U.S. Department of State Weekly Digest Bulletin

Special Presidential Envoy for Climate Kerry’s Travel to Kenya and Romania
09/05/2023

Special Presidential Envoy for Climate Kerry’s Travel to Kenya and Romania
09/01/2023 01:31 PM EDT

Office of the Spokesperson

Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry will travel to Nairobi, Kenya, and Bucharest, Romania, September 4-7 to advance shared objectives on climate and clean energy.

In Nairobi, Secretary Kerry will participate in the Africa Climate Summit , where he will engage with leaders, ministers, and civil society representing countries from Africa in the effort to respond to the climate crisis. At the Summit, Secretary Kerry will highlight U.S. efforts as part of President Biden’s Emergency Plan for Adaptation and Resilience (PREPARE) initiative to help half a billion people in developing countries, especially in Africa, adapt to climate impacts this decade. He will also highlight the role that carbon market initiatives, including the Energy Transition Accelerator (ETA), can play in catalyzing private capital and accelerating the clean energy transition in developing countries.

In Bucharest, Secretary Kerry will participate in the Three Seas Initiative summit, focused on developing transport, energy, and digital infrastructure connections between European nations located between the Baltic, Adriatic, and Black seas. He will underscore how an accelerated clean energy transition is strengthening energy security and resilience in Central and Eastern Europe. He will also underscore the promise of new, secure, and safe nuclear technologies, including Romania’s leadership role in building the first small modular reactor (SMR) in Europe.

For media inquiries, please contact ClimateComms@state.gov.




Acting Special Coordinator for the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment Matza’s Travel to Belgium
09/05/2023


Acting Special Coordinator for the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment Matza’s Travel to Belgium
09/05/2023 09:35 PM EDT



Office of the Spokesperson

Acting Special Coordinator for the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGI) Helaina Matza will travel to Brussels, Belgium, September 5-7 to advance ongoing PGI-led investments developing the Lobito Corridor – a transformative economic link connecting the African continent from west to east via rail through the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia and Angola. As part of this project, PGI also plans on mobilizing investments in agricultural zones in the corridor to support global food security.

During her trip, Acting Special Coordinator Matza will meet with European Union officials in addition to cultivating support for the corridor with private sector.




Secretary Blinken’s Travel to Ukraine
09/06/2023


Secretary Blinken’s Travel to Ukraine
09/06/2023 06:13 AM EDT



Matthew Miller, Department Spokesperson

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken arrived in Ukraine today to meet with senior Ukrainian officials and demonstrate the United States’ unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and democracy, especially in the face of Russia’s aggression. While in Ukraine, Secretary Blinken will meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba to discuss Ukraine’s ongoing counteroffensive and future recovery and reconstruction efforts. The Secretary will address Ukraine’s energy, security, and humanitarian needs, and make announcements about how the United States can continue supporting Ukraine in these areas.




Secretary Blinken’s Meeting with Danish Prime Minister Frederiksen
09/06/2023

Secretary Blinken’s Meeting with Danish Prime Minister Frederiksen
09/06/2023 06:22 AM EDT



Office of the Spokesperson

The below is attributable to Spokesperson Matthew Miller:

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen today on his way to Ukraine. Secretary Blinken and Prime Minister Frederiksen discussed the war in Ukraine and emphasized the importance of the U.S.-Danish Alliance to transatlantic security. The United States and Denmark share a long, close partnership rooted in shared democratic values and the two discussed ways to further that engagement. Secretary Blinken thanked Prime Minister Frederiksen for Denmark’s leadership in the F-16 coalition of partner nations to train Ukrainian pilots, and for its decision to donate F-16 jets to Ukraine.




Secretary Blinken’s Call with Azerbaijani President Aliyev
09/06/2023


Secretary Blinken’s Call with Azerbaijani President Aliyev
09/06/2023 08:59 AM EDT



Office of the Spokesperson

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev on September 1 to express the United States’ concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. He reiterated our call to reopen the Lachin Corridor to humanitarian, commercial, and passenger traffic, while recognizing the importance of additional routes from Azerbaijan. The Secretary underscored the need for a dialogue and compromise and the importance of building confidence between the parties. He pledged continued U.S. support to the peace process.




Secretary Blinken’s Meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Shmyhal
09/06/2023

Secretary Blinken’s Meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Shmyhal
09/06/2023 09:25 AM EDT



Office of the Spokesperson

The below is attributable to Spokesperson Matthew Miller:

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal today in Kyiv, Ukraine. The two discussed the United States’ steadfast support for Ukraine’s recovery, reconstruction, and reform efforts, and the U.S. commitment to work in concert with partners to address Ukraine’s energy, economic, and humanitarian needs.




Secretary Antony J. Blinken and Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal Before Their Meeting
09/06/2023

Secretary Antony J. Blinken and Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal Before Their Meeting
09/06/2023 10:02 AM EDT



Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Kyiv, Ukraine

PRIME MINISTER SHMYHAL: (Via interpreter) Your Excellency Secretary of State, dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, I’m very happy to welcome you to Kyiv. The United States – our strategic partner, our friend, and a huge supporter in the defense, military, humanitarian, and other spheres – we are very grateful for this mighty support and assistance extended to us by the American nation, by the American President, by all of the United States.

And I thank you very much for your personal efforts in assisting us in bringing closer our victory in this war, in withstanding this aggression of Russia. And here, the United States remains the huge supporter of direct budget support – one third of all direct budget support, of all the amounts given by our partners and friends from all over the world, are given by the United States. And we are grateful that this money arrives as grants because this does not affect the state debt of Ukraine, and this is a very important factor in these difficult times.

We would like to especially thank you for the support that the United States gives us together with the World Bank to ensure the project PEACE in Ukraine, which we initiated in June 2022. Within the framework of this project, Ukraine has already received 17.9 billion U.S. dollars, including 8 billion this year. All wages that are now paid in Ukraine in the public sector over the past year, including social and other programs, are funded through this fund – peaceful Ukraine fund. We appreciate this very much, and we also appreciate the assistance and cooperation with the American side on preparing the bilateral agreement on temporary suspension of serving the budget debt within the framework of the memorandum vis-à-vis our relationship with the Paris Club countries.

I would also like to thank you, during our conversation, for all the support in the military, sanction, and other directions – wide spectrum of all assistance and support. You also assist us in our preparation for the next heating season which is going to be very difficult. We are grateful for the support of the grain initiative. We have touched upon this briefly. Thank you for all the support that you extend to us in these difficult times.

When you were on your way to Kyiv, the Russians again reminded of themselves and time and again demonstrated their relationship to all of us, their attitude towards all of us and towards all the civilized world. So I thank you for your – for being brave, for standing with us, for working with us – this is to Her Excellency Ambassador – so we stand united. Thank you very much indeed.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Prime Minister, thank you very, very much. Thank you for receiving us today, but thank you for – most important – the day-in, day-out partnership that we have. I mentioned earlier this is my third visit to Kyiv since the renewed Russian aggression in February of 2022, and each and every time – and already today – I’m struck by the extraordinary resilience of the Ukrainian people, the strength of your military, and the very strong leadership that Ukraine has benefited from in this most difficult period.

And I’m here in large part at the behest of President Biden to reaffirm our commitment to stand with you – to stand with you to help ensure that you succeed militarily in dealing with the aggression, but also to stand with you to make sure that your efforts to build a strong economy and a strong democracy succeed, because all of those things – a military that’s capable of deterring and defending against further aggression, but also a strong democracy and a strong economy – are the difference between a Ukraine that survives, which it will, and a Ukraine that thrives, which it must and can. And we will be your partners in that effort, along with many other countries around the world.

So I’m grateful for this opportunity for this opportunity to assess where we are in each of those areas and to continue the work that we’re doing together. Thank you for having us today.




Secretary Blinken’s Call with Polish Foreign Minister Rau
09/06/2023


Secretary Blinken’s Call with Polish Foreign Minister Rau
09/06/2023 10:56 AM EDT



Office of the Spokesperson

The below is attributable to Spokesperson Matthew Miller:

Secretary Blinken spoke with Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau to discuss key bilateral priorities. Secretary Blinken welcomed Poland’s generous ongoing assistance to Ukraine and its people and emphasized the United States’ ironclad commitment to continued support of Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s war of aggression. The Secretary highlighted the importance of NATO unity and remaining in close consultation with our Allies and partners on evolving threats to our security.




Secretary Antony J. Blinken at a Meet and Greet with Embassy Kyiv
09/06/2023

Secretary Antony J. Blinken at a Meet and Greet with Embassy Kyiv
09/06/2023 12:24 PM EDT



Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Kyiv, Ukraine

AMBASSADOR BRINK: It is a privilege and an honor for me to be here with you as we give a very, very warm welcome to our Secretary of State, Tony Blinken. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. (Applause.)

As members of Mission Kyiv, we all know the challenges and the demands of this work. The hours are long – sometimes dangerous – and the future can seem uncertain. But we also know why we’re here and we know why it matters. We are here to enable Ukraine to use its own future, to be the sovereign, independent, prosperous country you are fighting for; to protect their choice of the European path, to be the secure democratic and values-based partner that is also in the strategic interests of the United States. And it’s true – as U.S. ambassador here, I can tell you we have no greater advocate and no greater champion for our work then Secretary Blinken. Thank you, sir. (Applause.)

Secretary Blinken’s presence here in Kyiv and his many visits before are proof that he is literally with us in this fight. Thank you, Mr. Secretary, and thanks to your extraordinary delegation for your total support to us in Kyiv. Mr. Secretary – and I know you know this, but I have to say it again – you are with one of the Department of States truly outstanding embassy teams here today. We are very proud that more than 20 American officers who served at Mission Kyiv made the promotion list just last week. Yeah. (Applause.)

Together, you and we are contributing to President Biden, the administration, Secretary Blinken’s agenda and the strategy on Ukraine. To all of our staff, you have chosen to be here, many separated from families and friends. As we saw just last night again, it’s dangerous and the pace of work is relentless. But Mr. Secretary, to a person, there is no other place we would rather be. To my team, I’m deeply grateful.

I want to relay a special thanks to our Ukrainian colleagues. We know what you are facing, what your families are facing. We know how difficult the past 560 days have been. We know what you have sacrificed. But each day in this embassy, I am inspired by your sense of hope, by your belief in victory, and by your faith in the future of this country. It’s an honor of a lifetime to work shoulder to shoulder with you in Ukraine at this vital moment for your country, for Europe, and for all of us. I thank each of you for your service.

Mr. Secretary, it’s my honor to welcome you back again to your embassy in Kyiv. Thank you very much. (Applause.)

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Please, have a seat. Should have done that at the start. (Laughter.) I always forget. I’m still not used to people standing up, never mind having to sit down. But it’s wonderful to be back with this amazing team at Embassy Kyiv, Mission Ukraine. Everything that the ambassador said, I know because I get to experience it every day. I see the work you’re doing. I see the pressure you’re under; the conditions in which you’re doing this work. I can’t tell you how much I admire it, admire you, and I’m grateful for everything you’re doing for both of our countries and, quite frankly, for much of the world that’s standing with and standing up for Ukraine in this moment of need.

You also know better than anyone else why President Biden sent Ambassador Brink here to Ukraine. You have in Bridget one of the truly extraordinary leaders in our department, someone I’ve had the great privilege of working with for many years. We couldn’t have a better leader for this mission at this critical time than Ambassador Brink. Bridget, thank you, thank you, thank you. (Applause.)

Now, to everyone who made this particular trip possible, I wanted to say a special thank you. I know that sometimes the worst words in the English language for a Foreign Service Officer or civil servant is: The Secretary is coming to visit. (Laughter.) I have a pretty good idea of how much work goes into these visits. And I get to see the placid calm on the surface; I know there’s always a little bit of churn underneath, and I just want to tell you how grateful I am for doing this work. Any visit at any embassy is challenging and complicated. To do it here in the middle of a war only adds to the complexity. I guess my best wish for you is to say, have a great wheels-up party when we get out of Dodge. (Laughter.)

And by the way, I know that it’s not as if this is a rare drop-in. You’re getting visits from many of my colleagues, from members of Congress, which is so vitally important, and I’m grateful for the work that you’re doing to support all of these visits.

I’m also here with some extraordinary colleagues from Washington who, day-in, day-out, are working with you to make sure that we’re maximizing everything we’re doing with – for Ukraine:

The Acting Deputy Secretary of State Toria Nuland. Toria. (Applause.)

Our NSC Senior Director for European Affairs Amanda Sloat. Amanda. (Applause.)

And hiding back there in the distance, the Deputy Chief of Staff of the State Department Tom Sullivan. Thank you. (Applause.)

And I didn’t want to mention this because I’m actually very concerned that I may have made a mistake. Also with us is Chris Smith. (Applause.) So I knew there was more than a little risk that in bringing back Chris to Ukraine, he might decide to stay – (laughter) – but no, he’s coming back with us.

But you have another remarkable DCM here with you now, and I had a chance to meet with the senior leadership team this morning. Again, I couldn’t be more proud, I couldn’t be more impressed.

What I wanted to share with you is I know when you’re working across an ocean, and you’re going through what you’re going through day-in, day-out to do this mission, it sometimes seems like no one knows it, no one understands what you’re going through. And I want to tell you that I do and that we do.

You’ve endured a lot of hardship at this post: suspending operations and securing this facility and other facilities, figuring out how to do the job outside of Kyiv – and then outside of Ukraine – then – thankfully – returning to Kyiv, raising this flag again over the embassy, resuming operations – but all of that in the middle of a war.

Each of you has shown remarkable courage, remarkable resilience, remarkable resolve. And that has a profound impact on the entire institution – all of the State Department, other agencies of government. It’s quite simply inspiring to your colleagues to see the work that you’re doing and the way that you’re doing it. I feel that very strongly all the way back in Washington.

You are at the top of our minds back home. Regular notifications we get on the phones remind us time and again that you have to go in and out of bunkers. And we know the toll that just doing that takes on each and every one of you.

The reason for this visit at the President’s behest is simply to reaffirm first and foremost that we continue, we will continue to stand with Ukraine so that it has what it needs to defend itself, to deal with the current Russian aggression; that it’s prepared for the future, able to deter future aggression; and at the same time that it helps rebuild a successful economy, a strong democracy. That’s what’s needed to make sure that Ukraine not only survives but actually thrives going forward.

Today, we’ve had an opportunity to meet with many of the people that you’re working – work with, excuse me – day-in, day-out across the government. We’ll also have a chance to meet with some leaders in the civil society – all of this with the objective of getting this work done together.

And tomorrow, we’ll get a chance to see some of the work that some of you were doing as we work to support Ukraine’s border guards – one of the many investments that you’re making and we’re making in Ukraine’s security.

Never go to someone’s home without bringing a housewarming gift. We come bearing some further assistance for Ukraine across multiple areas, but that assistance doesn’t actually mean anything unless it is used effectively, and so many of you every single day are working closely with our Ukrainian colleagues to make sure that the assistance we’re providing is being used effectively and is being used properly.

What the ambassador said could not be more true. The stakes of this mission couldn’t be any higher, because – you all know this – yes, we’re standing with and standing up for Ukraine, but we’re also standing with and standing up for the very principles that are at the heart of the international system, that are necessary to help us keep peace, stability, and security around the world; the principles that animate the United Nations Charter; the concepts, the principles of territorial integrity, independence, sovereignty. All of those, as you know very well, are at stake right here in Ukraine, and what happens here has profound repercussions quite literally around the world.

So the stakes really couldn’t be higher, which, again, is why I am so proud of the team we have here doing this.

There’s another thing I wanted to share, because I see this in every embassy around the world. It really does take a village, and this is a village. And it’s a village that has incredibly important communities that are each working together to make sure that the job gets done. Our RSOs, our Marine security guards – it starts with them, the security that they provide to us. And by the way, for the Marines who are here, I am so especially grateful to you. We have a unique partnership, the State Department and the Marine Corps. We know that any American anywhere the world going into a United States embassy, the first person they are likely to see is a United States Marine. We can’t do our jobs without our Marines doing their jobs. Thank you, thank you, thank you for the partnership; thank you for the service. (Applause.)

Our Public Diplomacy and consular teams, our political and econ officers, Management, INL, PEPFAR, the Office of Inspector General colleagues who are doing vitally important work making sure that the resources that we are devoting to this enterprise are used properly and wisely, and so many of our partner agencies who are working hand in hand every day – DOD, DOJ, DOE, DOC, USDA, USAID, Federal Trade Commission, federal commercial service – excuse me, foreign commercial service – each and every one of these is part of this vitally important enterprise.

Finally, I just want to say how grateful I am for the compassion and solidarity you’ve shown to each other, because, especially when you have a difficult mission in difficult conditions, that’s what makes all the difference. We saw that during COVID; we see that here in this mission – having each other’s backs, looking out for each other. That really is the recipe for success, and I’m grateful to see that here.

Finally – and Bridget mentioned this – I really want to say a special word of thanks to our locally employed team. In every embassy around the world, the locally engaged staff is the lifeblood of our work. We couldn’t do it without you. We could not be more grateful for the fact that you choose to serve alongside us as partners, as colleagues, as friends.

Now, 12 of you, hard as it is to believe, have been here for 30 years – when the embassy opened its doors not long after Ukraine declared its independence. That in and of itself speaks volumes, that we have 12 our locally engaged staff who’ve been with us for three decades. We know, as Bridget said, that no one in this mission is bearing the hardship of this moment more heavily than our local team. I know that many of you have lost friends, loved ones. Others have seen your communities destroyed.

Twenty members of our embassy family are bravely serving in Ukraine’s armed forces – and we salute their service; we salute their courage. Two men who guarded this embassy for years – Serhey Timoshenko and Volodymyr Kapelka – were killed defending their country against Russian invasion. I know that each of you and all of us honor their memory, honor their sacrifice, and think of their family and friends.

A day will come when this war ends, Ukraine will have secured its right to choose its own future, because fundamentally that’s what this is about. And when that day comes, it will be in no small measure because of the work that all of you have done. I couldn’t be prouder to stand before this particularly team, I couldn’t be prouder to be your Secretary at this moment in history, and I couldn’t be more committed to supporting the work that you’re doing every step of the way.

Thank you very, very much. (Applause.)




Secretary Antony J. Blinken and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Before Their Meeting
09/06/2023

Secretary Antony J. Blinken and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Before Their Meeting
09/06/2023 02:01 PM EDT



Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Kyiv, Ukraine

PRESIDENT ZELENSKYY: Dear Antony, Mr. Secretary, your team – you’re very welcome to have you and to host you today. And it’s important visit for us, for Ukrainians. And I think that (inaudible) visit (inaudible) the full-scale war and a supporting message to our whole society. Especially now when the war is here, this is a difficult challenge and difficult – a tough period for our society. And always the leaders of United States, when they come, that’s a great message of support.

Thank you so much. We are really thankful to you. We are very thankful to White House, to President Biden. Please pass that on to him from me. And we are thankful to bipartisan support, to Congress, that you show great unity around Ukraine. And you have different cases in the United States, but when we feel and when you speak about Ukraine you also – you’re always together. Thank you so much. It really helps us. First of all, it helps us on the battlefield, because United States really are the leaders of supporting on the battlefield. My appreciation. And we are happy that we can count on you, and you know that total society of Ukraine totally understands it and appreciate it.

And thank you very much as you help us with energy sector. Difficult winter was ahead. I don’t know, maybe if the difficulties or maybe we will have some new experience. We’ll see. But we are happy that we are not alone through this winter. We will go together with our partners.

Thank you, and of course thank you from our society that your financial support of our budget is crucial. Welcome.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. President.

PRESIDENT ZELENSKYY: Now it’s the (inaudible).

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Right there. Right in front of me.

PRESIDENT ZELENSKYY: Thank you.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Mr. President, it’s so good to see you; as always, to see the entire team. As you mentioned, this is my fourth visit to Ukraine since the renewed Russian aggression in 2022. And I, as always, am so struck by the courage, the strength, the resilience of the Ukrainian soldiers, the Ukrainian people, and the Ukrainian leaders.

We are determined in the United States to continue to walk side by side with you. And President Biden asked me to come, to reaffirm strongly our support, to ensure that we are maximizing the efforts that we’re making and other countries are making for the immediate challenge of the counteroffensive as well as the longer-term efforts to help Ukraine build a force for the future that can deter and defend against any future aggression, but also to work with you and support you as you engage in the critical work of strengthening your democracy, rebuilding your economy.

I know you were just on the front lines, and we’re all very eager to hear your assessment. And certainly we see the important progress that’s being made now in the counteroffensive, and that’s very, very encouraging.

I look forward to discussing a whole variety of issues that we have, and I know the President will look forward to seeing you in the near future.

Finally, can I just say it was very moving to be part of the event this morning that the first lady was leading. I think the work that she’s done on mental health is extraordinary, and we’re very proud to be part of that and to help. But it was very powerful to be there, because we know the toll that this horrific aggression has taken on so many Ukrainians in ways that are not visible, and the work, the leadership of the first lady in addressing that challenge is very inspiring.

Thanks for having us today.




Secretary Blinken’s Travel to Ukraine
09/06/2023
Secretary Blinken’s Travel to Ukraine
09/06/2023 03:17 PM EDT



Office of the Spokesperson

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken visited Kyiv on September 6, where he met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba to underscore unwavering U.S. support for Ukraine’s defense of its sovereign territory and the people of Ukraine against Russia’s ongoing aggression. Secretary Blinken also discussed additional U.S. assistance and encouraged continued progress on Ukraine’s reform agenda, including combatting corruption and safeguarding the autonomy and integrity of Ukraine’s anti-corruption authorities and courts.

Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the United States has provided $43.2 billion in security assistance, $2.9 billion in humanitarian assistance, and $20.5 billion in budget support through World Bank mechanisms.

In Kyiv, Secretary Blinken announced that the United States would also provide:An additional drawdown of up to $175 million from DoD stocks that will be provided under drawdowns previously directed for Ukraine. Capabilities in this security assistance includes air defense system components, Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems for HIMARS, munitions, ammunition, and communications systems;
$100 million in Foreign Military Financing to support longer-term military requirements;
$90.5 million in humanitarian demining assistance;
$300 million to support law enforcement efforts to restore and maintain law and order in liberated areas, including cities and towns facing continuous shelling by Russia;
$206 million in humanitarian assistance to provide critical support including food, water, and shelter to those in Ukraine and those forced to flee to neighboring countries.
$5.4 million in forfeited oligarch assets to support veteran reintegration and rehabilitation;
And, $203 million for support to transparency and accountability of institutions, bolstering key reform efforts related to anti-corruption, rule of law and the justice sector; and to build capacity to investigate and prosecute war crimes committed by Russia. This assistance will also support digitalization of recovery and reconstruction efforts by improving and ensuring the transparent procurement of infrastructure projects; health-governance to support the restoration of lifesaving services to enable economic recovery in Ukraine, strengthening public financial management practices to meet international standards.




Secretary Antony J. Blinken and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba at a Joint Press Availability
09/06/2023

Secretary Antony J. Blinken and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba at a Joint Press Availability
09/06/2023 06:28 PM EDT



Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Kyiv, Ukraine

FOREIGN MINISTER KULEBA: (Via interpreter) Tony, welcome to Kyiv. I think that there is – we don’t need any formal greetings because during this time with joint work – specifically with the beginning of the large-scale invasion – our relationship with the Ukraine and United States, they went to such level that we don’t need a – we need everything – what we need is just open and sincere conversation. And this is what we had today.

However, I would like to thank the State Secretary for – you begin the day visiting the cemetery, Berkovetske cemetery. Just I will comment, this – just today we begin a new tradition, and I am grateful to the State Secretary for being the first – the chief of the – of the Foreign Service, of international – of the country to begin his visit with honoring fallen Ukrainian soldiers who died repelling the large-scale invasion.

Today, I mentioned, Tony, that we have so many – unfortunately, we have hundreds of such cemeteries across Ukraine. In every one, they are visible because on the graves of soldiers we have flags. And I would like to sincerely thank Tony for today’s – he was today with me, and he shared this emotional moment with me, and he honored the fallen. However, also he demonstrated the highest level of respect to Ukrainian soldiers who are continuing their fight, who are continuing the counteroffensive, and they are participating in defensive action and they defend Ukraine.

For me today, it was very important to hear the words of the State Secretary about the high estimate of the actions of our soldiers, of officers, and of all defense forces of Ukraine. It’s truly objective assessment that includes the difficult reality on the battlefield and those heroic actions that Ukrainian soldiers are doing.

However, let’s get to the substantive part of our negotiations. Today we learned one more time that United States continue to be the leading partner and ally in the repelling of Russian – it’s – it relates to all of the issues: humanitarian, energy, military, everything that comes from United States. And we’re grateful for that. We’re grateful to the Biden administration for this, for the presidential Foreign Service, and specifically to the State Secretary, to Congress, and every American citizen who supports Ukraine in this fight.

Military aid that is provided to Ukraine and financial aid and other types of – these are not charity. I would like to underline this one more time. The – this is the most – this is the most profitable investment into the security of Europe and Euro-Atlantic space and the whole world. Today, Ukraine, with the support of partners, we hold the advance of Russia to – we make them to decline their – imposing their will on other countries.

And besides, we are not putting any American soldiers’ life under the threat. It’s our people who are fighting, using and employing specifically weapons systems of our partners. We never asked to send the U.S. troops to Ukraine, and we are not going to ask this. But we truly need support in this fight, and this support is also recognition of this mission that Ukraine carries out in global history context.

Today, it’s not a surprise we spoke a lot about weapons. We thank for already approved decisions and funded decisions. It’s very important. The State Secretary is going to go back with maximum clear – our necessities and requirements to increase air defense capabilities. We today, on the way, and when the State Secretary was on the way here to Kyiv, experienced another rocket barrage. And other areas of Ukraine, they suffered losses.

We didn’t spend a lot of time on discussing air defense because there’s nothing to discuss. Everything is obvious. The requirement is very – in high demand and very important. I just mentioned the number of systems that – defense systems that are necessary to protect the grain corridor and our cities and our people.

I would like to thank specifically and separately United States for decision to allow other countries to begin F-16 training for our pilots, and also the transfer of those planes. We thanked Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, who announced that they are ready to transfer F-16s, and we are thankful to those countries, too, who are going to train our pilots. But in all those things, a lot of that belongs to the United States because without their decision, these countries wouldn’t be able to approve those decisions on their side, because F-16’s an American airplane.

In details, we discussed providing long-range rockets, ATACMS. We had the substantive discussion. I’m very happy that this option is still open, and we are expecting and we are relying inside of the presidential administration, American presidential administration. We’re waiting so they would stop and discuss this more in details. And we know that it’s not just enough to just bring other countries’ weapons here; we need to increase production of weapons of different types. And it’s truly that – there were times for the world to get rid of weapons, but now the world is arming itself.

I informed the State Secretary of – on our plan to hold first forum of defense industries where Ukraine international companies are going to join their efforts to develop a maintenance of weapons. We’re going to integrate defense industry of Ukraine to NATO industry. And I’m grateful for the State Secretary for confirming that the U.S. and American companies will participate in this very important event.

A couple words on – about grain export. Our views are common. We think that the most prospective is the Danube grain corridor. We’re going to develop it and we’re going to – and separately we discussed, of course, peace formula, and we coordinated the future next steps to increase and strengthen the circle of participants – and as an initiative of the – President Zelenskyy. And we stated that peace formula is the foundation for stopping war and there is a historical moment in this.

And it’s first time, to my – in my memory, that the rules of the end of the war decided not – not by the aggressor, by – but the rules of stopping the war is setting by the country that was attacked. It’s very important for the international diplomacy, international law. It’s very fair and just approach, and that’s why we agreed upon next steps we are going to take together.

And finally, one question I’d like to mention is the civilian prisoners. I informed the State Secretary that Russia implements the most massive operation in the new history on imprisonment of civilians. Tens of thousands of people are getting into Russian captivity simply because they are Ukrainians and they are not – and the Russian occupation power don’t like it and they don’t like them. We understand that the world needs a more proactive mechanism to release those people. There are still many questions.

But we shouldn’t allow Russia to establish a precedent, a case where them and other evil regimes can use imprisonment of civilians as a weapon of war. Our – both expert teams will hold consulting in discussing what international law instruments and tools are available to release these people, and maybe to discuss what tools should be installed. And I would like to thank also the State Secretary for everything that we discussed, all of the efforts like peace formula, relations with African countries, weapons, counteroffensive.

All of that in the center of discussion for the State Secretary was always – a person is in the center – a person’s security, a person’s rights and freedom. And because of this approach, we always find solutions because everything what we do, we do for the people. And this relates to such thing as returning McDonald’s to Ukraine, which returned and became a symbol of returning of American business back, and the symbol of assurance that it’s possible to create a big business in Ukraine and be with the people during hard and important time in their life.

And thank you very much one more time, and for the negotiations that we held with the prime minister, with the president of Ukraine. They were very fruitful, and I’m sure that in the future we will have some new decisions made and we’ll continue our motion ahead. And no one in the world who is doubting that Ukraine and United States will stand shoulder by shoulder till the end of the victory, today they saw and they received a new signal that they are wrong.

We’re moving forward together because we understand this war, not just – it’s not about the future of Ukraine; it’s about the future of the world. And we should defend this world jointly.

Tony, please.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Dmytro, thank you very, very much. Let me start by saying how moving it was to join you this morning in paying tribute to Ukraine’s fallen soldiers who gave their lives for the freedom of this country. We talk about numbers and statistics a lot, but standing there with Dmytro in front of the grave to the fallen and seeing the photographs of each one brings home powerfully the real story, the human story of lives lost, cut short because of this horrific Russian aggression. And it’s also a powerful reminder of the extraordinary resilience, courage, and determination of Ukrainian people and Ukraine’s armed forces.

This is now my sixth trip as Secretary of State to Ukraine and the fourth since the Russian full-scale invasion began February 24th of 2022, and I keep seeing the same thing – that determination, that resilience, that commitment on the part of all Ukrainians to build a future where they can live safely and live freely in a thriving democracy, fully integrated with Europe. Ukraine is the home of incredibly proud people who are driven by a fierce belief in themselves, in their freedom, in their right to choose their own path; a nation united by common sacrifice but fortified by the righteousness of their fight.

And that spirit is everywhere. I saw it again today in the men and women who are reopening or visiting businesses in Kyiv, in the children returning to class for the new school year, in the families and communities defiantly continuing to live their lives even as Putin seeks to end them.

The United States is committed to empowering Ukraine to write its own future. In the crucible of President Putin’s brutal and ongoing war, the United States and Ukraine have forged a partnership that is stronger than ever and growing every day. We will continue to stand by Ukraine’s side, and today we’re announcing new assistance totaling more than $1 billion in this common effort. That includes $665.5 million in new military and civilian security assistance. In total we committed over $43 billion in security assistance since the beginning of the Russian aggression.

Now, since I was last here almost exactly one year ago, Ukrainian forces have taken back more than 50 percent of the territory seized by Russian forces since February of 2022. In the ongoing counteroffensive, progress has accelerated in the past few weeks. This new assistance will help sustain it and build further momentum.

The assistance includes an additional $175 million in drawdown authority that will provide significant support for Ukraine’s air defenses – a critical need, as you heard Dmytro say – among other areas: another 100 million in Foreign Military Financing to support Ukraine’s longer-term military needs; $300 million to support law enforcement efforts to restore and maintain law and order in liberated areas.

We’re sending our first delivery of mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles to Ukraine’s border guards and police, some of whom I’ll have an opportunity to visit with tomorrow. And we’re providing critical assistance for demining to help clear Russian land mines, unexploded ordnance, and other daily remnants of war killing and maiming civilians. Ukraine is now the world’s most heavily mined country – 30 percent of its territory is potentially covered with mines. Russia’s weapons of war have killed hundreds of civilians and threatened to put millions at risk for years, even decades to come.

The new security funding that we’re announcing today will also be bolstered by the arrival of U.S. Abrams tanks this fall and by training for Ukrainian pilots on F-16s in the United States, complementing training that is already underway in Europe.

Even as we maximize our support for Ukraine to counter the current Russian aggression, we’re committed to helping Ukraine build a force for the future that can deter and defend against future aggression. Today with President Zelenskyy, I discussed longer-term sustainable security arrangements which will provide ongoing security assistance and modern military equipment across land, air, sea, and cyberspace, as well as training and intelligence sharing. The State Department is leading these discussions, which will continue in the months ahead.

Twenty-eight other countries are making similar commitments through the G7 declaration of support for Ukraine, in no small part because they recognize, as the foreign minister said, that Ukraine’s security is integral to the security of the entire Euro-Atlantic community and, indeed, it’s integral to security around the world because of the principles that are being challenged here as well as Ukrainian lives and livelihoods. Together, these 29 countries that are committed to supporting Ukraine over the long term will coordinate and share the burden of that long-term support.

In the more immediate term, we are working with Congress across parties to provide additional short-term funds in the supplemental funding bill this month. At the same time, we will continue to support Ukraine as it works to build international consensus for a just and durable peace that upholds the UN Charter and its fundamental principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity, independence.

Beyond Ukraine’s security needs, for the first time we are transferring to Ukraine assets seized from sanctioned Russian oligarchs, which will now be used to support Ukrainian military veterans. Those who have enabled Putin’s war of aggression should pay for it. We’re continuing lifesaving humanitarian assistance; emergency shelter for those whose homes Russia has destroyed; medical support and health care for survivors of relentless Russian missile attacks and shelling, including as we saw again last night and today; food, clean drinking water; generators for communities. Today we’re committing an additional $206 million toward that effort, much of which is dedicated to helping the more than 6 million Ukrainians who are displaced by Russia’s war.

As Russia continues to weaponize food, we’re helping people within Ukraine and around the world who are suffering from extreme hunger as well as malnutrition. Not content with pulling out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative – which has sent 32 million metric tons of Ukrainian grain to the world, the equivalent of more than 18 billion loaves of bread, most of it to developing countries – Putin is now bombing Ukrainian granaries and warehouses, mining port entrances, driving up food prices around the world, devastating Ukrainian farmers.

Now, Russia claims it would be willing to return to the Black Sea Grain Initiative if its conditions are met. The United Nations has put forward a proposal that meets those conditions, but Putin continues to hold out. Meanwhile, Russia is using the hunger and market distortion that it’s created to profit from record-breaking exports of its own grain. As we build international pressure on Russia to return to the Black Sea Grain Initiative, we’re working with Ukraine to find and use alternative routes for its grain shipments to other countries.

For Ukraine not only to survive, but to thrive, we’re also supporting its efforts to rebuild from Russia’s aggression. At the Ukraine Recovery Conference held in London a few months ago, I pledged that the United States would invest more than $520 million in making Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, more than half of which has been destroyed by Russia, cleaner, more resilient, and more integrated with Europe. We’re making new investments to enhance the transparency of Ukraine’s institutions and to bolster the rule of law so that Ukraine’s democracy is even more responsive to the needs of its people and can attract the private capital needed to rebuild.

We’re engaged in assisting the Government of Ukraine on anti-corruption efforts and on efforts to ensure accountability and full transparency of all the assistance we’re providing as well as the security of U.S.-provided defense articles and technologies. President Zelenskyy and I discussed these issues today and the importance to Ukraine’s democratic future of continued reforms and the fight against corruption.

A few months ago, in Helsinki, I spoke to how President Putin’s war in Ukraine has been and will continue to be a strategic failure for Russia. There’s no better demonstration of that than seeing the Ukrainian people, whose national identity Putin sought to erase, stronger and more unified than ever before. As I said then, no one has done more to intensify Ukrainians’ determination to write their own future on their own terms than President Putin.

Now, we have no illusions that the path forward will be easy, but this is a fight that we must and we will win for any country threatened by bullies or would-be aggressors, for all who seek a future of security and peace. And my message today on behalf of President Biden and the United States to the Ukrainian people is: Just as we have stood with you to ensure your nation’s survival over these past 20 months, so we will stand with you as you determine your future and rebuild a free, a resilient, a thriving Ukraine.

MODERATOR: Thank you, Excellencies, and we’ll take questions. The first one goes to Wall Street Journal. William.

QUESTION: Thank you so much, both of you. Secretary Blinken, you said that you have no illusions that the fight will be easy. What did you hear, what one or two things did you hear on this trip from President Zelenskyy or others that you can take back to President Biden and the American people, and say this is a fight that Ukraine can win, this is a fight that makes sense for the U.S. to support?

And also for Foreign Minister Kuleba, I wanted to ask a similar question. Are you at all worried about waning political support for the war in Ukraine in the United States? Thank you.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Will, thank you. First as I said, it’s important to put where we are and where Ukraine is in respect. As I mentioned a moment ago, I was last here almost exactly a year ago. And in that time – in the year since I was last here, Ukraine has taken back more than 50 percent of the territory that Russia seized from it since February 2022. In the current counteroffensive, we are seeing real progress over the last few weeks. As it happens, President Zelenskyy just returned from the front lines so I was able to hear directly from him his assessment of the counteroffensive. And I think it very much matches our own, which is, as I said, real progress in recent weeks.

We are doing everything we can to maximize our support to Ukraine as it pursues a counteroffensive. And ultimately, as I said before, one thing above all other things will make the difference on this. Beyond the extraordinary work the Ukrainians are doing, beyond even the equipment, the support, the training that we and dozens of other nations are providing, the fundamental difference maker is that Ukrainians are fighting for their own country, for their own future, for their own freedom; Russians are not. And that gives me tremendous confidence that Ukraine will prevail.

FOREIGN MINISTER KULEBA: As I mentioned, I believe that Secretary and this administration and both parties in Congress understand that what is being decided here in Ukraine is not just about Ukraine; it’s about the way the world will look like. Because if Russia manages to succeed even partially, it will be a clear motivational signal – a clear encouragement – to all other malign forces across the globe to solve problems through the use of force.

The second argument is also – I mean, I think very simple. I mean, I don’t want to sound rude, but the question is if the West cannot win in this war, then what is the war that the West can win? And when I say the West, I include Ukraine to this list as well. But I think the most important part of your answer was – comes from the Secretary himself from his concluding lines that Ukraine, as he said, should win and will – must win and will win. And this is exactly the philosophy that is being then implemented into specific decisions that gives me reasons to believe that we are continuing our walk towards victory. And it’s deeply appreciated.

MODERATOR: (Inaudible.)

QUESTION: (Via interpreter) Mr. Antony, what I discussed with Paul Whelan who Russia is holding him for four years in the prison and also Russia is holding our Ukrainians in prisons. So will United States will include – get engaged into the discussion and to the negotiation of returning Ukrainians from the prison?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thank you very much. First, let me say that, for me, the well-being, the security, the safety of Americans everywhere, and particularly overseas, is my number one responsibility. And that very much goes to Americans who are being unjustly detained, including Paul Whelan, and of course Evan Gershkovich. We are focused every day on trying to bring them and other unjustly detained Americans home.

When it comes to Ukrainians who are being detained – civilians, as you’ve heard Dmytro refer to as well as prisoners of war – of course, Ukraine has been in the lead on seeking to secure their freedom. But if there are any ways we can support that effort and help that effort, of course, we’ll do it.

MODERATOR: Next one goes to CNN Jennifer.

QUESTION: Thank you so much for doing this, both of you. Mr. Secretary, yesterday Russia and Saudi Arabia announced they would continue their voluntary oil production cuts and that’s already seen a surge in oil prices. Are you concerned that this is going to have an impact on Americans at the pump? And are there going to be consequences for Riyadh as was warned last year when we saw similar moves?

And then to both of you, today, Putin spoke with MBS and praised their economic cooperation. Does this give you concerns that Saudi Arabia could be an honest broker in any peace negotiations given the close ties between the two?

Thank you.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: So our focus is on making sure of two things: that energy remains readily available and that there’s sufficient supply on the market to meet demand; and, of course, that this is done at a reasonable price. We are always looking to see what those who are producers and suppliers of energy are doing in terms of that supply and the effects that it’s going to have on the market. So we will look at this carefully in the days and weeks ahead to see the results that it actually produces. You can get an immediate bump in price, but that may quickly settle down to something lower. So it’s something we’ll be looking at, again, with the objective of ensuring that there is sufficient energy on world markets to meet demand and at a fair price.

FOREIGN MINISTER KULEBA: Ukrainian soldier is the most honest broker in this war, because we all understand that the road to any diplomatic process lays through the battlefield. In diplomacy I think that – I think one of the finest arts of diplomacy is the art of separation, like in cooking. And I believe it’s no coincidence that while Saudi Arabia and Russia discuss strengthening economic cooperation, Saudi Arabia hosts very important meeting in Jeddah dedicated to the realization of peace formula proposed by Ukraine. And I believe that the art of Saudi diplomacy here is to separate these tracks. And we welcome their effort to bring together various countries to make them sit at the table in Saudi Arabia and discuss how to restore peace in Ukraine on Ukraine’s terms. This is very important.

MODERATOR: The last one (inaudible).

QUESTION: Thank you. My first question is to Secretary Blinken. As we know, Ukraine and USA started talks about security guarantees. Can you give us a little more information, how is it going, and when we will hear the first, maybe, results?

(Via interpreter) What do we expect from the general assembly, and what are goals? And what are we going to get out with from that event?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: So we are focused with our Ukrainian partners and many other countries around the world on two things. One is in the near term, in the immediate term, ensuring that Ukraine has what it needs to be successful on the battlefield in pursuing the counteroffensive and dealing with the current Russian aggression. And an important part of my visit here today was to do what we’ve been doing all along, which is to listen very carefully to our Ukrainian partners, to understand what they need in this moment, and to look at ways to support that.

But even as we’re doing that, it’s critically important that we and many other countries that have agreed to do the same help Ukraine build a force for the future, a military force for the future, that is capable of deterring future aggression and, if necessary, defending and defeating it. We now have 29 countries that are signed on to a declaration issued by the G7 at the end of the NATO summit that is focused on doing just that, helping Ukraine build this force for the future. And we’re in the early stages of talking directly with Ukraine about what the different elements would be. Other countries are similarly engaged or beginning to engage in those conversations. And as I indicated, that will I think play out over the coming months.

It’s important because we want to make sure that Ukraine is in a position for the long term, not just today, to deter aggression and to defend against it. We need President Putin to understand that he cannot outlast Ukraine, he cannot outlast Ukraine’s supporters, that Ukraine is actually going to grow stronger and even more effective with a military force that is world class, but also a strong and vibrant economy and a strong and vibrant democracy.

So all of these things together are the recipe for, as I said earlier, a Ukraine that not only survives this Russian aggression but thrives in the future. That’s the best possible response to what Putin has done.

So this work on helping Ukraine build long-term deterrence and defense, as I said, we’re beginning to engage in those conversations in detail, but this will be something that we work on in the coming months.

FOREIGN MINISTER KULEBA: (Via interpreter) General assembly will be very big and fruitful. The priority number one to include the new countries to implementation of peace formula, President Zelenskyy’s peace formula, and to – and execute the next steps for the holding global summit, global peace summit. Number two, it’s the issue of export of Ukrainian grain to the world markets. You know that UN has its own role in it. And as a result of these processes and all the whole world especially African and Asian countries are very looking forward to resolve this issue, because the prices for bread is unfortunately because of the Russian blackmail is growing. And we need to ensure the world and protect the world from the possibility of Russia blackmailing the world. The third subject, it’s a bilateral meetings during this United Nations session. And we’re going to discuss weapons, new defense packages going to Ukraine.

What else? And there will be hundreds of other questions that we’re going to discuss, but these are the major – these are three major issues and questions that we’re going to discuss.




Special Advisor on International Disability Rights Minkara Travel to Greece
09/07/2023


Special Advisor on International Disability Rights Minkara Travel to Greece
09/07/2023 08:27 AM EDT



Office of the Spokesperson

Special Advisor on International Disability Rights Sara Minkara will travel to Thessaloniki, Greece, from September 7 to 9 to highlight the emerging U.S.-Greek partnership advancing the full inclusion of persons with disabilities at the Thessaloniki International Fair. During the trip, she will also meet with government officials, regional and municipal authorities, local non-governmental organizations, disability activists, business leaders, and education stakeholders to promote the full social and economic empowerment and inclusion of persons with disabilities, especially within the education sector.

Follow Special Advisor Minkara on the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor’s Facebook and Twitter @StateDRL and Instagram @usa_humanrights. For media inquiries, please contact DRL-Press@state.gov.




Secretary Antony J. Blinken Remarks to the Press
09/07/2023
Secretary Antony J. Blinken Remarks to the Press
09/07/2023 09:36 AM EDT



Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Yahidne, Ukraine

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Well, good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for being along with us today.

We have seen a number of things today and I think what strikes me the most is this: First, we’ve seen the horrific human consequences of the Russian aggression against Ukraine. And it’s so easy to sometimes get lost in abstractions, numbers, how many people lost their lives or were wounded, what the larger effects are.

But it all comes down to the human dimension, to the lives, the stories of men, of women, and children – like the men, women, and children who are imprisoned in the basement of this building next to us, which normally was a school, and are held there for a month, 127 people in a room not even fit for one person for human habitation, children as young as a month old not allowed to come out. And this is just one building in one village in one community in Ukraine and this is a story that we’ve seen again and again and again.

Now what happened here happened at the beginning of the Russian aggression, but the atrocities and the impact it’s having on Ukrainians of all ages continue to this very day. Just yesterday, we saw the bombing of a market – 17 people or more killed, many others injured. A market. For what? This is what Ukrainians are living with every day. This is what is happening here every day. And I ask you to just imagine if this was your schoolhouse, if these were your children. Think about that for a minute.

But we’re also seeing something else that’s incredibly powerful, and that is the extraordinary resilience of the Ukrainian people. The building – rebuilding of this house next to me that was bombed to nothing by the Russians when they invaded. Documenting what happened here in this school to the men, women, and children who were imprisoned here, including those who died suffocating to death downstairs because there was no air. Working together, volunteering to rebuild their communities.

We came, just before we were here, from a place where a remarkable NGO with local volunteers is dealing with all of the unexploded ordnance as well as the mines that are throughout Ukraine. By some estimates, as much as one-third of Ukraine’s territory has to deal with mines or unexploded ordnance – one-third of the entire country. Farmland throughout the country – unexploded ordnance, mines – farmland that was feeding 80 million people around the world. And now because of this Russian aggression, the farmers can’t farm their fields, the food doesn’t get out to people who need it.

But Ukrainians are coming together to get rid of the ordnance, to get rid of the mines, and to rebuild – to literally recover the land that was taken from them. We’re very proud to be partners with Ukraine in all of these efforts, not just in the military effort, to make sure that Ukrainians have what they need to defend against the aggression to take back their territory, but rebuilding, recovery. We’re working on demining and supporting that. We’re working on helping communities recover and rebuild. We’re working on making sure that investment comes to Ukraine so that the economy can recover.

In all of these areas and more, we and so many other countries around the world are standing side by side with Ukraine, and part of the reason for my visit here at President Biden’s behest is just to reaffirm that commitment – the commitment to continue to stand with Ukraine and with Ukrainians as they take on the aggression, as they recover, as they rebuild. This will be the story for some time, but it’s important – important to me that even as we travel around the world and have an opportunity to work with our counterparts, our colleagues and governments, that we get a chance to see firsthand what all of this is really about. And it is about the people, it is about the mothers, it is about the children, it is about the fathers who are the ones who are the victims of what we’ve seen in Ukraine and what we continue to see in far too many places around the world from Africa to the Middle East to our own hemisphere.

We’ve said, many of us, looking at this, hearing the stories, this is the 21st century. This wasn’t supposed to happen again. And not just here, the heart of Europe, but around the world. So we’re committed – the State Department and the United States – to do everything we possibly can to try to prevent conflict, to try to stop it, and to stand with those who are the victims of aggression.




Designating Members of the Russia-Based Trickbot Cybercrime Network
09/07/2023

Designating Members of the Russia-Based Trickbot Cybercrime Network
09/07/2023 10:18 AM EDT



Matthew Miller, Department Spokesperson

The United States, in coordination with the United Kingdom, is taking action today against the Trickbot group, a Russia-based cybercrime network that has targeted the U.S. Government and U.S. companies, including hospitals.

The Department of the Treasury sanctioned 11 key actors in the network’s operation. Concurrently, the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed indictments against nine individuals in connection with the Trickbot malware and other ransomware schemes, including seven of the individuals designated today.

Today’s action follows our February 2023 joint U.S.-UK cyber designations of other members of the Trickbot group and represents our continued commitment to targeting and combating ransomware actors. The United States will continue to use all available tools to target Russia-based cybercrime and counter the threat posed by ransomware in coordination with national and international partners.

Today’s action is being taken pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13694, as amended by E.O. 13757, for having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, an activity described in subsection (a)(ii) of section 1 of E.O. 13694, as amended. For more information on this designation, see Treasury’s press release.


Independent Audit of Gazprom’s Debt Claims Against Moldovagaz
09/07/2023


Independent Audit of Gazprom’s Debt Claims Against Moldovagaz
09/07/2023 11:42 AM EDT



Matthew Miller, Department Spokesperson

The United States welcomes the completion of the independent audit commissioned by the government of Moldova and conducted by an outside firm to examine Gazprom’s debt claims against Moldovagaz. It should come as no surprise that Gazprom could not substantiate the exorbitant bill that Russia expected the Moldovan people to pay. The United States reaffirms its support for the Republic of Moldova’s ongoing efforts to diversify its energy sources and ensure a more prosperous and transparent future for its people.




Condemnation of the Lukashenka Regime’s Prohibition on Renewing Passports for Belarusians Abroad
09/07/2023

Condemnation of the Lukashenka Regime’s Prohibition on Renewing Passports for Belarusians Abroad
09/07/2023 02:38 PM EDT



Matthew Miller, Department Spokesperson

The Lukashenka regime’s decision to stop providing overseas passport services harms thousands of Belarusians living abroad and is the latest in a long line of cynical rejections by the regime of its basic obligations to its people. The decree’s sole aim is to make the lives of ordinary Belarusians living abroad more difficult and represents yet another form of oppression and retaliation against the thousands of Belarusians who were forced to flee their homes to escape a regime that imprisons those who dare to stand up for their rights. The rule has repercussions for all Belarusians. It will prevent families from obtaining citizenship and travel documents for their children, while also making it nearly impossible for Belarusians abroad to maintain control over their homes and property in Belarus.

The United States remains in close consultation with our European allies and the Belarusian democratic forces led by Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya about ways to help Belarusians abroad who are affected by this punitive decree.




Special Envoy Abby Finkenauer’s Travel to La Crosse, Wisconsin
09/07/2023

Special Envoy Abby Finkenauer’s Travel to La Crosse, Wisconsin
09/07/2023 03:45 PM EDT



Office of the Spokesperson

U.S. Department of State Special Envoy for Global Youth Issues Abby Finkenauer will travel to La Crosse, Wisconsin, September 7 to 8 to meet with exchange participants from Luxembourg along with local high school and college students. She will discuss careers in diplomacy and public service and the importance of youth participation in government and civil society.

The Special Envoy’s trip is focused on communicating the work of the State Department to young people in the United States and highlighting the importance of cross-cultural exchanges and strengthening global ties. For more information on the trip, follow along on Instagram , X , and Facebook .




Secretary Antony J. Blinken Video Remarks at the Open Government Partnership Summit
09/07/2023

Secretary Antony J. Blinken Video Remarks at the Open Government Partnership Summit
09/07/2023 04:05 PM EDT



Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Tallinn, Estonia

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Hello, everyone. I’m glad to join this year’s Open Government Partnership Summit. I’m grateful to everyone who made this event possible: our host and OGP steering committee co-chair, the Government of Estonia, and our CEO Sanjay Pradhan.

Twelve years ago, eight countries worked with civil society groups to launch the Open Government Partnership based on shared principles: the belief that every person in a society should be able to understand the government decisions affecting their lives and have a say in shaping them; that citizens should have the power to hold public officials and their governments to account; and that governing involves more than just governments, with members of civil society, academia, the private sector all playing critical roles.

Over the last decade, the Open Government Partnership has shown that when these principles are put into action, our democracies are more equitable, more prosperous, and they’re better able to deliver essential services for their people. But as President Biden often says, democracy doesn’t happen by accident. It must be renewed every day by all of us. The United States is committed to revitalizing democracy at home and around the world and doing so through the Open Government Partnership and other organizations.

That’s why we’re grateful to have been elected to the OGP steering committee in March. Over the next three years, we’ll help set the Open Government agenda with our fellow members and work toward our shared priorities. And we’ll bring in perspectives from across our government, applying the best practices that we’ve gathered from our initiatives both within our country and around the world. We’ll also incorporate lessons learned from our other efforts to support open government, including the Summit for Democracy.

During his first year in office, President Biden launched the Summit for Democracy, bringing together countries from around the world to strengthen our democratic institutions. Since then, the United States has worked with our partners to implement our summit commitments so that, together, we can address some of the toughest challenges we all face, from rising inequality to the misuse of technology.

We’re also focused on tackling corruption to help defend the integrity of governing institutions and restore people’s trust in them. During his first year in office, President Biden launched the first ever U.S. strategy to counter corruption. As part of this initiative, the United States joined 35 other nations at the second Summit for Democracy and committed to improve transparency in our financial systems so that we can prevent corrupt actors from hiding their identities and their assets in our countries. And this December, in Atlanta, Georgia, the United States will continue those efforts by hosting the largest biennial UN conference on anti-corruption.

While we’re making progress globally, in this area and others, we’re also working to bolster our own democracy. We’re taking steps to implement our domestic Summit for Democracy commitments. And last December, we also released our newest Open Government Partnership National Action Plan, which outlines our latest pledges to make our government more transparent, including creating opportunities for citizens to weigh in when we develop new regulations.

As we move forward, we’ll continue encouraging and amplifying similar initiatives that our OGP colleagues are using to strengthen democracy – like passing laws requiring that government documents are written in plain language; letting citizens propose ideas for public projects and vote on funding them; creating committees of civil society leaders to help shape policy; transforming government services so that they’re fully accessible online, whether that’s filing taxes or voting in elections.

We know how much work remains. But by joining forces, by sharing our experiences, by holding each other accountable, we can learn from each other, and we can make our democracies more open and transparent and demonstrate clearly that there is no better system of government in the world.

I look forward to a successful summit. Thank you.




Russia’s Sham Elections in Ukraine’s Sovereign Territory
09/07/2023

Russia’s Sham Elections in Ukraine’s Sovereign Territory
09/07/2023 04:13 PM EDT



Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

The Russian Federation is in the process of conducting sham elections in occupied areas of Ukraine. These so-called elections are taking place nearly one year after the Kremlin staged sham referenda and purported to annex Ukraine’s Kherson, Zaporizhzhya, Donetsk, and Luhansk oblasts, and over nine years after Russia purported to annex Ukraine’s Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol. The Kremlin hopes these pre-determined, fabricated results will strengthen Russia’s illegitimate claims to the parts of Ukraine it occupies, but this is nothing more than a propaganda exercise.

Russia’s actions demonstrate its blatant disregard for UN Charter principles like respect for state sovereignty and territorial integrity, which underpin global security and stability. The United States will never recognize the Russian Federation’s claims to any of Ukraine’s sovereign territory, and we remind any individuals who may support Russia’s sham elections in Ukraine, including by acting as so-called “international observers,” that they may be subject to sanctions and visa restrictions.




Secretary Blinken’s Call with Romanian Foreign Minister Odobescu
09/07/2023
Secretary Blinken’s Call with Romanian Foreign Minister Odobescu
09/07/2023 04:51 PM EDT



Office of the Spokesperson

The below is attributable to Spokesperson Matthew Miller:

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke with Romanian Foreign Minister Luminita Odobescu today. Secretary Blinken and Foreign Minister Odobescu discussed Romania’s investigation of the drone debris found in Romania, close to the border with Ukraine. The two discussed additional cooperation to preserve airspace security, including an upcoming rotation of additional U.S. F-16 fighter jets to bolster NATO’s air policing mission in Romania. Secretary Blinken affirmed our unwavering support to Romania, our NATO Ally.


North Macedonia National Day
09/08/2023


North Macedonia National Day
09/08/2023 12:01 AM EDT



Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

On behalf of the United States of America, I congratulate the people of North Macedonia as you celebrate 32 years of independence.

The United States supports North Macedonia in making reforms to integrate into the European Union and forging ever stronger relations with neighboring European countries.

North Macedonia has made great strides to ensure the prosperity of all its citizens while facing global challenges, and we stand with you in your efforts to promote the rule of law. We look forward to strengthening our partnership with North Macedonia and advancing our shared democratic values in the years to come.




Urgent Need for Humanitarian Supplies into Nagorno-Karabakh
09/10/2023


Urgent Need for Humanitarian Supplies into Nagorno-Karabakh
09/10/2023 08:27 AM EDT



The Secretary of State

The United States is deeply concerned about the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. We note that humanitarian supplies are positioned near both the Lachin and Aghdam routes, and we repeat our call for the immediate and simultaneous opening of both corridors to allow passage of desperately needed humanitarian supplies to the men, women, and children in Nagorno-Karabakh. We also urge leaders against taking any actions that raise tensions or distract from this goal. The use of force to resolve disputes is unacceptable.

In light of the recent increase in tensions in the South Caucasus, the United States will continue to strongly support efforts by Armenia and Azerbaijan to resolve outstanding issues through direct dialogue, with the aim of achieving a dignified and enduring peace. We reiterate that any peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan must protect the rights and security of the residents of Nagorno-Karabakh. We also encourage dialogue between Baku and residents of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The United States further reaffirms the only way forward is peace, dialogue, and the normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan on the basis of mutual respect for each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.




Secretary Antony J. Blinken With Jonathan Karl of ABC This Week
09/10/2023
Secretary Antony J. Blinken With Jonathan Karl of ABC This Week
09/10/2023 10:48 AM EDT



Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

New Delhi, India

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, thank you for joining us. I want to begin with that devastating earthquake this weekend in Morocco. What is the United States doing to assist in the relief, recovery, search and rescue operation there?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Jon, you’re right; it is devastating. And we’ve reached out immediately to the Moroccan Government, made very clear to them that we are prepared to assist in any way that we can. We have the U.S. Agency for International Development, which takes the lead in our efforts, mobilizing, and we’re waiting to hear from the Moroccan Government how we can be of most assistance. But we’re tracking this very carefully, and our hearts go out to the people of Morocco who suffered this devastating earthquake, and we stand ready to help in any way that we can.

QUESTION: And I want to turn to your trip. You were obviously in Ukraine this week. You went from there to the G20 meeting of world leaders in India. I noticed that the joint statement coming out of that G20 meeting does not explicitly condemn Russia’s actions in Ukraine. Why is it that you couldn’t get world leaders to agree on a statement calling out Russian – Russia’s aggression, as they’ve done in the past?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Well, the leaders here all stood up very clearly, including in the statement, for Ukraine’s sovereignty, for its territorial integrity. I think the statement’s a very strong one. And what I heard in the room as well makes very clear that virtually every member of the G20 – perhaps minus one – is intent on making sure that there is a just and durable end to this Russian aggression. And leader after leader in the room made clear that, for the rest of the world too, the consequences of what Russia has done are having a terrible, terrible impact. Food insecurity around the world – Ukraine had been the breadbasket of the world for so many years. Russia blockaded its ports after the invasion. A deal was negotiated to allow grain to get out; Russia recently tore it up.

That was during – while that deal was in force, 30 million tons of grain were getting out of Ukraine, and mostly to developing countries, including countries that are represented here at the G20 – 18 billion loaves of bread. Now, because of Russia, that’s stopped. It was very clear in the room, going around the table, that countries are feeling the consequences and want the Russian aggression to stop. But I think the statement reflects the strong support that virtually every country in the G20 has for Ukraine and its territorial integrity and sovereignty.

QUESTION: I mean, it doesn’t explicitly condemn Russia’s action, which was done in the previous G20 statement. But let me move on to your time in Ukraine. You spent quite a bit of time with President Zelenskyy. What is your sense? How does he see this ending? Does he see himself coming to a negotiating table with the Russians at some point? How does this end?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Well, first, I found both President Zelenskyy and every Ukrainian that I met – whether it was folks in the government or whether it was many other Ukrainians that we had a chance to engage with over the course of two days – incredibly resilient, incredibly courageous, incredibly resolute. And ultimately, that’s really what’s at the heart of this and the reason that I remain very confident in Ukraine’s ultimate success, which is that they’re fighting for their country, for their future, for their freedom. The Russians are not.

And keep in mind Putin has already lost in what he was trying to achieve. He was trying to erase Ukraine from the map, end its independence, subsume it into Russia. That has already been a failure. Now, where exactly this settles, where lines are drawn, that is going to be up to Ukrainians. But I’ve found a strong determination to continue to work to get their territory back that’s been seized by Russia.

And as to negotiations, Jon, it takes two to tango.

QUESTION: Sure.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: And thus far, we see no indication that Vladimir Putin has any interest in meaningful diplomacy. If he does, I think the Ukrainians will be the first to engage, and we’ll be right behind them. Everyone wants this war to end, but it has to end on just terms and on durable terms that reflect Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

QUESTION: Okay, last question. We understand that the United States is considering sending those long-range missiles that Ukraine has been asking for for a long time. These are long-range missiles, 200 miles in range. Are you okay if those missiles allow Ukraine to attack deep into Russian territory?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Jon, first, you – we have had an ongoing conversation, engagement almost daily with Ukrainians from the very start of the Russian aggression about what they need, when they need it. And all along, we’ve worked, bringing together dozens of countries, to make sure that they have in hand what they need to defend themselves. And that’s been a moving picture. It’s been moving with the conflict itself, from trying to make sure they were defending Kyiv, which they did so successfully early on, to now trying to take back more of their territory in the south and in the east.

And so at any given time, we’re looking – and part of the reason that I was in Ukraine again was to hear directly from President Zelenskyy – he had just been to the front lines – their perspective on how things were going and what it is that they needed to be successful, all of which I report back to my colleagues in Washington. But I think it’s a mistake to focus on any given system, because what’s so important is for anything that we do and other countries do in support of Ukraine, it’s not only the weapon system itself, it’s are Ukrainians trained on it, are they able to maintain it, can they use it effectively as part of their strategy. And we are working on that every single day.

In terms of their targeting decisions, it’s their decision, not ours.

QUESTION: Well, did you bring up —

SECRETARY BLINKEN: As a general matter, we haven’t encouraged or —

QUESTION: Did you bring up —

SECRETARY BLINKEN: I’m sorry, say that again?

QUESTION: We’ve seen an increasing number of attacks on Russian territory by Ukrainian drones, some in Moscow, Rostov-on-Don just a couple of days ago. Did you bring that up?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: No.

QUESTION: Are you – are you okay with – I mean, obviously, they’re – it’s their decisions, but is this war now escalating into Russia?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Jon, we haven’t encouraged and we haven’t enabled any use of weapons outside of Ukraine’s territory. Having said that, let’s take a step back for a second. Virtually every single day the Russians are attacking indiscriminately throughout the entire country of Ukraine. Just during the 48 hours that I was there going in, more missiles were launched at civilian targets, including in Kyiv while I was there; a horrific attack on a marketplace, people just going to buy food, civilians, had nothing to do with this war – killed 17 people. This is the daily life for Ukrainians. This is what they face every single day.

So they have to make the basic decisions about how they’re going to defend their territory and how they’re working to take back what’s been seized from them. Our role, the role of dozens of other countries around the world that are supporting them, is to help them do that. And ultimately, what we all want is an end to this Russian aggression and an end to the aggression that, again, is just and is durable. That’s what Ukrainians want more than anyone else. That’s what we’re working toward.

QUESTION: All right, Mr. Secretary, thank you for your time. Safe travels.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thanks, Jon. Good to be with you.




Secretary Antony J. Blinken With Jake Tapper of CNN’s State of the Union
09/10/2023

Secretary Antony J. Blinken With Jake Tapper of CNN’s State of the Union
09/10/2023 11:16 AM EDT



Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

New Delhi, India

QUESTION: And joining me now is Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Secretary Blinken, thanks for joining us. I do want to start with this devastating earthquake in Morocco Saturday morning. The death toll staggering, expected to rise, of course. Rescuers struggling to reach some hard-to-hit – hard-hit areas. Obviously the first 24 to 48 hours are the most crucial. What is the U.S. doing to help?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Well, Jake, you’re right: This is devastating. And we’ve reached out immediately to the Moroccan Government to offer any assistance that we can provide. We have mobilized the government itself to be ready to provide that assistance. We have U.S. Agency for International Development, which takes the lead in these efforts, that is ready to go. And we await word from the Moroccan Government to find out how we can help, where we can help. But we’re ready to go.

QUESTION: G20 leaders agreed to a joint declaration that in part called for countries to “refrain from the threat or use of force to seek territorial acquisition” against other sovereign nations. That is significantly weaker language than last year’s joint statement, which called for Russia’s “complete and unconditional withdrawal” from Ukraine. Why did the U.S. agree to a watered-down declaration that does not even condemn Russia by name or explicitly call for Russia to leave Ukraine?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Jake, the G20 countries in the statement all stood up for the importance of territorial integrity, sovereignty, and that’s very clear. I was in the room when all the leaders spoke today with President Biden, and it was very clear from everything that they said that not only do they want to see this war end, but they want to see it end on just and durable terms, and it was also very clear that the consequences of Russia’s aggression are being felt throughout the G20 countries and throughout the developing world. So there was, I think, real clarity from the leaders in the room, and again, the statement strongly affirms the proposition that this is about Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty – the principles that are at the heart of the United Nations Charter.

QUESTION: But I’ve heard you talk about this issue. You must be disappointed that they couldn’t agree to stronger language.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: I think it’s very important that the G20 spoke as one. I mean, to some extent, maybe it’s the G19 because obviously Russia is also here – it’s part of the G20 – but the fact that we have a statement coming out collectively of, again, affirming the importance of Ukraine, its territorial integrity and sovereignty, that speaks loudly. But what really speaks loudly, again, are the leaders in the room itself. And I think if you were on the receiving end of what so many of them said, if you were in the Russian seat, it’s pretty clear where the rest of the world stands.

QUESTION: So Speaker McCarthy right now appears to be moving to separate the nearly $24 billion in new funding to help Ukraine from this potential spending deal to avert a government shutdown later this month. What would that mean for Ukraine’s offensive if the aid is separated and if that aid ultimately is not approved by Congress?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Look, this is a moving picture, and I think it’s very clear to us and to many in Congress that this additional assistance is something that Ukraine needs in this moment to continue to carry out the counteroffensive, to regain its territory, as well as to strengthen its defense, its military going forward. It’s not only the right thing to do; it’s the smart and necessary thing to do in our own interest. Because as we’ve said from day one, if we allow this Russian aggression to go forward with impunity, it’s not just Ukrainians who are suffering. It’s virtually everyone around the world who relies on the principles that are at the heart of the UN Charter, including that one big country can’t simply trample on the borders of another, invade it, and try to take it over.

Because if we allow that to go forward with impunity, if we don’t stand up against that, then it’s open season everywhere around the world. I heard Leader McConnell speak very powerfully to this, other colleagues on the House side like Chairman Mike McCaul of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. So we’ve had a strong bipartisan partnership with Congress throughout. I would expect that to continue.

QUESTION: So SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has recently confirmed a report that’s in Walter Isaacson’s new biography of Musk that last year, Musk blocked access to his Starlink satellite network in Crimea in order to disrupt a major Ukrainian attack on the Russian navy there. In other words, Musk effectively sabotaged a military operation by Ukraine, a U.S. ally, against Russia, an aggressor country that invaded a U.S. ally. Should there be repercussions for that?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Jake, I can’t speak to a specific episode. Here’s what I can tell you: Starlink has been a vital tool for the Ukrainians to be able to communicate with each other, and particularly for the military to communicate in their effort to defend all of Ukraine’s territory. It remains so and I would expect it to continue to be critical to their efforts. So what we would hope and expect is that that technology will remain fully available to the Ukrainians. It is vital to what they’re doing.

QUESTION: I don’t know that you can’t speak to it; you won’t speak to it. Musk says he was reportedly afraid that Russia would retaliate with nuclear weapons. Musk says that’s based on his private discussions he had with senior Russian officials. Are you concerned that Musk is apparently conducting his own diplomatic outreach to the Russian Government? Really, none of this concerns you?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Jake, I can’t speak to conversations that may or may not have happened. I don’t know. I’m focused on the fact that the technology itself – Starlink – has been really important to the Ukrainians. It remains so and it should continue to be part of what they’re able to call on to be able to communicate with themselves and, again, to have the military be able to communicate.

Throughout this Russian aggression, we have – we ourselves have always had to factor in what Russia may do in response to any given thing that we or others do or the Ukrainians do, and we have. But what’s so critical now is that Ukraine has had real success over the past year. I was just in Ukraine, as you know. The last time I was there was almost exactly a year ago. In that year, from the last time I was there till this week, the Ukrainians have retaken more than 50 percent of the territory seized by Russia since February of 2022. They’re now engaged in a critical counteroffensive, and we’re doing everything we can to maximize our support for them along with many other countries so that they can be successful. Starlink is an important part of their success, and as I said, we expect that it will continue to be so.

QUESTION: It sounds like Starlink is so important that the U.S. Government doesn’t want to risk offending a capricious billionaire who did some things that I think in another situation the U.S. Government might want to say something about. But let’s move on.

Last month marked two years since the Abbey Gate bombing in Afghanistan that killed 13 servicemembers during the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal. I recently spoke to Gold Star family members of those lost servicemembers, and they told me that they think the Biden administration – specifically the Pentagon – is not giving them the answers and the accountability that they need for what happened to their loved ones that day. Does the Pentagon need to be more forthcoming about what happened that day to those 13 servicemembers?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Jake, I can’t even begin to put myself in the shoes of those who lost their loved ones and who were acting so heroically and bravely. I can’t begin to imagine what they’re feeling. I can just say that if I were in their shoes, I’d probably feel exactly the same way. And we’re determined as an administration to make sure that for the entire duration of the war, including Abbey Gate, that we draw the lessons that we need to draw from it and act accordingly. And we will and we are.

At the same time, the President made a very difficult but very important decision to end America’s longest war – 20 years. And we want to make sure, and as a result of what the President did we can make sure, that we’re not going to have another generation going to Afghanistan to fight and die there as we had for 20 years. So we did the right thing. But of course, we will look very hard at everything, every aspect of the decisions that we made to make sure that we get it right every time going forward, and that everyone who was involved feels that appropriate justice has been done to the sacrifice of their loved ones.

But again, for me, I had a chance to see many of these families when we brought their loved ones home through Dover, and it’s a – it’s something that, again, I just can’t fully put myself in their shoes. I have so much admiration for the extraordinary courage of service of Sergeant Gee, Corporals Lopez, Espinoza, so many others. They were extraordinary.

But I’ll say one last thing. Like so many other people, I’ve been engaged, as you have, in the war in Afghanistan, Iraq over 20 years. And during that time, I was in government virtually the entire time. I was out at Dover repeatedly as we brought the remains of our servicemembers home. I was in a C-17 with a flag-draped coffin coming back from one of those battlefields. I know the sacrifice of so many over so many years. And I know that because President Biden ended America’s longest war, that won’t be the case going forward – that we will not, as I said, be sending another generation of Americans to fight and die there.

QUESTION: Secretary Blinken, thank you so much for your time today.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thanks, Jake.




Special Advisor on International Disability Rights Minkara Travel to Brussels
09/10/2023


Special Advisor on International Disability Rights Minkara Travel to Brussels
09/10/2023 07:37 PM EDT



Office of the Spokesperson

Special Advisor Sara Minkara will travel to Brussels, Belgium, September 10 to 13, for meetings with government officials, local non-governmental organizations, disability activists, and representatives of the United States missions to the EU and NATO. She will connect with EU and NATO representatives on integrating disability rights into our shared diplomatic objectives. Her meetings with the EU will seek to incorporate accessibility and disability inclusion into the Ukraine Reconstruction efforts. At NATO, Special Advisor Minkara will discuss applying disability approaches as a tool in peace building and crisis management.

Follow Special Advisor Minkara on the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor’s Facebook and Twitter @StateDRL and Instagram @usa_humanrights.




G7 Foreign Ministers’ Statement on Illegitimate “Elections” in Regions of Ukraine Illegally Occupied by Russia
09/13/2023


G7 Foreign Ministers’ Statement on Illegitimate “Elections” in Regions of Ukraine Illegally Occupied by Russia
09/13/2023 11:15 AM EDT



Office of the Spokesperson

The text of the following statement was released by the G7 foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, and the High Representative of the European Union.

Begin Text:

We, the G7 Foreign Ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, and the High Representative of the European Union, unequivocally condemn the staging of sham “elections” held by Russia on sovereign Ukrainian territory in Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia oblasts and Crimea.

These sham “elections” are a further violation of the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and of the UN Charter.

Russia has no legitimate basis for any such actions on the territory of Ukraine. The sham “elections” are a propaganda exercise aimed at legitimizing Russia’s illegal seizure of Ukrainian territory.

In October 2022, 143 states voted at the UN General Assembly to condemn Russia’s attempted illegal annexation of sovereign Ukrainian territory, reaffirming that no territorial acquisition resulting from the threat or use of force shall be recognized as legal.

Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia oblasts and Crimea are part of Ukraine. We will never recognize Russia’s illegitimate claims to sovereign Ukrainian territory and call on all States to unequivocally reject them.

Since Russia invaded, it has sought to exercise control through policies designed to instill fear and to suppress Ukrainian culture and identity. These include arbitrary detention, torture, forced deportations, forced passportization, ‘filtration’, and the imposition of Russian law, media, education and currency.

Russia’s attempt to create a situation of fait-accompli through these sham “elections” will not alter our approach nor our support to Ukraine as it fights to reclaim its internationally-recognized territory. We will stand with the Ukrainian people and continue to provide the financial, humanitarian, security and diplomatic support Ukraine requires for as long as it takes.

End Text.




Secretary Antony J. Blinken Remarks to the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) “The Power and Purpose of American Diplomacy in a New Era”
09/13/2023

Secretary Antony J. Blinken Remarks to the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) “The Power and Purpose of American Diplomacy in a New Era”
09/13/2023 01:58 PM EDT



Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Washington, D.C.

“The Power and Purpose of American Diplomacy in a New Era”

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thank you. Good morning, everyone.

AUDIENCE: Good morning.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Dean Steinberg, Jim, thank you for the honor of joining the SAIS community to help inaugurate this truly magnificent new home.

Jim has contributed so much over his remarkable career, but his most lasting contribution is the generation of thinkers, the generation of doers that he’s educated, that he’s mentored, that he’s inspired. Including me.

Dr. Brzezinski also believed that one of his most enduring contributions to international affairs was shaping America’s rising scholars and practitioners – including President Carter, who described himself as “an eager student” of Zbig; and Ian, Mark, Mika – all of whom have strived to bring us closer to what Zbig called the pragmatic fusion of American power with American principle.

So eighty years ago, when Paul Nitze came together with then-Congressman Chris Herter to create this institution, they set about finding a place to house it.

They settled on a decaying mansion on Florida Avenue – (laughter) – that had once been home to a girls’ school. An old basketball court served as SAIS’s first library. As Jim mentioned, I had the experience of working in the original housing for SAIS – also the profound, distinct honor of temporarily occupying the office that Paul Nitze once inhabited.

But as Nitze and Herter both knew, buildings – from the humblest to the grandest – are just that: buildings. It’s people who infuse them with ideas and purpose.

Back then, the world was reeling from the Second World War. The old order was in ruins, and Nitze and Herter believed that this institution should play an integral role in building a new order. SAIS graduates have been fulfilling that promise ever since.

Now we find ourselves at another hinge moment in history – grappling with the fundamental question of strategy, as Nitze defined it: “How do we get from where we are to where we want to be, without being struck by disaster along the way?”

Today, what I want to do is set out the Biden administration’s answer to that profound and vital question.

So let’s start with where we are.

The international landscape that all of you are studying is profoundly different from the one that I encountered when I started out in government 30 years ago alongside Mr. Steinberg.

The end of the Cold War brought with it the promise of an inexorable march toward greater peace and stability, international cooperation, economic interdependence, political liberalization, human rights.

And indeed, the post-Cold War era ushered in remarkable progress. More than a billion people lifted from poverty. Historic lows in conflicts between states. Deadly diseases diminished – even eradicated.

Now, not everyone benefitted equally from the extraordinary gains of this period. And there were serious challenges to the order – the wars in the former Yugoslavia; the genocide in Rwanda; 9/11 and the Iraq War; the 2008 global financial crisis; Syria; the COVID pandemic – to name a few.

But what we’re experiencing now is more than a test of the post-Cold War order. It’s the end of it.

That didn’t happen overnight. And what brought us to this moment will be the subject of study and debate for decades to come. But there is a growing recognition that several of the core assumptions that shaped our approach to the post-Cold War era no longer hold.

Decades of relative geopolitical stability have given way to an intensifying competition with authoritarian powers, revisionist powers. Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine is the most immediate, the most acute threat to the international order enshrined in the UN charter and its core principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity, and independence for nations, and universal indivisible human rights for individuals.

Meanwhile, the People’s Republic of China poses the most significant long-term challenge because it not only aspires to reshape the international order, it increasingly has the economic, the diplomatic, the military, the technological power to do just that.

And Beijing and Moscow are working together to make the world safe for autocracy through their “no limits partnership.”

As this competition ramps up, many countries are hedging their bets. The influence of non-state actors is growing – from corporations whose resources rival those of national governments; to NGOs providing services to hundreds of millions of people; to terrorists with the capacity to inflict catastrophic harm; to transnational criminal organizations trafficking illicit drugs, weapons, human beings.

Forging international cooperation has gotten more complex. Not only because of rising geopolitical tensions, but also because of the mammoth scale of global problems like the climate crisis, food insecurity, mass migration and displacement.

Countries and citizens are losing faith in the international economic order, their confidence rattled by systemic flaws:

A handful of governments that used rule-shattering subsidies, stolen IP, and other market-distorting practices to gain an unfair advantage in key sectors.

Technology and globalization that hollowed out and displaced entire industries, and policies that failed to do enough to help out the workers and communities that were left behind.

And inequality that has skyrocketed. Between 1980 and 2020, the richest .1 percent accumulated the same wealth as the poorest 50 percent.

The longer these disparities persist, the more distrust and disillusionment they fuel in people who feel the system is not giving them a fair shake. And the more they exacerbate other drivers of political polarization, amplified by algorithms that reinforce our biases rather than allowing the best ideas to rise to the top.

More democracies are under threat. Challenged from the inside by elected leaders who exploit resentments and stoke fears; erode independent judiciaries and the media; enrich cronies; crack down on civil society and political opposition. And challenged from the outside, by autocrats who spread disinformation, who weaponize corruption, who meddle in elections.

Any single one of these developments would have posed a serious challenge to the post-Cold War order. Together, they’ve upended it.

So we find ourselves at what President Biden calls an inflection point. One era is ending, a new one is beginning, and the decisions that we make now will shape the future for decades to come.

The United States is leading in this pivotal period from a position of strength. Strength grounded in both our humility and our confidence.

Humility because we face challenges that no one country can address alone. Because we know we will have to earn the trust of a number of countries and citizens for whom the old order failed to deliver on many of its promises. Because we recognize that leadership starts with listening, and understanding shared problems from the perspective of others, so that we can find common ground. And because we face profound challenges at home, which we must overcome if we are going to lead abroad.

But confidence – confidence – because we’ve proven time and again that when America comes together, we can do anything. Because no nation on Earth has a greater capacity to mobilize others in common cause. Because our ongoing endeavor to form a more perfect union allows us to fix our flaws and renew our democracy from within. And because our vision for the future – a world that is open, free, prosperous, and secure – that vision is not America’s alone, but the enduring aspiration of people in every nation on every continent.

A world where individuals are free in their daily lives, and can shape their own futures, their communities, their countries.

A world where every nation can choose its own path and its own partners.

A world where goods, ideas, and individuals can flow freely and lawfully across land, sea, sky, and cyberspace, where technology is used to empower people – not to divide, surveil, and repress them.

A world where the global economy is defined by fair competition, openness, transparency, and where prosperity is not measured only in how much countries’ economies grow, but how many people share in that growth.

A world that generates a race to the top in labor and environmental standards, in health, education, infrastructure, technology, security, and opportunity.

A world where international law and the core principles of the UN Charter are upheld, and where universal human rights are respected.

We will advance this vision guided by a sense of enlightened self-interest that has long animated U.S. leadership at its best. We helped build the international order after World War II and invested in the progress of other nations and people because we recognized that it would serve humanity’s interest, but also our own. We understood that, even as the most powerful nation on Earth, forging shared global rules – accepting certain constraints – and supporting the success of others would ultimately make the American people more prosperous, more peaceful, more secure.

It still does. Indeed, America’s enlightened self-interest in preserving and strengthening this order has never been greater.

Now, our competitors have a fundamentally different vision. They see a world defined by a single imperative: regime preservation and enrichment. A world where authoritarians are free to control, coerce, and crush their people, their neighbors, and anyone else standing in the way of this all-consuming goal.

Our competitors claim that the existing order is a Western imposition, when in fact the norms and values that anchor it are universal in aspiration – and enshrined in international law that they’ve signed onto. They claim that what governments do within their borders is their business alone, and that human rights are subjective values that vary from one society to another. They believe that big countries are entitled to spheres of influence – that power and proximity give them the prerogative to dictate their choices to others.

The contrast between these two visions could not be clearer. And the stakes of the competition we face could not be higher – for the world, and for the American people.

When President Biden asked me to serve as Secretary of State, he made clear that my job was to deliver first and foremost for the American people. And he insisted that we answer two fundamental questions: How can America’s engagement abroad make us stronger here at home? And how can we leverage America’s renewal at home to make us stronger in the world?

Our answers to those questions have guided President Biden’s strategy since day one.

We started by investing in ourselves at home, so the U.S. is in the strongest position to compete and to lead in the world. As George Kennan reminds us: “Much depends on health and vigor of our own society.” And President Biden and our Congress have made America’s biggest investments – excuse me – in generations in shoring up our health and vigor. We’re upgrading infrastructure, boosting research, bolstering the key industries and technologies of the 21st century, recharging our manufacturing base, leading the global energy transition.

More than at any point in my career, in my lifetime, our domestic and foreign policy are fully integrated, in no small part thanks to National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, who has played a leading role in crafting our modern industrial and innovation strategy and aligning it with our foreign policy.

Our domestic renewal reinforces, and is reinforced by, American leadership in the world. And that’s where the power and purpose of American diplomacy comes in. At the core of our strategy is re-engaging, revitalizing, and reimagining our greatest strategic asset: America’s alliances and partnerships.

We’re working with purpose and urgency to deepen, broaden, and align our friends in new ways so that we can meet the three defining tests of this emerging era: a fierce and lasting strategic competition; global challenges that pose existential threats to lives and livelihoods everywhere; and the urgent need to rebalance our technological future and our economic future, so our interdependence is a source of strength – not vulnerability.

We’re doing this through what I like to call diplomatic variable geometry. We start with the problem that we need to solve and we work back from there – assembling the group of partners that’s the right size and the right shape to address it. We’re intentional about determining the combination that’s truly fit for purpose.

These coalitions don’t exist in a vacuum. Creating and strengthening any one group brings capabilities that can be used across America’s vast network of partners. And the more coalitions we build, the more we can find new synergies between and among them – including in ways that we may not have fully anticipated. And together, the whole becomes much greater than the sum of the parts.

Fellow democracies have always been our first port of call for cooperation. They always will be. That’s why President Biden convened two Summits for Democracy to bring together leaders from democracies big and small, emerging and established, to tackle the shared challenges we face.

But on certain priorities, if we go it alone, or only with our democratic friends, we will come up short. Many issues demand a broader set of potential partners, with the added benefit of building stronger relationships with more countries.

So, we’re determined to work with any country – including those with whom we disagree on important issues – so long as they want to deliver for their citizens, contribute to solving shared challenges, and uphold the international norms that we built together. This involves more than just partnering with national governments – but also local governments, civil society, the private sector, academia, and citizens, especially young leaders.

This is the heart of our strategy to get from where we are to where we need to be. And we’re pursuing it in four principal ways.

First, we’re renewing and deepening our alliances and partnerships, and forging new ones.

Go back just a few years, and some were openly questioned the capabilities and relevance of NATO – and America’s own commitment to it. Today, the Alliance is bigger, stronger, more united than ever. We’ve added an incredibly capable new member in Finland, Sweden will join soon, and NATO’s doors remain open. We’ve enhanced our deterrence and defense, including adding four new multinational battalions to NATO’s Eastern Flank, and increasing defense investments to address emerging challenges from cyber attacks to climate change.

We’re transforming the G7 into the steering committee for the world’s most advanced democracies, combining our political and economic muscle to not only address the issues affecting our people – but also to offer countries outside the G7 better ways to deliver for their people.

We’ve raised the level of ambition in our relationship with the European Union. Together, we account for 40 percent of the global economy. We’re using that power to shape our technological and economic future to reflect our shared democratic values.

We’re taking critical bilateral relationships to a new level.

Our decades-long alliance with Japan is stronger and more consequential than ever – reaching new frontiers, from space to quantum computing.

We signed the Washington Declaration with the Republic of Korea, bolstering our cooperation to deter threats from North Korea; and the Jerusalem Declaration with Israel, reaffirming our commitment to Israel’s security – and to using all elements of U.S. power to ensure that Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon.

We agreed to new basing and posture arrangements with allies Australia and the Philippines.

The U.S.-India strategic partnership has never been more dynamic, as we team up on everything from advanced semiconductors to defense cooperation.

And just a few days ago in Hanoi, President Biden cemented a new comprehensive strategic partnership with Vietnam.

We’ve galvanized regional integration. In the Middle East, we’ve deepened both recent and decades-old relations between Israel and Arab states – and we’re working to foster new ones, including with Saudi Arabia.

In our own hemisphere – which is experiencing the greatest mass migration and displacement in its history – we’ve rallied 20 countries and counting around a regional strategy to ensure safe, orderly, and humane migration, while also addressing the root causes that are driving people from their homes in the first place.

And President Biden has hosted summits with leaders from the Americas, Southeast Asia, Africa, the Pacific Island countries, to drive transformational partnerships.

Second, we’re weaving together our alliances and partnerships in innovative and mutually reinforcing ways – across issues and across continents.

Just consider for a minute all of the ways that we’ve rallied different combinations of allies and partners to support Ukraine in the face of Russia’s full-scale aggression.

With Secretary of Defense Austin’s leadership, more than 50 countries are cooperating to support Ukraine’s defense and build a Ukrainian military strong enough to deter and beat back future attacks.

We’ve aligned scores of countries in imposing an unprecedented set of sanctions, export controls, and other economic costs on Russia.

On multiple occasions, we’ve marshaled 140 nations at the United Nations – more than two-thirds of all the member states – to affirm Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and condemn Russia’s aggression and atrocities.

We’ve rallied donors, philanthropies, humanitarian groups to get lifesaving assistance to millions of displaced Ukrainians.

We coordinated the G7, the European Union, and dozens more countries to support Ukraine’s economy, to build back its energy grid – more than half of which Russia has destroyed.

That’s what variable geometry looks like: for every problem, we’re assembling a fit‑for‑purpose coalition.

Because of the remarkable bravery and resilience of the Ukrainian people and our support, Putin’s war continues to be a strategic failure for Russia. Our goal is to ensure Ukraine not only survives, but thrives, as a vibrant, prosperous democracy so that Ukrainians can write their own future – and stand on their own.

Some once saw threats to the international order as confined to one region or another. Not anymore. Russia’s invasion has made clear an attack on the international order anywhere will hurt people everywhere. We’ve seized on this recognition to bring our transatlantic and Indo‑Pacific allies closer together in defending our shared security, prosperity, and freedom.

When Russia cut off oil and gas supplies to Europe in the winter to try to freeze the country out of – freeze countries out of supporting Ukraine, Japan and Korea joined America’s leading liquified natural gas producers to ensure European countries had the energy needed to keep their homes warm throughout the winter. Japan, Korea, Australia, and New Zealand are now regular and active participants in NATO meetings.

Meanwhile, European countries, Canada, and others have joined our allies and partners in Asia in sharpening their tools to push back against the PRC’s economic coercion. And U.S. allies and partners in every region are working urgently to build resilient supply chains, particularly when it comes to key technologies and the critical materials that are needed to make them.

We created a new security partnership – AUKUS – with Australia and the United Kingdom to build modern nuclear-powered submarines, and to advance our joint work on AI, quantum computing, and other cutting-edge technologies.

Coming out of the first-ever trilateral Leaders’ Summit at Camp David last month between the United States, Japan, and Korea, we are taking every aspect of our relationship to the next level – from increasing joint military exercises and intel sharing to aligning our global infrastructure investments.

We’ve elevated the Quad partnership with India, Japan, and Australia to deliver for our countries and the world on everything from manufacturing vaccines to strengthening maritime security to addressing climate challenges.

When I set out the administration’s “invest, align, and compete” strategy toward China last year, we pledged to act with our network of allies and partners in common purpose. By any objective measure, we are now more aligned, and acting in more coordinated ways, than ever before.

That allows us to manage our competition with China from a position of strength, while taking advantage of open channels of communication to speak clearly, credibly, and with a chorus of friends about our concerns; demonstrating our commitment to cooperate on issues that matter most to us in the world; and minimizing the risk of miscalculation that could lead to conflict.

Third, we’re building new coalitions to tackle the toughest shared challenges of our time.

Like closing the global infrastructure gap.

Now, pretty much everywhere I go, I hear from countries about projects that are environmentally destructive and poorly built, that import or abuse workers, that foster corruption and burden them with unsustainable debt.

Of course, countries would prefer transparent, high-quality, environmentally sound investments. They don’t just always have a choice. We’re working with our G7 partners to give them a choice.

Together, we’ve committed to deliver $600 billion in new investment by 2027 through the Partnership of Global Infrastructure and Investment, or PGI. And we’re focusing our government support on areas where reducing risks will unlock hundreds of billions more in private sector investment.

So let me just give you a couple of quick examples of how we’re doing this. We’re making a series of transformative investments in the Lobito corridor – that’s a band of development connecting Africa, from Angola’s port of Lobito, across the DRC, to Zambia – with a new port, new rail lines and roads, new green power projects, new high-speed internet.

The project will deliver 500 megawatts of power – enough to provide electricity for more than 2 million people, cut around 900,000 tons of carbon emissions every year, create thousands of jobs for Africans, thousands more for Americans, and bring critical minerals like copper and cobalt to global markets.

When I visited Kinshasa last year, President Tshisekedi said that Lobito is the choice that they’ve been waiting for – a chance to break from the exploitative, extractive development deals that they had had to accept for far too long.

And just this past week at the G20, President Biden and Indian Prime Minister Modi announced another ambitious transportation, energy, and technology corridor that will connect the ports of Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, France, Germany, Italy, the EU will team up with the U.S. and India to turbo charge clean energy production, digital connectivity, and strengthen critical supply chains across the region.

These and other efforts to build infrastructure in developing countries are ultimately investments in our own future – creating more stable, prosperous partners for the United States; more markets for American workers, businesses, and investors; and a more sustainable planet for our children.

Making a stronger offer for our partners is a good deal for America too.

The same is true for our leadership to address the global food crisis.

More than 700 million people worldwide face food insecurity – fueled by COVID, climate, and conflict – exacerbated now by Russia blocking the flow of grain from Ukraine, the world’s breadbasket.

Now, I’ve had a chance to listen to leaders in countries that have been the hardest hit by this crisis. And what they make clear to me is this: Yes, they need emergency aid; but what they really want is investment in agricultural resilience, in innovation, in self-sufficiency, so that they don’t find themselves in a crisis like this again. We’re partnering with them to deliver just that, together with more than 100 countries that have signed on to a global roadmap for action.

And we’re leading by the power of our own example.

The United States is the largest donor in the world to the UN World Food Programme – we provide about 50 percent of its annual budget. Russia and China? Less than 1 percent each.

Since 2021, the United States has also provided more than $17.5 billion to address food insecurity and its root causes. That includes more than a billion dollars every year toward Feed the Future – the USAID flagship program – our partnership with 40 countries to strengthen food systems. And it includes our support for something called VACS – a new program we launched with the African Union and the UN to identify the most nutritious African crops, to breed their most climate-resilient varieties, and to improve the soil that they grow in.

The more countries can feed their own people, the more prosperous and more stable partners they’ll be; the less they can be victimized by countries willing to cut off food and fertilizer; the less support they’ll need from international donors; the more abundant the global food supply will be, lowering prices in markets everywhere, including in the United States.

We’re bringing a similar approach to emerging technologies, like artificial intelligence.

In July, President Biden announced a new set of voluntary commitments from seven leading AI companies to develop safe, secure, and trustworthy AI systems. And just yesterday, eight more leading companies signed on.

These commitments are the foundation for our engagement with a wide range of partners to forge an international consensus around how to minimize the risks and maximize the potential of rapid AI advances.

We’re starting with our closest partners, like the G7, where we’re designing an international code of conduct for private actors and governments developing advanced AI – and common regulatory principles – and partners like the United Kingdom, which is convening a Global Summit on AI Safety to better identify and mitigate longer-term risks.

Now, for these norms to be effective, we will need to bring a wide range of voices and views into the discussion, including developing countries. We’re committed to doing just that.

Shaping AI’s use is critical to preserving America’s competitive edge in this technology and also fostering AI innovation that actually benefits people everywhere, like helping predict individuals’ risk of deadly disease or forecasting the impact of more severe, more frequent storms. That’s the idea behind a meeting I’ll host at the UN General Assembly next week to focus governments, tech firms, civil society on using AI to advance the Sustainable Development Goals.

Let me give you just one final example of how we’re building a new coalition to address a problem that many people probably didn’t think of as a foreign policy issue: synthetic drugs.

Last year alone, nearly 110,000 Americans died of a drug overdose. Two-thirds of those deaths involved synthetic opioids, making synthetic opioids the number-one killer of Americans aged 18 to 49. The crisis cost the U.S. nearly $1.5 trillion in 2020 alone, to say nothing of the suffering it’s inflicting on families and communities across our country.

We’re not alone in this. Every region is experiencing an alarming rise in synthetic drugs, and no one country can solve this problem.

That’s why we created a new global coalition to prevent the illicit manufacturing and trafficking of synthetic drugs, to detect emerging threats and patterns of use, to advance public health responses. More than 100 governments and a dozen international organizations have joined that coalition. Together, we’re aligning joint priorities, identifying effective policies, integrating health care providers, chemical manufacturers, social media platforms, and other key stakeholders in our efforts. We’ll meet next week in New York to broaden this work.

Of course, these are far from the only areas where we’re building or sustaining coalitions. We’re also using them to address security threats, from the multinational task force we set up to protect the ships crossing the Strait of Hormuz to the longstanding coalition of countries that we created to defeat ISIS.

We continue to partner with governments, with regional organizations, and citizens to press for diplomatic solutions to conflicts new and old – from Ethiopia and eastern DRC, to Armenia and Azerbaijan, to Yemen where we helped forge and maintain a delicate truce.

Our mediation helped Israel and Lebanon reach a historic agreement to establish a maritime boundary between their countries, enabling the development of significant energy reserves to the benefit of people in both countries and beyond.

The more we bring together allies and partners to make real progress on critical issues like infrastructure, like food security, like AI, like synthetic drugs, like conflicts new and old, the more we demonstrate the strength of our offer.

Take any recent challenge where nations around the world have looked to powerful countries to lead. At best, our competitors have sat on the sidelines, closed their checkbooks. At worst, they’ve made bad problems even worse and profited from others’ suffering – extracting political concessions in order to sell countries vaccines; deploying mercenaries who make unstable places less secure, plunder local resources, and commit atrocities; turning people’s basic needs – for heat, for gas, for food, for technology – into a cudgel to threaten and coerce them.

At this critical inflection point, we’re showing countries who we are. So are our competitors.

Finally, we’re bringing our old and new coalitions together to strengthen the international institutions that are vital to tackling global challenges.

That starts with showing up. When the United States has a seat at the table, we can shape the international institutions and the norms that they produce to reflect the interests and values of the American people and advance our vision for the future.

Upon taking office, President Biden moved swiftly to rejoin the Paris Climate Accords, the World Health Organization. We won back a seat on the UN Human Rights Council. We recently rejoined UNESCO – the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization – that will play a role in shaping the norms that define artificial Intelligence.

We’ve competed intensely to elect the most qualified leaders to head international standard- setting agencies, like the UN International Telecommunication Union and the International Organization for Migration. Not only were the two Americans who won these races the best candidates for the job – each is also the first woman to lead her respective institution.

Now, however imperfect these institutions may be, there’s no substitute for the legitimacy and capabilities that they bring to bear on issues that matter to our people. So we have an abiding self-interest in working through them and in making them work better – and not just for the U.S., but for everyone.

The more people and nations around the world see the UN and organizations like it representing their interests, their values, their hopes – the more effective these institutions will be and the more we can rely on them.

That’s why we’ve put forward an affirmative vision for expanding the UN Security Council to incorporate more geographically diverse perspectives – including new permanent and non-permanent members from Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean.

With Secretary Yellen’s leadership, we’re making a major push to revitalize and reform the multilateral development banks so that they can meet the pressing needs of low- and middle-income countries who are facing a perfect storm of challenges: the growing impact of the climate crisis, economic fallout from COVID, inflation, and crushing debt.

President Biden is working with Congress to unlock new lending capacity for the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to provide more financing – at cheaper rates – for investment in climate mitigation, in public health, and other critical issues in these countries.

Together, these U.S.-led initiatives would generate nearly $50 billion in lending for low- and middle-income countries.

And with our strong push, the World Bank will soon enable countries to defer debt payments after climate shocks and natural disasters.

When we strengthen international institutions – and when they deliver on their core promises to ensure security, to expand opportunity, to protect rights – we build a broader coalition of citizens and countries who see the international order as something that improves their lives in real ways and deserves to be upheld and defended.

So when the Beijings and Moscows of the world try to rewrite – or rip down – the pillars of the multilateral system; when they falsely claim that the order exists merely to advance the interests of the West at the expense of the rest – a growing global chorus of nations and people will say, and stand up to say: No, the system you are trying to change is our system; it serves our interests.

And just as important, when our fellow Americans ask what we are getting in return for our investments abroad, we can point to tangible benefits for American families and communities, even as we spend less than one percent of our federal budget on diplomacy and global development.

Those benefits include more markets for American workers and businesses; more affordable goods for American consumers; more reliable food and energy supplies for American households, leading to lower prices at the pump and the dinner table; more robust health systems that can arrest and roll back deadly disease before it spreads to the United States; more allies and partners who are more effective in deterring aggression and addressing, with us, global challenges.

For these and so many other reasons, America’s return on the international order far exceeds our investment in it.

In this pivotal time, America’s global leadership is not a burden. It’s a necessity to safeguard our freedom, our democracy, and our security; to create opportunities for American workers and businesses; to improve the lives of American citizens.

Dean Acheson – who led the State Department after the Second World War – observed in his account of that period, Present at the Creation, that – and I quote – “History is written backwards, but lived forwards.”

Acheson was writing about a different inflection point, of course, but his words hold true for every period of profound uncertainty and chance, including our current one.

In retrospect, the right decisions tend to look obvious, the end results almost inevitable.

They never are.

In real time, it’s a fog. Rules that had provided a sense of order, stability, and predictability can no longer be taken for granted. There are risks inherent in every course of action, currents beyond our control, countless lives at stake.

And yet, even in such times – indeed, especially in these times – policymakers don’t have the luxury of waiting for the fog to lift before choosing a course.

We must act, and act decisively.

We must live history forward – as Acheson did, as Brzezinski did, as have all the other great strategists who’ve guided America through these hinge moments.

We must put our hand on the rudder of history and chart a path forward, guided by the things that are certain even in uncertain times – our principles, our partners, our vision for where we want to go – so that, when the fog lifts, the world that emerges tilts toward freedom, toward peace, toward an international community capable of rising to the challenges of its time.

No one understands this better than President Biden. And America is in a significantly stronger position in the world than it was two and a half years ago because of the actions that he’s taken.

I’m convinced that, decades from now, when the history of this period is written – maybe by some of you – it will show that the way we acted – decisively, strategically, with humility and confidence to reimagine the power and purpose of U.S. diplomacy – we secured America’s future, we delivered for our people, we laid the foundation for a more free, a more open, a more prosperous era – for the American people and for people around the world.

Thanks very much for listening.

(Applause.)

Thank you.




Imposing Further Sanctions in Response to Russia’s Illegal War Against Ukraine
09/14/2023

Imposing Further Sanctions in Response to Russia’s Illegal War Against Ukraine
09/14/2023 11:01 AM EDT



Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

The Departments of State and the Treasury are imposing further sanctions on over 150 individuals and entities in connection with Russia’s unlawful invasion of Ukraine. As part of today’s action, the U.S. government is targeting individuals and entities engaged in sanctions evasion and circumvention, those complicit in furthering Russia’s ability to wage its war against Ukraine, and those responsible for bolstering Russia’s future energy production.

The Department of State is imposing sanctions on over 70 entities and individuals involved in expanding Russia’s energy production and export capacity, operating in Russia’s metals and mining sectors, and aiding Russian individuals and entities in evading international sanctions. The Department of State is also designating one Russian Intelligence Services officer and one Georgian-Russian oligarch whom the FSB has leveraged to influence Georgian society and politics for the benefit of Russia. Additionally, the Department is designating numerous entities producing and repairing Russian weapon systems, including the Kalibr cruise missile used by Russian forces against cities and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, and an individual affiliated with the Wagner Group involved in the shipment of munitions from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the Russian Federation.

Concurrently, the Department of the Treasury is imposing nearly one hundred sanctions on Russia’s elites and its industrial base, financial institutions, and technology suppliers, including one official of the Wagner Group for advancing Russia’s malign activities in the Central African Republic. This action comes after the Wagner Group helped ensure the passage of a July 30 constitutional referendum that undercut the country’s democracy.

The United States and its allies and partners are united in supporting Ukraine in the face of Russia’s unprovoked, unjustified, and illegal war. We will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes.

All targets are being designated pursuant to Executive Order 14024, which authorizes sanctions with respect to specified harmful foreign activities of the Government of the Russian Federation. For more information on today’s actions, please see the Department of State’s fact sheet and the Department of the Treasury’s press release.




Imposing Further Sanctions in Response to Russia’s Illegal War Against Ukraine
09/14/2023

Imposing Further Sanctions in Response to Russia’s Illegal War Against Ukraine
09/14/2023 10:54 AM EDT



Office of the Spokesperson

Today the Department of State is designating individuals and entities to impose further costs in response to Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine. All targets are being designated pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 14024, which authorizes sanctions with respect to specified harmful foreign activities of the Government of the Russian Federation.

CONSTRAINING RUSSIA’S FUTURE ENERGY REVENUE

The Department of State is designating 37 entities involved in expanding Russia’s energy production and future export capacity and identifying two related vessels as blocked property. These designations include entities and individuals involved in the development of key energy projects and associated infrastructure, including Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 liquified natural gas project, as well as entities involved in the procurement of materials and advanced technology for future energy projects for which Russia has historically relied on foreign service companies’ expertise and technology.

Pursuant to section 1(a)(i), the following entity is being designated for operating or having operated in the architecture sector of the Russian Federation economy:JSC ENERGIES is a Russian architecture company providing architecture services to support the development of the Arctic LNG 2 project.

Pursuant to section 1(a)(i), the following entity is being designated for operating or having operated in the engineering sector of the Russian Federation economy:NOVA ENERGIES LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY is a Russian engineering company providing engineering services to support the development of the Arctic LNG 2 project.

Pursuant to section 1(a)(i), the following entity is being designated for operating or having operated in the construction sector of the Russian Federation economy:LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY ARCTIC ENERGIES is a Russian construction company providing construction services to support the development of the Arctic LNG 2 project.

Pursuant to section 1(a)(i), the following entity is being designated for operating or having operated in the engineering sector of the Russian Federation economy:GREEN ENERGY SOLUTIONS PROJECT MANAGEMENT SERVICES SOLE PROPRIETORSHIP LLC (GREEN ENERGY SOLUTIONS) is a newly established engineering company based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. GREEN ENERGY SOLUTIONS provides engineering services and technology, which were previously provided by European service companies, to Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 project.

Pursuant to section 1(a)(i), the following entity is being designated for operating or having operated in the marine sector of the Russian Federation economy:ARCTIC TRANSSHIPMENT LIMITED LIABILTY COMPANY (ARCTIC TRANSSHIPMENT) is a Russian ship construction company that will operate two LNG floating storage units to create strategic Northern Sea Route transshipment points for Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 project.

Pursuant to section 1(a)(iii)(C), the following individual is being designated for being or having been a leader, official, senior executive officer, or member of the board of directors of ARCTIC TRANSSHIPMENT:YURI PAVLOVICH SAFYANOV (SAFYANOV) is the Director General of ARCTIC TRANSSHIPMENT.

The following vessels are being identified as blocked property in which ARCTIC TRANSSHIPMENT, a person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to E.O. 14024, has an interest:KORYAK FSU
SAAM FSU

The Department is designating the following entity pursuant to section 1(a)(i) for operating or having operated in the management consulting sector of the Russian Federation economy:LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY CARBON (CARBON) is the parent company of a network of entities involved in the development of an Arctic coking coal deposit.

Pursuant to section 1(a)(vii), the following two entities are being designated for being owned or controlled by, or for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, CARBON, an entity whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to E.O. 14024. They are both Russia-based subsidiaries of CARBON:UNITED ARCTIC COMPANY LLC (UNITED ARCTIC COMPANY)
LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY RAZREZ POLYARNIY (RAZREZ POLYARNIY)

Pursuant to section 1(a)(vii), the following entities are being designated for being owned or controlled by, or for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, UNITED ARCTIC COMPANY, an entity whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to E.O. 14024. They are all Russia-based subsidiaries of UNITED ARCTIC COMPANY:LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY RAZREZ LEMBEROVSKIY
LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY POLYARNAYA GORNO RUDNAYA KOMPANIYA
LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY ENERGOPROM
LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY PYASINSKAYA GORNAYA KOMPANIYA
LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY DALNEVOSTOCHNAYA GORNO RUDNAYA KOMPANIYA
LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY PROMBIZNES
LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY KRASNOYARSKAYA ENERGETICHESKAYA KOMPANIYA
LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY PUTORANSKAYA GORNAYA KOMPANIYA
LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY OZERNAYA ENERGETICHESKAYA KOMPANIYA
LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY SIBIRSKAYA UGOLNAYA KOMPANIYA
LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY TAYMYRSKAYA GORNAYA KOMPANIYA
LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY AMURSKAYA GORNO RUDNAYA KOMPANIYA
LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY SEVERNAYA ENERGETICHESKAYA KOMPANIYA
LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY YANSKAYA GORNAYA KOMPANIYA
LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY PROMRESHENIE
LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY POLYARNAYA ENERGETICHESKAYA KOMPANIYA
LLC VU DIKSON
LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY POLYARNAYA ENERGETICHESKAYA KOMPANIYA

Pursuant to section 1(a)(vii), the following two entities are being designated for being owned or controlled by, or for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, VU DIKSON, an entity whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to E.O. 14024. They are both Russia-based subsidiaries of VU DIKSON:LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY ARKTIK LOGISTIK
LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY TAYMYRSKIE RESURSY

The Department is designating the following entity pursuant to section 1(a)(i) for operating or having operated in the management consulting sector of the Russian Federation economy:LLC RUSSIAN ENERGY GROUP (RUSSIAN ENERGY GROUP) manages a network of entities providing coking coal primarily for PUBLIC JOINT STOCK COMPANY SEVERSTAL, a U.S.-designated company.

Pursuant to section 1(a)(vii), the following two entities are being designated for being owned or controlled by, or for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, RUSSIAN ENERGY GROUP, an entity whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to E.O. 14024. They are both Russia-based subsidiaries of RUSSIAN ENERGY GROUP:LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY VORKUTA MANAGEMENT COMPANY
LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY ARCTICGEO

The Department is designating the following entity pursuant to section 1(a)(i) for operating or having operated in the metals and mining sector of the Russian Federation economy:JSC VORKUTAUGOL (VORKUTAUGOL) is the parent company of a network of entities providing coking coal primarily for PUBLIC JOINT STOCK COMPANY SEVERSTAL, a U.S.-designated company.

Pursuant to section 1(a)(vii), the following five entities are being designated for being owned or controlled by, or for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, VORKUTAUGOL, an entity whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to E.O. 14024. They are all Russia-based subsidiaries of VORKUTAUGOL:LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY SEVERNAYA ALMAZNAYA KOMPANIYA
LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY UPTS VORKUTA
LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY MV
LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY ENTRAR
LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY ZHEMCHUZHINA ARKTIKI

TARGETING RUSSIA’S METALS AND MINING SECTOR

The Department is designating the following entities pursuant to section 1(a)(i) for operating or having operated in the metals and mining sector of the Russian Federation economy:JOINT STOCK COMPANY RUSSIAN COPPER COMPANY (RCC) is the third largest copper producer in Russia. RCC has also been previously designated by the UK.
LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY REDMETKONTSENTRAT is a Moscow-based company that focuses on the wholesale trade of metals and specializes in the processing of concentrates of titanium-zirconium sands.
LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY NERUDNAYA KOMPANIYA is a Belgorod, Russia-based company that focuses on the wholesale trade of metals.
LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY TREIDKOM is a Belgorod, Russia-based company that focuses on the wholesale trade of metals.

Pursuant to section 1(a)(i), the following individual is being designated for operating or having operated in the metals and mining sector of the Russian Federation economy:IGOR ALEKSEEVICH ALTUSHKIN is the founder and a member of the board of the directors of RCC. Altushkin has also been previously designated by the UK.

Pursuant to section 1(a)(i), the following entity is being designated for operating or having operated in the financial services sector the Russian Federation economy:INTERNATIONAL LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY RUSSIAN COPPER COMPANY LIMITED is a holding company of RCC.

Pursuant to section 1(a)(i), the following entity is being designated for operating or having operated in the management consulting sector the Russian Federation economy:LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY RCC TRADING is a metals trading subsidiary of RCC.

Pursuant to section 1(a)(i), the following entity is being designated for operating or having operated in the metals and mining sector of the Russian Federation economy:LLC ARMZ MINING MACHINES manufactures high-tech underground mining equipment used within the metals and mining sector of the Russian Federation.

ADDRESSING RUSSIA’S MALIGN INFLUENCE IN GEORGIA

The Department is also designating a Georgian-Russian oligarch and a Russian Intelligence Services officer to further address the Russian Federation’s malign influence abroad.OTAR ANZOROVICH PARTSKHALADZE (PARTSKHALADZE) is being designated pursuant to section 1(a)(i) for operating or having operated in the management consulting sector of the Russian Federation economy. PARTSKHALADZE is a Georgian-Russian oligarch.
ALEKSANDR VLADIMIROVICH ONISHCHENKO (ONISHCHENKO) is being designated pursuant to section 1(a)(iii)(A) for being or having been a leader, official, senior executive officer, or member of the board of directors of the Government of the Russian Federation. ONISHCHENKO is an officer of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB).

FSB Officer ONISHCHENKO likely assisted his associate PARTSKHALADZE in obtaining a Russian passport and possibly Russian citizenship. PARTSKHALADZE has fully taken on a Russian identity and routinely travels to Russia. ONISHCHENKO and the FSB have leveraged PARTSKHALADZE to influence Georgian society and politics for the benefit of Russia. PARTSKHALADZE has reportedly personally profited from his FSB connection.

Pursuant to section 1(a)(i), the following two entities are being designated for operating or having operated in the management consulting sector of the Russian Federation economy. They are both Russia-based management consulting companies owned 50 percent by PARTSKHALADZE:LLC MOSCOW BUSINESS BROKERAGE
LLC INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS CORPORATION

TURKIYE-BASED COMPANIES PROVIDING MATERIAL SUPPORT AND SUPPORTING RUSSIAN SANCTIONS EVASION

The Department is designating two Turkiye-based entities pursuant to section 1(a)(vi)(B) for having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of persons whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to E.O. 14024. Services included the provision of dry dock, ship repair, and ship agency services to vessels that have been blocked as property of entities operating or having operated in the defense and related materiel sector of the Russian Federation economy. As part of this action, the Department is also designating one Turkish national pursuant to section 1(a)(iii)(C).

Pursuant to section 1(a)(vi)(B), the following entity is being designated for being an entity that has materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, JOINT STOCK COMPANY NORTHERN SHIPPING COMPANY (JSC NORTHERN SHIPPING COMPANY), an entity whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to E.O. 14024:DENKAR SHIP CONSTRUCTION INCORPORATED COMPANY is a Turkiye-based ship repair company that has materially assisted JSC NORTHERN SHIPPING COMPANY by providing ship repair services to three of its blocked vessels: INZHENER TRUBIN, INZHENER VESHNYAKOV, and KAPTAN KOKOVIN. JSC NORTHERN SHIPPING COMPANY is a Russian Ministry of Defense-affiliated company that was previously designated pursuant to E.O. 14024 for operating or having operated in the defense and related materiel sector of the Russian Federation economy.

Pursuant to section 1(a)(vi)(B), the following entity is being designated for having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, NORD PROJECT LLC TRANSPORT COMPANY, a person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to E.O. 14024:ID SHIP AGENCY TRADE LIMITED COMPANY (ID SHIPPING) is a Turkiye-based shipyard agency that has materially assisted NORD PROJECT LLC TRANSPORT COMPANY by arranging ship repair services for one of its blocked vessels, ENISEY. NORD PROJECT LLC TRANSPORT COMPANY was previously designated pursuant to E.O. 14024 for operating or having operated in the defense and related materiel sector of the Russian Federation economy.

Pursuant to section 1(a)(iii)(C), the following individual is being designated for being or having been a leader, official, senior executive officer, or member of the board of directors of ID SHIPPING:ILKER DOGRUYOL, a Turkish national, is the founder, director, and owner of ID SHIPPING.

Additionally, the Department is designating four entities, including one Turkiye-based company, involved in the procurement of Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS)-identified high priority electronic components of U.S.- and European-origin for end-users based in Russia.

Pursuant to section 1(a)(i), the following entity is being designated for operating or having operated in the transportation sector the Russian Federation economy:LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY LOGISTIC INTERNATIONAL SERVIS (LIS LLC) is a Russian customs and logistics company that procures Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS)-identified high priority electronic components of U.S.- and European-origin from CTL LIMITED, an intermediary company based in Turkiye.

Pursuant to section 1(a)(vi)(B), the following entity is being designated for being an entity that has materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, LIS LLC, a person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to E.O. 14024:CTL DIS TICARET LIMITED SIRKETI (CTL LIMITED) is a Turkiye-based intermediary that ships BIS-identified high priority electronic components of U.S.- and European-origin to affiliate companies located in Russia.

Pursuant to section 1(a)(i), the following two entities are being designated for operating or having operated in the transportation sector the Russian Federation economy:LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY SKAY17 is a Russian customs and logistics company involved in the CTL LIMITED procurement network.
LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY LIS GRUPP is a Russian customs and logistics company involved in the CTL LIMITED procurement network.

EXPOSING RUSSIA-DPRK ARMS TRANSFER VIA WAGNER GROUP

The Department is designating Pavel Pavlovich Shevelin, an individual affiliated with the paramilitary Wagner Group who has been involved in facilitating the shipment of munitions from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to the Russian Federation. This designation follows the Department’s July 20, 2023 designation of two other individuals, Valeriy Yevgenyevich Chekalov and Yong Hyok Rim, involved in transferring munitions from the DPRK to the Russian Federation for use by the Wagner Group.

Pursuant to section 1(a)(i), PAVEL PAVLOVICH SHEVELIN is being designated for operating or having operated in the defense and related materiel sector of the Russian Federation economy.

DEGRADING RUSSIA’S WEAPONS REPAIR AND MAINTENANCE FACILITIES

The Department is designating numerous defense entities that provide repair and maintenance services to the Russian defense sector to support its unprovoked and illegal war against Ukraine. These designations reaffirm our efforts to degrade Russia’s ability to replenish its sustained battlefield losses of aircraft, tanks, armored vehicles, munitions, and other weapons systems.

Pursuant to section 1(a)(i), the following eleven entities are being designated for operating or having operated in the defense and related materiel sector of the Russian Federation economy:JOINT STOCK COMPANY RESEARCH AND PRODUCTION ASSOCIATION NOVATOR develops and produces cruise missiles, including the Kalibr cruise missile used by Russian forces against cities and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.
JOINT STOCK COMPANY 419 AIRCRAFT REPAIR PLANT provides repair and maintenance services for Mi-8/17 military-transport helicopters, Mi-24 combat helicopters, and other naval helicopters.
JOINT STOCK COMPANY DUBNENSKY MACHINE BUILDING PLANT NAMED AFTER NP FEDOROV develops and maintains Orion reconnaissance and strike drones, as well as maritime drones for the Russian armed forces.
LLC CHELYABINSK TRACTOR PLANT URALTRAK manufactures engines and weapons for heavy armored vehicles.
OPEN JOINT STOCK COMPANY MUROMTEPLOVOZ produces and repairs armored vehicles.
61ST ARMORED VEHICLE REPAIR PLANT JOINT STOCK COMPANY repairs tanks and armored vehicles.
71st AUTOMOTIVE AND ARMORED VEHICLE REPAIR PLANT FEDERAL STATE OWNED INSTITUTION OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION MINISTRY OF DEFENSE repairs tanks and armored vehicles.
72nd AUTOMOTIVE AND ARMORED VEHICLE REPAIR PLANT FEDERAL STATE OWNED INSTITUTION OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION MINISTRY OF DEFENSE repairs tanks and armored vehicles.
JOINT STOCK COMPANY 144 ARMORED REPAIR PLANT repairs tanks and armored vehicles.
JSC 560 ARMORED REPAIR PLANT repairs tanks and armored vehicles.
JSC OMSK TRANSPORT MACHINE FACTORY OMSKTRANSMASH produces and repairs tanks and armored vehicles.

Pursuant to section 1(a)(i), the following two entities are being designated for operating or having operated in the aerospace sector of the Russian Federation economy:PUBLIC JOINT STOCK COMPANY ODK SATURN is a major producer of gas-turbine engines for civilian and military aircraft.
JOINT STOCK COMPANY OMSK PLANT OF CIVIL AVIATION provides repair and maintenance services for civilian and military helicopters, including the Mi-8 and Mi-24 helicopters used by Russian forces in Ukraine.

UNDERMINING RUSSIA’S DEFENSE INDUSTRIAL BASE AND TECHNOLOGY PROCUREMENT

The Department is designating a defense entity and procurement company working to acquire goods in support of Russia’s war effort and one individual who leads a major arms producer.

Pursuant to section 1(a)(i), the following entity is being designated for operating or having operated in the electronics sector of the Russian Federation economy:SCIENTIFIC INDUSTRIAL COMPANY DIPAUL PRIVATE JOINT STOCK COMPANY supports advanced technology used by the Russian defense industry and supplied to the Russian armed forces.

Pursuant to section 1(a)(iii)(A), the following individual is being designated for being or having been a leader, official, senior executive officer, or member of the board of directors of the Government of the Russian Federation; section 1(a)(iii)(C) for being or having been a leader, official, senior executive officer, or member of the board of directors of NPK TEKHMASH OAO, an entity whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to E.O. 14024; and section 1(a)(vii) for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, the Government of the Russian Federation and having acted or purported to act on for or behalf of, directly or indirectly, NPK TEKHMASH OAO, a person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to E.O. 14024.ALEKSANDER VIKTOROVICH KOCHKIN is the CEO of the state-owned firm NPK TEKHMASH OAO, a major producer of arms and ammunition for the Russian armed forces.

Sanctions Implications

As a result of today’s action, and in accordance with E.O. 14024, all property and interests in property of the designated persons described above that are in the United States or in possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Additionally, all individuals or entities that have ownership, either directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked. All transactions by U.S. persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of designated or otherwise blocked persons are prohibited unless authorized by a general or specific license issued by OFAC or exempt. These prohibitions include the making of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of any blocked person and the receipt of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services from any such person.

For more information on E.O. 14024, see full text.




Announcing the U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine’s Economic Recovery
09/14/2023
Announcing the U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine’s Economic Recovery
09/14/2023 11:07 AM EDT



Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

President Biden today announced the appointment of Penny Pritzker as the U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine’s Economic Recovery. In this role, she will work with the Ukrainian government, the G7, the EU, international financial institutions, international partners, and one of our great assets – the American private sector – to help forge Ukraine’s future as a prosperous, secure, European democracy. Special Representative Pritzker will drive efforts to shape donor priorities through the Multi-Agency Donor Coordination Platform to align them with Ukraine’s needs and to galvanize international partners to increase their support for Ukraine. She will also work closely with the government of Ukraine as it intensifies reforms needed to win the future, open export markets, mobilize foreign direct investment, and catalyze economic recovery.

Special Representative Pritzker’s extensive private sector experience, service as Secretary of Commerce, and deep personal connection to Ukraine and the Ukrainian diaspora make her uniquely qualified for this task. Tracing their roots to the village of Velyki Pritsky outside of Kyiv, her family owned a grain store before emigrating the United States more than 100 years ago. Special Representative Pritzker is a deeply committed leader trusted across the political spectrum for her proven track record of delivering positive outcomes and results.

Special Representative Pritzker’s appointment demonstrates our commitment to strengthen Ukraine’s European future and follows new economic and security commitments announced at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London and in Vilnius by the G7+ and NATO. Her role will build on the steadfast work of the State Department, USAID, the Commerce Department, and other agencies to accelerate Ukraine’s economic transformation. She will be key to our determination to see to it that Ukraine not only survives but thrives, standing on its own.

I welcome Special Representative Pritzker to the role and extend my deep gratitude for her renewed public service.




United States Welcomes Germany’s Signing of the Artemis Accords
09/15/2023

United States Welcomes Germany’s Signing of the Artemis Accords
09/15/2023 09:31 AM EDT



Office of the Spokesperson

Germany became the 29th nation to sign the Artemis Accords. In a ceremony hosted by German Ambassador to the United States Andreas Michaelis, Dr. Walther Pelzer, Director General of the German Aerospace Center, signed the Artemis Accords on behalf of Germany. Acting Assistant Secretary of State Jennifer Littlejohn gave remarks, as did NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, Executive Secretary of the U.S. National Space Council Chirag Parikh, and Federal German Coordinator of German Aerospace Policy Dr. Anna Christmann.

The Artemis Accords were launched on October 13, 2020, with eight nations. Jointly led by the Department of State and NASA for the United States, the Accords are grounded in the Outer Space Treaty of 1967. With Germany’s signature, the twenty-nine Accords signatories are: Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, Poland, the Republic of Korea, Romania, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The diverse Accords signatories represent a growing multilateral conversation and share a common vision of peaceful space cooperation. By signing the Accords, Germany has demonstrated its commitment to important principles such as transparency, emergency assistance and release of scientific data in its space activities.

The United States and Germany have a strong partnership in civil space, including in aeronautics research, science, and exploration. Through the Artemis Accords, our nations share a common understanding and approach to safe and sustainable exploration and use of outer space.

For more information, please visit https://www.state.gov/artemis-accords/. For media inquiries, please contact OES-PA-DG@state.gov.




Engaging Philadelphia’s Ukrainian American Diaspora Community and the Private Sector in Ukraine Recovery & Humanitarian Assistance Efforts
09/15/2023
Engaging Philadelphia’s Ukrainian American Diaspora Community and the Private Sector in Ukraine Recovery & Humanitarian Assistance Efforts
09/15/2023 11:10 AM EDT



Office of the Spokesperson

On September 13, 2023, the Office of Global Partnerships (E/GP) led by Special Representative Dorothy McAuliffe hosted an event in collaboration with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Ukrainian Embassy in the United States to engage with leaders of Philadelphia’s Ukrainian American diaspora community and philanthropic foundations on Ukraine’s recovery and U.S. humanitarian assistance. During Secretary Blinken’s most recent trip to Kyiv on September 6, he pledged an additional $1 billion towards security assistance, humanitarian aid and recovery efforts. This roundtable through GP’s Diaspora Voices and the Ukraine Partnership Series initiatives, aims to mobilize greater private sector investment into these efforts, while simultaneously highlighting the importance of diaspora perspectives on matters of humanitarian aid and recovery.

This private roundtable was the fourth event of the Ukraine Partnership Series—launched in April 2023 as an action-oriented series composed of interactive panels, forums, talks and deep-dive sessions to discuss opportunities for planning, collaboration and investment in Ukraine’s short- and long-term recovery. The goal was to convene diverse stakeholders to share expertise and analyze key sectors in the ongoing efforts.

Diaspora organizations are uniquely positioned to serve as important donors and frontline responders with their ability to quickly mobilize and release funds as well as provide essential humanitarian aid to those in need.

For further information, please contact the Office of Global Partnerships at partnerships@state.gov, visit www.state.gov/s/partnerships, or follow @GPatState on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. For media inquiries, please contact the Office of Global Partnerships at partnerships@state.gov.




Secretary Antony J. Blinken Video Remarks on the Anniversary of Mahsa “Zhina” Amini’s Death
09/15/2023

Secretary Antony J. Blinken Video Remarks on the Anniversary of Mahsa “Zhina” Amini’s Death
09/15/2023 12:27 PM EDT



Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Washington, D.C.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: One year ago, a young Iranian woman, Mahsa “Zhina” Amini, died in the custody of the regime’s so-called “morality police.” She had been arrested for supposedly doing something that should not have been a crime in the first place: wearing her hijab too loosely.

As news of her death spread, so did a nationwide movement led by Iranian women and young people calling for “Woman, Life, Freedom.”

In response, the Iranian Government brutally crushed these peaceful protests. Killing hundreds of demonstrators, including children. Arresting thousands more. Beating detainees and committing gender-based violence. Holding sham trials and hasty executions.

The United States has joined countries around the world in supporting the Iranian people in their pursuit of justice, accountability, and respect for their human rights – during the protests and throughout the last year. When the Iranian regime throttled internet access, we helped provide technologies to get people online, so they could share information and exercise their right to free expression. We helped establish an independent, fact-finding mission through the United Nations. We’ve also sanctioned over 70 officials and organizations involved in the repression. Today, we are announcing new sanctions against 29 other individuals and entities in connection with the Iranian regime’s human rights abuses.

The United States will continue to support Iranians – and all people – who are defending their human rights and fundamental freedoms.

And today, we join people from across the globe in honoring the memory of Mahsa Amini and those killed.

As the epitaph on Ms. Amini’s grave reads, “ name will become a symbol.” Indeed, it has. And it will always be a reminder of the courage of the Iranian people.




Under Secretary Elizabeth Allen to Deliver Remarks in New York on Protecting and Rebuilding Ukraine’s Culture
09/15/2023

Under Secretary Elizabeth Allen to Deliver Remarks in New York on Protecting and Rebuilding Ukraine’s Culture
09/15/2023 01:00 PM EDT



Office of the Spokesperson

Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Liz Allen will deliver opening remarks to a panel of Ukrainian cultural leaders on protecting and rebuilding Ukraine’s culture and cultural heritage on Thursday, September 21, 2023, at 9:30 a.m. EDT at the Ukrainian Institute of America in New York, NY.

Under Secretary Allen’s remarks and the panel will be open press and recorded for release after the event on the Ukrainian Institute of America’s YouTube channel. To register for in-person coverage, please RSVP to ECA-Press@state.gov. Access instructions will be provided to all registered media prior to the event.

The U.S. Department of State supports Ukraine’s efforts to combat Russia’s brutal attempts to undermine and erase Ukrainian culture. Through robust educational and cultural exchange programs, the Department of State engages Ukrainians in a range of sectors to preserve their cultural heritage, showcase the richness of Ukrainian culture, and ensure creative professionals have what is needed to sustain their industries.

Credentialed media representatives may attend the event upon presentation of one of the following: (1) A U.S. Government–issued identification card (Department of State, White House, Congress, Department of Defense, or Foreign Press Center), (2) a media-issued photo identification card, or (3) a letter from their employer on letterhead verifying their employment as a journalist, accompanied by an official photo identification card (driver’s license, passport).




Special Envoy and Coordinator for the Global Engagement Center Rubin’s Travel to Moldova and Latvia
09/15/2023

Special Envoy and Coordinator for the Global Engagement Center Rubin’s Travel to Moldova and Latvia
09/15/2023 04:11 PM EDT



Office of the Spokesperson

The Special Envoy and Coordinator for the Global Engagement Center James P. Rubin will travel from September 18 to September 21 to Chișinău, Moldova and Riga, Latvia.

At each stop, Special Envoy Rubin will meet with host-nation government officials to solidify our partnership on counter disinformation initiatives. He will also meet with civil society representatives and independent media to discuss their role in countering foreign state information manipulation. He will discuss ongoing efforts by Russia to deploy disinformation to undermine democracy and national security, how actors like the PRC amplify Kremlin disinformation, and how our nations can collectively counter threats in the information space.


Secretary Antony J. Blinken and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock at a Joint Press Availability
09/15/2023


Secretary Antony J. Blinken and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock at a Joint Press Availability
09/15/2023 04:38 PM EDT



Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Washington, D.C.

Treaty Room

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Well, good afternoon, everyone. Let me first say what an absolute pleasure it is to have my friend and colleague Annalena Baerbock here in Washington for what have proven to be, as always, very, very good consultations and conversations on an incredibly wide array of issues. And I think that’s evidence of the fact that the United States and Germany are partners quite literally around the world on all the issues that matter to our people in this moment, at this time. So I don’t think either of us can cover everything we talked about in the interest of time, in the interest of people getting lunch. But let me just touch on a few things, and I’m sure the foreign minister will want to do the same.

Of course, we spent part of our conversation focused on Ukraine and Russia’s ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine. Both of us have recently returned from Ukraine, so we were able to compare notes on our visits but also make clear that we are both deeply committed to continuing the strong support that we and dozens of other countries around the world have been providing to Ukraine – military, economic, humanitarian. And that support is being manifested in everything that we’re doing right now to help Ukraine as it prosecutes the counteroffensive to take back more of its territory.

But also as we think about the longer term and the importance of all of us being able to support Ukraine in all of these areas in a sustainable and effective way as it builds a military for the future, as it tries to develop a strong economy, and as it continues to deal with the humanitarian – the horrific humanitarian consequences of Russia’s aggression.

Ultimately, the objective, of course, is for Ukraine to succeed in its efforts to regain its sovereignty, its territorial integrity – but not only to survive the Russian aggression, which it has and will, but to thrive in the future and to be able to stand strongly on its own feet. And we compared notes on the efforts that we’re undertaking with many other countries to enable Ukraine to do that.

I would just note as well, and as we discussed, that on the economic side, just yesterday we named a very highly respected senior official and colleague of many years, Penny Pritzker, our former secretary of Commerce, to take on the role of being our special representative for Ukraine’s economic recovery, to work closely with Germany, with the European Union, with G7 partners, and many others who are working on this.

And ultimately here, even as governments and international financial institutions support Ukraine – and that will continue – ultimately the most sustainable way for Ukraine to succeed economically is through private-sector investment. And so we are focusing many efforts on these. Penny Pritzker brings remarkable expertise, remarkable knowledge, remarkable networks of contacts around the world to help do this.

Of course, both of us continue to strongly urge a return to the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which, when it was in force, enabled Ukraine to export well over 30 million tons of grain, enough for 18 billion loaves of bread. Of course, that agreement never should have been necessary in the first place. It was only necessary because Russia blocked Ukraine from exporting its food to the world. But when the agreement was in force, it at least enabled that food to get out. Since Russia has torn it up, the food is not getting out. The people who are suffering the most are in developing countries.

Greater food scarcity, rising prices for everyone, even those countries that were not directly getting the food from Ukraine – and we know, of course, that most of the grain getting out of Ukraine under the Black Sea Grain Initiative was going to developing countries. So I think Russia has only reinforced the opprobrium that it’s getting from countries around the world by its actions on Black Sea grain. Of course, we continue to work on alternate routes to get grain out of Ukraine.

We also discussed our common approaches to China, and we very much welcome Germany’s China strategy. It is very coincident with our own. I think it reflects something that we’ve seen around the world, both in Europe, in Asia, as well as in the United States, which is a growing convergence in our approaches to China. Both of us, among other things, share the goal when it comes to our economic relationships of de-risking, not decoupling. This was further articulated in, I think, the very strong speech that President von der Leyen gave in her State of the European Union remarks just the other day. We’re also very much aligned in our support for peace and stability, and maintaining the status quo when it comes to Taiwan, as well as throughout the region.

Finally, I think it’s worth highlighting that we spoke about regional security in Europe, and particularly Bosnia and Herzegovina. We very much appreciate Germany’s leadership when it comes to limiting some of the financial flows to the Republika Srpska’s President Dodik, to both rejoining and strengthening EUFOR’s ALTHEA program. And we talked about how the European Union can maintain pressure on actors who are putting Bosnia and Herzegovina at great risk – notably, Mr. Dodik – using all necessary tools, and boosting the capabilities of the stability mission.

Finally, I would just note that Germany has been such a critical partner when it comes to NATO and our work for security and stability more broadly. Its leadership in fulfilling the Vilnius commitments on NATO capabilities has been instrumental. And I would be remiss if I didn’t note as well that when it comes to Ukraine, among individual nations, Germany is the second largest provider of support to Ukraine in the world after the United States.

That’s the kind of leadership we’ve seen from Germany. That’s the kind of leadership that I’m so appreciative of coming from Foreign Minister Baerbock, who’s been among my closest colleagues throughout this past year and a half when it comes to dealing with Ukraine and so many other issues.

So Annalena, with that, let me turn it over to you. I guess we’ll also have the pleasure of spending the week together in New York at the UN General Assembly.

FOREIGN MINISTER BAERBOCK: Well, thank you very much, and thank you very much for the warm welcome today and also yesterday evening. I will speak in German also for the German media.

(Via interpreter) Ladies and gentlemen, the German-American relations are a bit like it is with good friends. It’s not only about picking up the phone. It is important to feel a real connection, especially when you’re not – and also knowing when the other is not there but that he’s still there in the background and that you can rely on him. And in these times, the Biden administration is making a huge contribution to that, and also the trust-based relationship between the chancellor and the U.S. president, and also the close exchange between the two of us. And I would like to thank my colleague, Tony Blinken – Tony, thank you so much – for that.

One could also say you – the Atlantic has shrunk a bit thanks to you, and we’ve seen it over the last one and a half years again and again that we’re not divided by an ocean but that this ocean is linking us. During my visit to Texas, I was able to see that it is worth every effort to invest in this friendship, in the diversity of the people who carry this friendship forward, because it is this diversity that is the strength of our democracies.

Investing in our friendship is something that we have done early on, a bit – and willingly, if I may say so, when we let one of our biggest or tallest export hits, Dirk Nowitzki, who went to Dallas to play in the NBA. But as we can see, early investments are never harmful, and we can see this with the finals that have taken place last week, and the semi-finals.

But we are also linked even more by another thing: We stand up for each other’s security in freedom. We Europeans and especially we Germans have taken our own security too lightly for too long. These times are over once and for all. In Germany we have flipped the switch. We are investing an additional 100 billion euros in our Bundeswehr. Our allies can rely on us. Two percent is the promise we all made within NATO.

And we’ve also made a promise to the people of Ukraine. We will support Ukraine’s – we will support Ukrainians, the people there, as long as it takes. For one and a half years, Putin has been going nowhere with his mindset that at some point Europe and the United States and the whole world will just get used to this war because there were other important things that matter. But no one in our transatlantic alliance and basically no one in the world wants and will get used to this brutal war of aggression. Every state in the world knows that this would be a risk for their own security.

And we also see that no one in the world will get used to the fact that immeasurable suffering is being inflicted upon people in Ukraine, not only in military trenches but in every village where Russian troops have been ravaging. Children have been separated from their parents, which is not normal. No one will get used to that. Villagers have been locked up in cold basements. It’s not normal, and no one in the world will get used to that.

And both of us have made clear again and again that a war is not only about abstract figures and sticking to territorial integrity and sovereignty, but that behind every figure there is a victim, a human being, a face. Putin’s sledgehammer of fate will not bend the Ukrainian will to survive; it is strengthening their will to fight for their freedom.

And this brutality also strengthens the determination of the international community. We in the world stand up for everyone in Ukraine being able to live in freedom in the future. We’ve made it clear during our visits to Kyiv as well it’s not only about the delivery of arms. It’s about humanitarian effort as well, the protection of infrastructure, bringing children back who have been deported. And we spoke again today about how before the winter we can step up our support to Ukraine and dovetail it even more, because we see that interaction in military support, economic support, and also humanitarian aid is so important.

Even if Europe is literally an ocean away, during my talks at the U.S. Congress yesterday, I could sense so much goodwill for further support to Ukraine and also further support for peace in Europe, because many of the people I met there told me it is economically difficult but you can clearly see that Ukraine is defending our own values, the values we share. And this is the message that we will take to New York – both of us. The message is that the whole world is longing for freedom. And with his peace plan, President Zelenskyy has opened the door in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Countries from all over the world also have put one foot through that door to peace. And in New York, we will both make the case in different formats for the peace plan of Ukraine becoming the peace plan of the world, being peace for the world. And we will make clear that it is in the interest of all states.

We’ve asked many countries for support over the last one and a half years, and we need to be self-reflective here. Many countries, especially in the beginning, asked us again and again why should we support you now that your peace in Europe is at stake when you’ve been so busy with yourselves when we needed you. And this is also something that shows that these are different times than 30 or 40 years ago. We work together in formats like the G7, NATO as well, but also many other international bodies. We’ve made it clear, yes, some things we’ve done in the past were not the right thing to do, but we want to shape the future together. We want to do better, not only for our own countries and our own regions but together with others.

And this is why our global outreach, as we call it in technical terms within the G7 and within NATO, within United Nations, is also a place where we dovetail our initiatives. We want to work more closely together with countries whose partnership we might have taken for granted too often over the last years. So we also talked about the fact that not only Germany has opened an embassy in Fiji, but I learned that there are four new embassies also on the American side in the region. And daring more democracy, especially in times of this brutal war of aggression, is also something that unites us.

So as the federal government – and we talked about this today – we are pooling our effort in the Indo-Pacific region as well, which is an important region for you, where you play a special role also with regard to China. And we are looking for how we can engage in a policy of de-risking with many other partners in the world too.

Secretary, Tony, on both sides of the Atlantic many people are – especially young people in both our countries, and that’s something we share as well – are concerned about divisions in our societies driving people apart in our own countries. So it is so important that we stand up for peace and democracy in the world, and this – in that regard also important to strengthen or own democracies. It makes us stronger when we as democracies also challenge ourselves and show that working together, democracies working together, will strengthen us mutually.

As friends and partners, partners in values, the U.S. and Germany have a solid foundation to build on in the future. And we will especially focus on the younger generation for whom “transatlantic” is a bit of an abstract term. We will get them onboard. And this is also something that we cannot take for granted. We cannot just repeat the recipes of the past. We need to see how we can transform the transatlantic partnership and strengthen it for our young people.

In that sense, thank you very much for spending so much time together with us. And in one and a half years of this brutal war of aggression, we’ve addressed many topics, also bilateral topics, that have been on the top of our agenda before. I would like to thank you for your hospitality. I am delighted that our new ambassador is here now, Andreas Michaelis. You know him well, and we have a very popular face here with him. And not only in terms of foreign policy but also on a bilateral level, we will be working closely together, and then we will enjoy the weekend before we meet again in New York.

MR MILLER: Thank you. The first question today goes to John Hudson with The Washington Post.

QUESTION: Thank you, and thank you, Mr. Secretary. The Biden administration is pushing hard for a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and a lot of average Americans have questioned why should the United States be giving something up so that these two countries can get along better. Since Biden took office, Israel has rebuffed requests to open a consulate, it has rebuffed requests to stop the expansion of settlements, and it has rebuffed requests to rethink the reforms of the judiciary that threaten its democracy. Saudi Arabia, by turn, has ignored several requests to not slash the production of oil. And the leaders – Netanyahu and MBS – barely disguise the fact that they would prefer a Trump presidency over a Biden presidency.

So I wonder: Does it make the United States and, by turn, the Biden administration look weak by so obsequiously catering to what these countries want who are not actually at war with each other right now?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: John, I love the formulation of the question, especially the obsequious part.

A few things. First, normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia, were it to be achieved, would, in my judgment, be a transformative event in the Middle East and well beyond – transformative because we’ve now had four decades-plus of turmoil in that region in one way or the other going back to 1979. You can go back, of course, even further. Moving from a region of turmoil to one of much greater stability and integration would have profound benefits for people in the region and, I believe, profound benefits for people around the world.

And of course, in one way or another, we’ve been drawn in time and again to that region when it was in turmoil, when it was in conflict. Having a region defined by normalized relations between Israel, its neighbors, and countries beyond; defined by integration and people working together in common cause on common projects that will benefit and improve people’s lives, I think, would be a singularly positive event.

Having said that, first, as important as it would be, it could not be and would not be a substitute for Israel and the Palestinians also resolving their differences and indeed, in our judgment, continuing to move toward and ultimately achieving a two-state solution. And it’s clear from my own conversations, for example, with Saudi leadership that any agreement that might be reached between Israel and Saudi Arabia when it comes to normalization would need to include a significant component for the Palestinians.

Second, even as we are working on this, it remains a difficult proposition. The specifics of any agreement in terms of what the different parties are looking for are challenging, and so while I believe it is very much possible, it is not at all a certainty. But we believe that the benefit that would accrue were we able to achieve it would certainly be worth the effort.

Third, who’s to say that in an arrangement that involves at least three countries, were we able to get there, there would not be concrete benefits for all three countries, to include the United States? And we would expect progress on a number of issues in a number of areas that clearly are in our interests. So while I believe that normalization in and of itself would be very much to the benefit of the United States and many other countries around the world, as well as the countries in question, it’s also very clear that there may well be specific things that will be important for us with regard both to Saudi Arabia and to Israel, as well as things they will need from each other, as well as things that other parties may well need.

So it’s a long way of saying that we’re not there. There’s no guarantee we’ll get there. We believe it’s profoundly important if we can achieve it, but I would wait to see, if something emerges, all of the details that come with it.

QUESTION: And you would acknowledge that there’s no active hostilities between Saudi Arabia and Israel?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: I would certainly acknowledge that there are no active hostilities, but I think we would all acknowledge what we’ve seen over the past decades, and I suspect we would all acknowledge the powerful, powerful impact normalization between the leading country in the Islamic world and Israel would have not just in terms of relations between them but well beyond the region. The custodian of the holy sites, Mecca and Medina, normalizing relations with Israel I think would resonate very, very powerfully.

So look, I don’t think there can be doubt about the benefits of this, but the details of achieving it, again, remain challenging. But we’re working on it, and we believe that working on it, if the result can be achieved, would be, as I said, quite literally transformative.

MR MILLER: Next question goes to Stephanie Bolton with Welt.

QUESTION: Thank you. Secretary Blinken, did you ask Minister Baerbock if the German Government was willing to exchange a Russian spy who killed an opposition politician in Berlin for the Wall Street Journal correspondent currently imprisoned in Russia?

And secondly, there are reports today that the U.S. Government believes that the Chinese defense minister has been placed under investigation. Can you confirm this? And what conclusions does your government draw from the apparent turmoil in Beijing? Thank you.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thank you. With regard to the first question about detainees in Russia, no, that’s not something that we discussed today.

With regard to the question of the Chinese defense minister, I don’t have anything to offer on that. I don’t know about the status of the defense minister, and in any event, ultimately these are issues for the Chinese Government to decide. We remain fully prepared, as we’ve been, to engage with the Chinese Government, whoever happens to be holding the positions of responsibility at any given time, just as I did when I went to Beijing earlier this summer, and we expect that to continue irrespective of who’s holding what portfolio.

MR MILLER: Next question goes to Elizabeth Hagedorn with Al-Monitor.

QUESTION: Thank you. I’d like to ask you both about Iran. Minister Baerbock, Iran has threatened to respond to the E3’s move yesterday on sanctions. Have you coordinated with Washington on how to offset that response?

And also, after speaking with your Iranian counterpart on Wednesday, are you any closer to securing the release of U.S. resident and German national Jamshid Sharmahd?

And Secretary Blinken, what do you make of the recent growth in Iran’s stockpile of 60 percent enriched uranium but the apparent slowdown in the pace of enrichment? Does this motivate the U.S. to pick up where the P5+1 left off a year ago, or instead work with third countries to cap the program in some sort of lesser deal?

And also, as Iranians mark the anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death, there are those on the ground who say they don’t want to see the U.S. negotiating with – any deal that could see the freeing up of funds that could be used nefariously by the Iranian leaders who oppress them. What’s your response to that?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thank you.

FOREIGN MINISTER BAERBOCK: I will speak in German again.

(Via interpreter) We have not only exchanged today but over the last months and actually since I took office, and we’ve often talked about the Iran dossier, especially with regard to the nuclear threat, after the Iranian regime having violated and having continued their nuclear program, and also with regard to the second part of your question with regard to the massive reprisals against their own population. And the E3 partners – France, Great Britain, and the Federal Republic of Germany – yes, we made it clear yesterday that we uphold the remaining nuclear sanctions due to the fact that the Iranian nuclear program is so advanced. And these are direct impacts from the severe and continuing Iranian violations against the JCPOA that have been ongoing since 2019. At the same time, we remain open to a diplomatic solution because the goal needs to be to avoid regional proliferation.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: I’m sorry. Go ahead.

FOREIGN MINISTER BAERBOCK: And then the consular cases.

(Via interpreter) I think we both share the opinion that we will not mutually comment our consular cases from the sidelines. And these are very sensitive issues, so I personally cannot comment on individual cases at this point.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Elizabeth, with regards to nuclear matters, we of course – both of us and many other countries, have longstanding concerns about Iran’s nuclear program. And the agreement that was reached some years ago, the JCPOA, had the very important benefit of putting that program in a box. Unfortunately, in leaving that agreement, we created an opportunity for Iran to get back out of the box that we put it in. And we’ve now been dealing with some of the consequences of that decision over the last couple of years, including things like enrichment at higher levels, greater accumulation of stockpiled enriched material, et cetera.

We are determined – President Biden is determined that Iran will not acquire a nuclear weapon one way or another. We continue to believe that diplomacy is the most effective way to achieve that result, but there’s no active diplomatic engagement on that question right now because of the steps that Iran has taken as well as its refusal or inability to get back into mutual compliance with the JCPOA. The steps that you’ve alluded to would certainly be positive in the sense that moving away from further enrichment, further accumulation of stockpiles, is a good thing. But in the moment, we’re not engaged in discussion nor in negotiation with Iran about the nuclear program. But it would be important to see steps by Iran to continue to move back away from the thresholds that it’s been moving towards since the JCPOA was ended.

Tomorrow is indeed the anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death. Just this week, we have imposed additional sanctions on Iranians responsible for the crackdown against peaceful protestors and those responsible for repression. This follows numerous actions that we took in the wake of her death and during the protests a year ago when the Iranian Government began firing on peaceful protestors, disrupting internet access, taking other steps to repress its own people. We took action, both in terms of the sanctions that we imposed on those responsible for the crackdown from day one; we provided means by which Iranian citizens could continue to communicate with one another and with the outside world; we strongly supported an unprecedented session at the United Nations Human Rights Council; we created a factfinding mission to look into, on behalf of the international community, the aggression by the Iranian Government against its own people. And we continue, as I said, by the actions we took just yesterday in marking Mahsa Amini’s death, to do just that.

When it comes to funds and resources for the Iranian regime – and I think you’re referring specifically to the agreement that we’re in the process of implementing to return home five Americans who have been unlawfully detained in Iran, one going back eight years – I’d say two things. First, when it comes to getting Americans out of jail and back home who have been unjustly detained anywhere in the world, I’m happy to be – to take any criticism that comes my way for that. I view it as job one to do everything I can to bring Americans home. And under this administration, we’ve brought nearly 30 Americans home from places around the world who are being unjustly detained, in many cases in the most horrible conditions. I know the impact this has on them, on their families. I’ve talked to virtually all of the families in person or by video over the last two and a half years. And so this is very, very important to me. It’s important to the President. And we’re willing to make hard decisions to make that happen.

In this specific instance, the resources in question – Iran’s own money that it had accumulated as a result of selling oil, at the time legally and lawfully, our sanctions have from day one exempted the use of these funds for humanitarian purposes. And the agreement in question is simply allowing the transfer of these funds from one bank and one country to another bank in another country where they can be used exclusively for humanitarian purposes. I view that as a sensible arrangement. And if it’s facilitated the return home of Americans who are being unjustly detained, I think that’s a good deal for the people in question and a good deal for the United States.

MODERATOR: For the final question, Paul-Anton Krüger with Süddeutsche Zeitung.

QUESTION: Thank you very much and allow me to take you back to where you both started off, Ukraine. You both reiterated that the ultimate goal of the support to Ukraine is that she regains her sovereignty and her territorial integrity. Both governments, nonetheless, are hesitant to provide certain weapon systems to the Government of Ukraine that it has been asking for, namely ATACMS ballistic missiles and Taurus cruise missiles. Apparently, the concern is the range that they would be suitable to attack also facilities in Russia, deep in Russia. My question would be if Ukraine were to defend herself in the most efficient way, wouldn’t it be necessary or unavoidable in the end to lift those restrictions and allow Ukraine to use Western weapons in exercise of her right to self‑defense on Russian territory?

FOREIGN MINISTER BAERBOCK: (Via interpreter) I have commented on that question several times, so I will be short and will keep it brief. Both of us have seen, during our visits, how important it is that the Ukrainian Government and the Ukrainian military is able to defend and to free their people in eastern Ukraine because the people there, to what we know, really live in hell. And in Ukraine, in Kyiv, I met people who have been deported from Ukraine as so-called civilian hostages, even though, I think, this is the wrong term.

They were brutally torn from their lives because they worked for the local government or because they were just standing on the streets. They were deported to Russia, to other places. They were tortured. And some of them still haven’t come back yet, and we don’t know how many of them are there because for one and a half years, there has not only been this terrible war, there has not only been a full invasion of the east of Ukraine, for one and a half years there has – no real humanitarian aid has reached eastern Ukraine. Neutral observers cannot see what’s going on there. And for one and a half years, these villages, these cities, have not been freed.

In order for them to be free, a huge belt of mined area has to be overcome behind which the Russian occupants have been entrenched. So it needs military systems, weapon systems, that can overcome this belt of mined area. So we are talking to one another about how we can support Ukrainians, but have made it clear several times already these highly modern weapon systems are also very effective weapon systems. And it’s not only about reach. It’s not only about Ukrainian territory because if that was the theory, you could also travel to the north of Ukraine and just take you 500 kilometers of range, but maybe 50 kilometers, and you could hit Russian territory.

So I think this alone is not an argument to me. The argument is that there are sensitive issues to be clarified, especially for our system, Taurus, and it’s not as easy as it might sound in the first place. So as the federal government, the minister of defense, the chancellor, and I have talked about this repeatedly over the past weeks, and we’ve made it clear again and again we’re in intensive discussions and we’re examining what we can do.

The second part of your question pertains to attacks on – possible attacks on Russian territory, and I made it clear to the German press also the right to self-defense means that you can defend oneself. We have other cases in the world where states that are attacked from the outside have a right to defend themselves and to fight back. This brutal war is not only about what is legally admissible, we have made it clear again and again the basis for arms deliveries is international law, humanitarian international law. That’s the basis for our arms deliveries.

But it’s not only about legal questions, and I think we’ve made it clear at this press conference as well. It is about the world’s broad support for Ukraine, for peace in Ukraine. And this is about trust. And in addition to legal questions, including the – and with regard to the right to self-defense, they are quite clear. But for us, as NATO partners as well, it was important for us that we have – that we strengthen trust across the globe, trust in our own actions, and that this is about strengthening Ukraine’s capabilities for self-defense. So we told the Ukrainian military from the beginning that our arms deliveries are limited to defending their own territory, the territory of Ukraine.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: I could simply say, “What she said,” because as always and as usual, we are in full synchronization. But let me just add quickly a couple of things.

First, I think it’s important to note from the outset that President Putin has already failed in what he was trying to achieve in Ukraine. His objective was to erase Ukraine from the map, to eliminate its independence, to subsume it into Russia. And again, that has failed and it cannot succeed.

Now, where this aggression settles, that is fundamentally up to Ukraine. And we’re determined to do everybody we can to help Ukraine regain territory seized from it by Russia in this aggression. If you go back a year ago, I was, along with Annalena, just in Ukraine a week ago. Previous to that, my last visit was almost exactly a year before. In that space of time, Ukraine’s recovered more than 50 percent of the territory taken by it from Russia since February of 2022, and of course it’s now engaged in this important counter offensive to try to regain more of the land stolen from it by Russia. And both of our countries and dozens of others are deeply engaged in working every single day to try to make sure we’re providing Ukraine what it needs to succeed.

And that is a constantly evolving question. As the nature of the fight evolves, changes, the needs evolve. And so we have adjusted, from day one, every step along the way. And we’re constantly reviewing what additional support might be useful and effective for Ukraine in the moment as well as it works to build – and as we work with it to build – a longer-term military for the future that can successfully deter and defeat any future aggressions.

So different systems are constantly under review, and it’s very important to emphasize that the systems themselves are critical, but that – but that’s not sufficient as a prism through which to look at this. Ukrainians have to be able to use them effectively, and sometimes with new, sophisticated systems, that requires training, and of course we’re engaged in that. They need to be able to maintain them, and that doesn’t happen automatically. And then they need to fit into a coherent military program that makes sense in helping Ukraine achieve its objectives.

So all of those factors are taken into consideration. I can just tell you that any given system that’s discussed, including the media, is probably under active review if it’s something the Ukrainians have asked us to look at. And we are.

When it comes to how Ukrainians use these systems, the targeting decisions are theirs. They’re not ours. And they have to make judgments about what can be most effective in working to regain their full sovereignty, their territorial integrity. As a matter of our own policy, we do not encourage, nor do we enable, the use of our weapon systems outside of Ukraine. But again, fundamentally these are Ukrainian decisions.

And the only reason we’re talking about those decisions is because of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, and because of the fact that, as the foreign minister alluded to and has talked about so powerfully, every single day Russian bombs, Russian rockets, Russian drones are raining down on the people of Ukraine, destroying, tearing apart innocent lives; destroying, tearing apart Ukraine’s infrastructure, its energy infrastructure, the food and grain silos, and ports that have been responsible for getting food around the world to people who need it.

That is the day in, day out reality of Ukraine, and that is why we and so many others are supporting Ukraine, and why Ukraine has difficult, challenging decisions to make about how it can best and most effectively defend itself and regain territory that’s been taken from it. We respect what it is doing. We’re determined to do everything we can to help. And at the end of the day, we both are looking for, on behalf of Ukraine, a just and durable peace that can finally make a real difference in the lives of the Ukrainian people.

Thank you.


The Power and Purpose of American Diplomacy in a New Era
09/15/2023
View as a webpage / Share


FROM THE DESK OF
Secretary Antony J. Blinken

U.S. DEPARTMENT of STATE

This week, I delivered a speech at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) on the Biden Administration’s view of the power and purpose of American diplomacy at this historic inflection point – the end of the post-Cold War era and the early days of fierce competition to define what comes next.

We find ourselves at another hinge moment in history – grappling with the fundamental question of strategy: “How do we get from where we are to where we want to be, without being struck by disaster along the way?”

What I want to do is set out the Biden administration’s answer to that profound and vital question.

So let’s start with where we are.

The end of the Cold War brought with it the promise of an inexorable march toward greater peace and stability, international cooperation, economic interdependence, political liberalization, human rights. And indeed, the post-Cold War era ushered in remarkable progress. More than a billion people lifted from poverty. Historic lows in conflicts between states. Deadly diseases diminished – even eradicated.

However, decades of relative geopolitical stability have given way to an intensifying competition with authoritarian powers, revisionist powers. Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine is the most immediate, the most acute threat to the international order enshrined in the UN charter and its core principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity, and independence for nations, and universal indivisible human rights for individuals.

Meanwhile, the People’s Republic of China poses the most significant long-term challenge because it not only aspires to reshape the international order, it increasingly has the economic, the diplomatic, the military, the technological power to do just that.

Forging international cooperation has gotten more complex. Not only because of rising geopolitical tensions, but also because of the mammoth scale of global problems like the climate crisis, food insecurity, mass migration and displacement.

So we find ourselves at what President Biden calls an inflection point. One era is ending, a new one is beginning, and the decisions that we make now will shape the future for decades to come.

The United States is leading in this pivotal period from a position of strength. Strength grounded in both our humility and our confidence.

Humility because we face challenges that no one country can address alone. Because we know we will have to earn the trust of a number of countries and citizens for whom the old order failed to deliver on many of its promises. Because we recognize that leadership starts with listening, and understanding shared problems from the perspective of others, so that we can find common ground. And because we face profound challenges at home, which we must overcome if we are going to lead abroad.

But confidence – confidence – because we’ve proven time and again that when America comes together, we can do anything. Because no nation on Earth has a greater capacity to mobilize others in common cause. Because our ongoing endeavor to form a more perfect union allows us to fix our flaws and renew our democracy from within. And because our vision for the future – a world that is open, free, prosperous, and secure – that vision is not America’s alone, but the enduring aspiration of people in every nation on every continent.

Now, our competitors have a fundamentally different vision. They see a world defined by a single imperative: regime preservation and enrichment. A world where authoritarians are free to control, coerce, and crush their people, their neighbors, and anyone else standing in the way of this all-consuming goal.

The contrast between these two visions could not be clearer. And the stakes of the competition we face could not be higher – for the world, and for the American people.

At the core of our strategy is re-engaging, revitalizing, reimagining our greatest strategic asset: America’s alliances and partnerships.

We’re working with purpose and urgency to deepen, broaden, and align our friends in new ways so that we can meet the three defining tests of this emerging era: a fierce and lasting strategic competition; global challenges that pose existential threats to lives and livelihoods everywhere; and the urgent need to rebalance our technological future and our economic future, so our interdependence is a source of strength – not vulnerability.

We’re doing this through what I like to call diplomatic variable geometry. We start with the problem that we need to solve and we work back from there – assembling the group of partners that’s the right size and the right shape to address it. We’re intentional about determining the combination that’s truly fit for purpose.

So, we’re determined to work with any country – including those with whom we disagree on important issues – so long as they want to deliver for their citizens, contribute to solving shared challenges, and uphold the international norms that we built together. This involves more than just partnering with national governments – but also local governments, civil society, the private sector, academia, and citizens, especially young leaders.

This is the heart of our strategy to get from where we are to where we need to be. And we’re pursuing it in four principal ways.

First, we’re renewing and deepening our alliances and partnerships, and forging new ones.

Today, the NATO Alliance is bigger, stronger, more united than ever.

We’re transforming the G7 into the steering committee for the world’s most advanced democracies.

And we’ve raised the level of ambition in our relationship with the European Union.

Second, we’re weaving together our alliances and partnerships in innovative and mutually reinforcing ways – across issues and across continents.

Just consider for a minute all of the ways that we’ve rallied different combinations of allies and partners to support Ukraine in the face of Russia’s full-scale aggression.

Some once saw threats to the international order as confined to one region or another. Not anymore. Russia’s invasion has made clear an attack on the international order anywhere will hurt people everywhere. We’ve seized on this recognition to bring our transatlantic and Indo‑Pacific allies closer together in defending our shared security, prosperity, and freedom.

Third, we’re building new coalitions to tackle the toughest shared challenges of our time.

We’re working with our G7 partners to deliver $600 billion in new infrastructure investment by 2027 through the Partnership of Global Infrastructure and Investment, or PGI. And we’re focusing our government support on areas where reducing risks will unlock hundreds of billions more in private sector investment.

And we’re leading by the power of our own example.

The United States is the largest donor to the UN World Food Programme – we provide about 50 percent of its annual budget. Russia and China? Less than 1 percent each.

Since 2021, the United States has also provided more than $17.5 billion to address food insecurity and its root causes.

The more countries can feed their own people, the more prosperous and more stable partners they’ll be; the less they can be victimized by countries willing to cut off food and fertilizer; the less support they will need from international donors; the more abundant the global food supply will be, lowering prices in markets everywhere, including in the United States.

The more we bring together allies and partners to make real progress on critical issues like infrastructure, like food security, like AI, like synthetic drugs, like conflicts new and old, the more we demonstrate the strength of our offer.

At this critical inflection point, we’re showing countries who we are. So are our competitors.

Finally, we’re bringing our old and new coalitions together to strengthen the international institutions that are vital to tackling global challenges.

When we strengthen international institutions – and when they deliver on their core promises to ensure security, to expand opportunity, to protect rights – we build a broader coalition of citizens and countries who see the international order as something that improves their lives in real ways and deserves to be upheld and defended.

When our fellow Americans ask what we are getting in return for our investments abroad, we can point to tangible benefits for American families and communities, even as we spend less than one percent of our federal budget on diplomacy and global development.

Those benefits include more markets for American workers and businesses; more affordable goods for American consumers; more reliable food and energy supplies for American households, leading to lower prices at the pump and the dinner table; more robust health systems that can arrest and roll back deadly disease before it spreads to the United States; more allies and partners who are more effective in deterring aggression and addressing, with us, global challenges.

I’m convinced that, decades from now, when the history of this period is written it will show that the way we acted – decisively, strategically, with humility and confidence to reimagine the power and purpose of U.S. diplomacy – we secured America’s future, we delivered for our people, we laid the foundation for a more free, a more open, a more prosperous era – for the American people and for people around the world.



I appreciate those who have taken the time to write to me in the past several months. To share your thoughts, please write to me and my team at EmailTeam@State.gov.

Sincerely,

Secretary Antony J. Blinken

Note to Readers
This flagship email – “From the Secretary’s Desk” – features the Secretary’s remarks and speeches on important current events. Sign up to receive this email regularly


This email was adapted from Secretary Antony J. Blinken Remarks to the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) “The Power and Purpose of American Diplomacy in a New Era” delivered in Washington, D.C.
on September 13, 2023.

Find all my speeches, remarks, and other press statements on state.gov. You can follow me on Twitter and Instagram to learn more about my work. I’m also on Spotify, where I'm creating playlists of my favorite music from around the world.




The Minerals Security Partnership Continues to Expand with Norway, Italy, and India
09/16/2023


The Minerals Security Partnership Continues to Expand with Norway, Italy, and India
09/16/2023 08:08 AM EDT



Office of the Spokesperson

The Minerals Security Partnership (MSP) continues to expand as the demand for critical minerals, which are essential for clean energy and other technologies, is projected to grow significantly. Transparent, open, predictable, secure, and sustainable supply chains for critical minerals are vital to deploying these technologies at the speed and scale necessary to combat climate change effectively. MSP partners are key to making this happen. We share a commitment to high environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards.

The United States is committed to working closely with all our partner countries. Since MSP’s inception last June, we welcomed Norway, Italy, and India, making 14 partners — Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Norway, Sweden, the UK, the United States, and the European Union (represented by the European Commission) — that are collaborating to bolster supply chains to ensure a more sustainable future for us all. All MSP partner countries mark their support for a shared commitment to high ESG standards, as documented in the “Statement on Principles for Responsible Critical Minerals Supply Chains .”

Visit the State Department’s MSP webpage to learn more: https://www.state.gov/minerals-security-partnership/.

To stay up to date, follow Under Secretary Fernandez on Twitter: @State_E, Facebook: @StateDeptE , and LinkedIn: @State-E.

For press inquiries, please contact: E_Communications@state.gov.




Secretary Blinken’s Call with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
09/16/2023

Secretary Blinken’s Call with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
09/16/2023 07:01 PM EDT



Office of the Spokesperson

The below is attributable to Spokesperson Matthew Miller:

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke today with United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres ahead of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly. The Secretary and the Secretary-General discussed a wide array of issues, including the Black Sea Grain Initiative, Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine, and the security situation in Haiti. They discussed U.S. priorities for the General Assembly, including reinforcing the core principles of the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, modernizing the UN to address 21st century challenges, and our efforts to advance the UN’s sustainable development goals. The Secretary shared information on U.S.-hosted side events focused on addressing the threat of synthetic drugs, harnessing artificial intelligence to advance the UN’s sustainable development goals, and leveraging private capital for major infrastructure projects. The Secretary thanked the Secretary-General for his efforts to ensure a productive High-Level-Week.