What is there for Russia to even talk about with the United States, then?
— Again, it is President Putin that has made Russia a pariah on the world stage. 141 countries in the UN condemned Russia's aggression. So again, Putin can end this. He can withdraw from Ukraine, he can withdraw from Donbass.
The sanctions will end that if he ends this war, and helps rebuild Ukraine and reestablishes peace and recognizes that country's sovereignty and territorial integrity and right to exist. He's denying Ukraine's very right to exist. It's a country that has hundreds and 1,000-year history. But in modern era has a 30-year history. And you can't just roll back the clock with your tanks.
— Congressman Swalwell has been calling repeatedly to kick out “every Russian student out to the United States” and close the Russian Embassy in Washington. What's the Administration's opinion of such calls? Does the Administration condone anti-Russian sentiment spiking in the US?
— Let me start with the embassies. The United States believes that it is very important for us to have an embassy in Moscow, and for you to have an embassy in Washington. We need more dialogue now, not less.
What we're concerned about is that you have twice as many diplomats in Washington, as you have allowed us to have in Moscow. So we want to bring that to parity.
With regard to Russian students, we have taken that no move against Russian students. And we would oppose that.
I personally believe that we ought to be having our doors far more open to Russian students. Why? Because Putin and the Kremlin lie about the United States and about who we are what we are. And we want Russian young people to be able to come here and see our country for what it is, get to know us as I got to know, the spectacular Russian people when I was a student in Russia, and in Odessa. Actually, I was in Moscow, and Odessa in 1982 when I was in university. And that experience of falling in love with the great Russian soul, even as I had deep concerns then, about the government that you were living under, that shaped my life and shaped my commitment to better US-Russian relations. But this is the darkest set of days of my career of that effort - to see what is happening next door in Ukraine and the suffering that they are undergoing for no reason. This does Russia no good.
— Thank you so very much for your time, Madam Secretary. I appreciate it.
Interviewed by Dmitry Kirsanov