MOSCOW, March 5. /TASS/. The stategy of the "architect and designer" of Washington’s policy on Ukraine, outgoing Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland, has led to an impasse, says an article by Ukraine’s Strana.Ua.
According to the article, Nuland’s retirement at this moment is quite indicative "from the standpoint of the impasse that [Washington’s] policy has reached in the past 10 years."
The website points out that Nuland supported the Maidan events in 2013-2014, and then supported the candidacy of Arseny Yatsenyuk for the office of the Prime Minister of Ukraine; "together with then-Vice President Joe Biden, she played one of key roles in building the 'post-Maidan' power in Ukraine," held negotiations with Russia on the implementation of Minsk Agreements. However, the website notes, the Minsk Agreements have not been implemented, corruption continued to flourish in Ukraine, and the central authority has started to effectively persecute all political opponents using the National Security and Defense Council’s orders.
Later, when Nuland already served as the Under Secretary of State, the US was unable to prevent the beginning of the Russian special military operation and then, "despite the numerous loud statements, was effectively unable to ensure a proper level of support for Ukraine, which led to the failure of the last year’s counteroffensive and the current difficult [for Ukraine] situation on the battlefield," the article says.
"All this, combined with the sharp escalation of internal political struggle within the US itself, gave the West a sense of a dead end in [Washington’s] Ukrainian strategy, Nuland being one of its key designers. And, in this regard, her retirement appears quite natural. The process needs a new designer, or, rather, a new design," Strana concludes.
On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that Nuland will leave her office in the upcoming weeks.