When Secretary of State Antony Blinken travels to Ukraine this week he’ll be carrying a tough anti-graft message and strong US backing for the country’s response to Russian aggression. He’ll also be bringing along a familiar face in the Washington-Moscow tug-of-war over the former Soviet republic: Victoria Nuland.
The one-day stop is intended to demonstrate America’s continued commitment to Ukraine as it copes with Russia’s support for separatists and a buildup of troops along its eastern border, as well as to press Kyiv on corruption.
It comes at a time of heightened US tensions with Russia not only on Ukraine, but also because of US criticism of Russia over human rights, hacking and interference in elections. Both countries recently ordered tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions.
Yet beyond these major issues, the mere presence in Kyiv of Nuland, now the No. 3 State Department official, is likely to irritate Russia. A Russia hawk, Nuland is reviled by the Kremlin and was a main target of Moscow’s attacks on the US during Ukraine’s 2013-14 revolution and Russia’s annexation of Crimea when she served as assistant secretary of state for Europe during the Obama administration.
Blinken said Monday in London that he would use the visit to show our unwavering support for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. Other officials have said he would also press on institutional reform and anti-corruption measures. There is a lot of hard work to be done to ensure a brighter future for all Ukrainians, the top US diplomat for Europe, Phillip Reeker, said last week. But Blinken’s trip also comes on the heels of a Ukraine-related FBI raid on former President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and renewed questions about the Trump administration’s dealings with Ukraine that led to the firing of a US ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, and laid the foundation for GOP attacks against President Joe Biden.
The East-West battle for influence and standing in Ukraine has been a recurrent theme since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and Nuland’s advocacy for reform-minded, pro-Western Ukrainian politicians incurred the Kremlin’s wrath.