Intercepted Phone Call Lifts Curtain on US Role in Ukraine

Bloomberg News

Some undiplomatic language by the top U.S. diplomat for Europe has rattled relations with the European Union and added more tension to the East-West strains over Ukraine's political crisis.

'F--k the EU,' Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland said in a private phone call expressing frustration with European Union efforts to resolve Ukraine's political turmoil.

On the eve of Russia's showcase Olympics in Sochi, the U.S. suggested today that Moscow's intelligence apparatus was responsible for the leaked tape of the intercepted phone call, apparently made last month, between Nuland and U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki blamed Russian 'tradecraft' -- a word used to describe espionage activity -- after an unknown individual posted the audio recording on YouTube. The clip, subtitled in Russian rather than Ukrainian and accompanied by photographs and images of people mentioned in the call, was reported earlier today by the Kyiv Post.

While saying the U.S. doesn't know who recorded the call or posted it, Psaki said an aide to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin was the first to draw attention to it in a posting on The aide, Dmitry Loskutov, posted in English: 'Sort of controversial judgment from Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland speaking about the EU'

'We think this is a new low in Russian tradecraft,' Psaki told reporters today in Washington.

U.S. Apology

Psaki didn't dispute the authenticity of the recording, apparently made several days ago, and said Nuland has called EU officials to apologize.

Beyond that, the call may cause trouble for the Ukrainian political opposition, which has tried to fend off Russian assertions that it's acting on behalf of Western interests. Russian officials have said that the pro-Western protests that began last year against President Viktor Yanukovych are being financed and directed by the U.S.

On the phone call, Nuland discussed which opposition figures should and shouldn't join a new government in Kiev under an offer by Yanukovych. The Ukrainian president proposed that opposition leader Arseniy Yatsenyuk would become prime minister and another opposition figure, former boxer Vitali Klitschko, would become deputy prime minister.

Nuland said she was OK with 'Yats' taking the post, though, 'I don't think Klits should go into the government. I don't think it's necessary, I don't think it's a good idea.'

'Moderate Democrats'

'I guess, in terms of him not going into the government, just let him stay out and do his political homework,' responded Pyatt. 'I'm just thinking in terms of sort of the process moving ahead, we want to move the moderate democrats together and the problem is going to be' Oleh Tyahnybok, who is another protest leader, and his followers.

'I think Yats is the guy who's got the economic experience, the governing experience,' Nuland said.

The two opposition figures turned down Yanukovych's offer. Nuland met today with the Ukrainian president in Kiev.

The two Americans also discussed administration efforts to persuade United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to send an envoy, Robert Serry, a former Dutch ambassador to Kiev, to help facilitate a political deal.

'So that would be great I think to help glue this thing, and have the UN help glue it, and you know, f--k the EU,' Nuland said.

'Atta Boy'

She also suggested arranging to have Vice President Joe Biden give an 'atta boy' call to Yanukovych to keep pressure on him for a deal.

While Russia and the U.S. jockey for position in Ukraine, Oleksiy Semeniy, a former chief adviser to former President Victor Yuschenko's Department of Foreign Affairs, said 'almost all options are open, and the situation changes almost every week.'

Until the end of the Olympics, Semeniy said, there's likely to be no crucial changes to Russia's position. Moscow has moved 'to block the drift toward the EU in order to integrate Ukraine into structures like the Eurasian Union,' Semeniy said on a phone call with reporters arranged by the Atlantic Council, a Washington policy group.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's goal is to ensure that Russia doesn't 'lose control over its so-called area of influence, and in the best case extend this area of influence.'

The West, and particularly the U.S., has shown a 'dramatic escalation' in engagement with Ukraine, probably to take advantage of 'the opportunity of Russia so-called distancing itself because of the Olympics,' Semeniy said. 'It's a huge contrast to the position even seven months ago, because seven months ago we couldn't speak about dramatic actions by the West,' he said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Terry Atlas in Washington at tatlas@bloomberg.net; Nicole Gaouette in Washington at ngaouette@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Walcott at jwalcott9@bloomberg.net