U.S.A. Department of State,update

Andorra National Day Statement
09/08/2024


Andorra National Day Statement
09/08/2024 12:01 AM EDT



Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

On behalf of the United States of America, I extend my warmest congratulations to the people of Andorra as they celebrate their patron saint, Our Lady of Meritxell.

As a hallmark of our enduring partnership, our countries remain committed to working together on pressing global challenges. We are proud of our cyber collaboration, which strengthens our collective security in the digital age. We appreciate the creation of Andorra’s first-ever legal framework to apply sanctions against Russia and Belarus.

I also want to applaud Andorra’s historic achievement in electing its first representative to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, a testament to Andorra’s leadership in promoting equality. Likewise, Andorra’s dedication to achieving net-zero emissions underscores our shared commitment to climate action.

As we look to the future, the United States remains committed to our friendship and cooperation with Andorra, bound by shared values of democracy, human rights, and sustainability.

Wishing the people of Andorra a joyful national day and continued success in the year ahead.


North Macedonia National Day
09/08/2024

North Macedonia National Day
09/08/2024 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 33 years of independence and the historic election of your first woman president in May. We value our strong partnership with North Macedonia focused on building a prosperous democracy anchored in the Euro-Atlantic community.

The American people and people of North Macedonia share a commitment to democratic values. We look forward to continuing our work together to promote those values, enhance security and stability, and deepen economic ties in the region. The United States will continue to support our Ally, North Macedonia on its European path in the years ahead.




Second Meeting of U.S.-China Working Group on Enhancing Climate Action in the 2020s
09/08/2024

Second Meeting of U.S.-China Working Group on Enhancing Climate Action in the 2020s
09/08/2024 10:10 AM EDT



Office of the Spokesperson

On September 4-6, 2024, China hosted in Beijing a meeting of the U.S.-China Working Group on Enhancing Climate Action in the 2020s, which is co-led by U.S. Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy John Podesta and China Special Envoy for Climate Change Liu Zhenmin and includes their respective colleagues. Both sides continued their discussions on addressing the climate crisis, including implementation of respective 2030 NDCs and preparation of 2035 NDCs.

Both sides welcomed the technical and policy exchanges that have been conducted to date under the U.S.-China Working Group on Enhancing Climate Action in the 2020s, including discussions under the energy transition, methane, circular economy and resource efficiency, and low-carbon and sustainable provinces/states & cities four Sub-Working Groups, and looked forward to further exchanges.

Senior Advisor John Podesta and Special Envoy Liu Zhenmin also participated in the U.S.-China Circular Economy Cooperation Forum and U.S.-China Subnational Climate Action Roundtable, convened on September 6. They appreciated the participation by the U.S. Ambassador to China and China Ambassador to the U.S.

The two sides reaffirmed their intention to jointly host, with the COP 29 Presidency of Azerbaijan, a Methane and Other Non-CO2 Greenhouse Gases Summit at COP 29. They also discussed their interest in encouraging others to participate in the Summit and join us in presenting policies, actions, and cooperation, as appropriate.

Recalling their commitment to advance efforts to halt and reverse forest loss by 2030, the two sides expressed their intention to continue discussion and collaborative efforts to enforce their respective laws on banning illegal imports, and promote global forest conservation and sustainable management.

Both sides are committed to further strengthening dialogue, collaborative efforts, and working with other Parties to support the Azerbaijan Presidency for a successful outcome of COP 29, including on, inter alia, the new collective quantified goal and Article 6 under the Paris Agreement.




Special Envoy for Sudan Perriello Travels to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Türkiye
09/08/2024


Special Envoy for Sudan Perriello Travels to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Türkiye
09/08/2024 10:03 AM EDT



Office of the Spokesperson

U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan (USSES) Tom Perriello will travel to Riyadh, Cairo, and Ankara, starting on September 8, to continue urgent efforts to end the war and resultant famine in Sudan. Building on the recent success of the Aligned for Advancing Lifesaving and Peace in Sudan (ALPS) initiative, diplomatic priorities continue to include the coordination of efforts to urge the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces to expand humanitarian access in Sudan; to ensure the protection of civilians in accordance with international humanitarian law and international human rights law, as applicable, and their existing commitments under the Jeddah Declaration; and seeking a cessation of hostilities.

During the stops, USSES Perriello will meet with Sudanese refugees and civilian leaders across the region, as well as key government officials and multi-lateral partners from the Arab League and IGAD.

The United States remains committed to working with international partners to alleviate the suffering of the Sudanese people and to achieve a cessation of hostilities agreement between the warring parties.




Deputy Secretary Verma’s Engagements in Krakow, Poland
09/08/2024

Deputy Secretary Verma’s Engagements in Krakow, Poland
09/08/2024 03:23 PM EDT



Office of the Spokesperson

The following is attributable to Spokesperson Matthew Miller:

Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Richard R. Verma met yesterday in Krakow, Poland, with Polish Special Plenipotentiary for the Reconstruction of Ukraine Pawel Kowal, private sector businesses, and NGOs to discuss Ukrainian recovery plans. In addition, Deputy Secretary Verma met with leaders of the Jewish Community Centre, one of the largest U.S.-privately funded Ukraine refugee assistance organizations. The Deputy Secretary also visited the European Rover Challenge event, recipient of a U.S. grant, to meet leaders in computer engineering and artificial intelligence research and development, with multiple leading U.S. companies present.




Deputy Secretary Verma’s Engagements in Bratislava, Slovakia
09/09/2024


Deputy Secretary Verma’s Engagements in Bratislava, Slovakia
09/09/2024 10:27 AM EDT



Office of the Spokesperson
HomeOffice of the SpokespersonPress Releases…Deputy Secretary Verma’s Engagements in Bratislava, Slovakia
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Deputy Secretary Verma’s Engagements in Bratislava, Slovakia


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September 9, 2024



The below is attributable to Spokesperson Matthew Miller:


Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Richard R. Verma met yesterday in Bratislava, Slovakia with Slovak Deputy Prime Minister Peter Kmec and thanked him for his support of Ukraine and for Slovakia’s efforts as a NATO Ally to support our common defense and to condemn Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. They discussed the need to continue providing humanitarian aid and the importance of inclusion efforts for Ukrainian refugees in Slovakia. Deputy Secretary Verma and Deputy Prime Minister Kmec also talked about the shared commitment to democracy, rule of law, and human rights and fundamental freedoms. Deputy Secretary Verma also met with representatives of Slovakia-based organizations working to support Ukraine. They discussed Slovakia’s role in the reconstruction process and how it can be mutually beneficial for the Slovak and Ukrainian people.



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Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Office of the Spokesperson Official International Travel Slovakia


Special Advisor on International Disability Rights (SAIDR) Sara Minkara Traveled to France for the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games Closing Ceremony
09/09/2024

Special Advisor on International Disability Rights (SAIDR) Sara Minkara Traveled to France for the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games Closing Ceremony
09/09/2024 11:02 AM EDT



Office of the Spokesperson
HomeOffice of the SpokespersonPress Releases…Special Advisor on International Disability Rights (SAIDR) Sara Minkara Traveled to France for the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games Closing Ceremony
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Special Advisor on International Disability Rights (SAIDR) Sara Minkara Traveled to France for the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games Closing Ceremony


Media Note





September 9, 2024



From September 6-8, Special Advisor on International Disability Rights (SAIDR) Sara Minkara joined the presidential delegation at the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games Closing Ceremony in Paris, France. As a member of the delegation, SAIDR Minkara attended Paralympic events, met with Paralympians, and participated in events focused on sports as a vehicle for inclusive societies. SAIDR Minkara’s attendance at the closing ceremony reflects the U.S. commitment as a global leader in inclusive foreign policy.


While in Paris, SAIDR Minkara met with organizers of the 2028 Games in Los Angeles (LA28) to explore opportunities for integrating accessibility into planning for the next Olympic and Paralympic Games to be hosted in the United States. She also engaged Paris 2024 organizers on lessons learned and best practices during the Games as a follow on to previous conversations held during her last visit to Paris in February 2024.


For further information, please follow the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor on X and Facebook at @StateDRL, or email DRL-Press@state.gov.



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Assistant Secretary Pyatt’s Travel to Houston, Texas
09/09/2024

Assistant Secretary Pyatt’s Travel to Houston, Texas
09/09/2024 11:57 AM EDT



Office of the Spokesperson
HomeOffice of the SpokespersonPress Releases…Assistant Secretary Pyatt’s Travel to Houston, Texas
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Assistant Secretary Pyatt’s Travel to Houston, Texas


Media Note





September 9, 2024



Assistant Secretary for Energy Resources Geoffrey R. Pyatt will travel to Houston, Texas on September 9 for meetings with Iraqi officials and U.S. energy companies, hosted by the Baker Institute at Rice University. These engagements will advance discussions held during Iraq Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s visit to Washington D.C. in April and Assistant Secretary Pyatt’s trip to Iraq in May to support their goal of achieving energy independence by 2030 through greater efficiency, renewable energy sources, and the modernization of electricity grids.


Assistant Secretary Pyatt will also discuss the importance of resuming Iraq’s oil exports via the Iraq-Türkiye Pipeline (ITP) as a means of increasing market transparency as well as offsetting decreases in Russian oil exports to Europe.


Assistant Secretary Pyatt will join Iraqi officials and U.S. companies in a series of discussions on Iraq’s oil and gas and power sectors, as well as opportunities for cooperation and investment. They will review Iraq’s progress reducing flaring and capturing gas at oil extraction wells to both reduce dependence on outside actors and meet Iraq’s climate goals. Representatives from the U.S. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and U.S. Department of Energy will also attend.


Assistant Secretary Pyatt will also deliver a keynote address to the U.S. Energy Stream Leadership Council. He will visit the Consulate of Ukraine in Houston to meet with U.S. companies to discuss ways to advance Ukraine’s energy security and resilience in preparation for winter in the wake of repeated attacks by Russia on its energy infrastructure. He will meet with Consul General Vitalii Tarasiuk and members of the Ukrainian diaspora.


For further media information, please contact ENR-PD-Clearances@state.gov.



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Deputy Secretary Verma’s Engagements in Vienna, Austria
09/09/2024


Deputy Secretary Verma’s Engagements in Vienna, Austria
09/09/2024 03:16 PM EDT



Office of the Spokesperson
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Deputy Secretary Verma’s Engagements in Vienna, Austria


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September 9, 2024



The below is attributable to Spokesperson Matthew Miller:


Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Richard R. Verma met today in Vienna, Austria with senior officials to discuss international support for Ukraine and its recovery. He met OSCE permanent representatives and heard firsthand about the organization’s commitment to Ukraine and regional security. He also met International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi to discuss the Agency’s activities in Ukraine, including the IAEA mission at Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP). Grossi updated the Deputy Secretary on his recent visits to Kursk Nuclear Power Plant in Russia, Kyiv, ZNPP, and Kaliningrad. The Deputy Secretary highlighted ongoing U.S. support to strengthen nuclear safety and security in Ukraine.



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Secretary Antony J. Blinken And United Kingdom Foreign Secretary David Lammy During the U.S.-UK Strategic Dialogue
09/10/2024

Secretary Antony J. Blinken And United Kingdom Foreign Secretary David Lammy During the U.S.-UK Strategic Dialogue
09/10/2024 09:34 AM EDT



Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

London, United Kingdom

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

FOREIGN SECRETARY LAMMY: It’s very special to host you, Tony, here today and to open this new bilateral Strategic Dialogue together. In many ways it’s remarkable; this is a new format. We’ve been close partners for a very, very long time. A century ago, Foreign Secretary Ramsay MacDonald was committed to a consistent friendship and cooperation with the people of America, and that has endured and holds true today. But I believe that this format gives us an opportunity in a difficult, volatile, insecure world to remain strategically aligned on a whole range of issues. You know how personal to me the relationship is with the United States having studied in the United States, worked in the United States, lots of family across the United States. It’s a very special relationship, particularly for me. But I believe that this dialogue can identify ways for us to strengthen those connections, of course, even further, and I know that would be a benefit to both of our countries but frankly to much of the global community.

In my first week in office, I went to Washington, of course. We met for the NATO conference. We have been – I think we’ve spoken nearly every other week in that period, for which I am hugely grateful. But on Russian aggression particularly, the backing of the stalwart position of standing with Ukraine, tackling the Iranian malign activity, and of course, in our support and efforts to stabilize issues in the Middle East, this is hugely, hugely important. It’s also important for our partnership in the Indo-Pacific and our approach to China. And so I’m looking forward to the discussions that would embed this Strategic Dialogue going forward, and I’m very, very grateful, Tony, for you spending your time here today.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Well, David, thank you so very much. Thank you for the incredibly warm hospitality. Thank you for hitting this job at a full sprint, because you’ve been going all out from day one. And given the multiplicity and complexity of challenges that we’re dealing with, I am personally and the United States more generally is grateful for that – you, the prime minister, the entire team.

And to your point, I think what makes the relationship genuinely special – and I would even say essential – is that we are working hand-in-hand on all of the issues that matter most to our people, that are having the biggest effect on their lives, as well as people around the world because of the impact that our two countries have well beyond our own borders, beyond our own shores.

For us, the UK is the indispensable partner when it comes to the very issues that David was talking about, whether it’s dealing with the Russian aggression against Ukraine, whether it’s dealing with the conflict in the Middle East, whether it’s dealing with the challenge posed by China, and so many transnational issues that have no respect for borders and that have a profound impact on the lives of people around the world.

So we couldn’t be more grateful for this partnership, for the energy that David and the prime minister have put into it. But I think the merit of what we’re doing with the Strategic Dialogue is to make sure, as always, that we are fully focused and fully aligned on the north stars. And the day-in/day-out work that then follows is critical, but making sure that we are fully aligned strategically really is where it all starts, and so I am very enthusiastic about this process. We have our senior teams meeting together, working together. I’m here today, Deputy Secretary Campbell will be here tomorrow, and we will carry out the work of making sure that our strategies are aligned and then doing the work every single day. I can’t think of two governments, two countries where we have more daily, sometimes hourly, communication on everything that matters. But making sure that we have the strategic framework for that is vitally important, and I’m so glad we’re doing it. Thank you.




Secretary Antony J. Blinken And United Kingdom Foreign Secretary David Lammy Joint Press Availability
09/10/2024

Secretary Antony J. Blinken And United Kingdom Foreign Secretary David Lammy Joint Press Availability
09/10/2024 10:41 AM EDT



Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

London, United Kingdom

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

FOREIGN SECRETARY LAMMY: Well, welcome, Tony.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thank you.

FOREIGN SECRETARY LAMMY: You’ve been a great support to me in my early weeks as foreign secretary, and I’m very grateful. I think we’ve spoken almost every other week since I took office. So it’s a pleasure to welcome you here to London, and clearly we’re meeting at a critical moment, a critical moment for securing a ceasefire in Gaza, with the shocking deaths in Khan Younis this morning only reinforcing how desperately needed that ceasefire is, and a critical moment for supporting Ukraine as we enter the third winter of Putin’s illegal war. It’s also a critical moment addressing the climate crisis as we head towards UNGA and to COP.

As the closest of friends and allies, our response is clear: We’re united in our desire to address these challenges together. We just opened a new UK-U.S. Strategic Dialogue, a forum which I believe can help us remain strategically aligned in tackling these challenges. On Russia and Ukraine, today I can confirm that Tony and I will be traveling to Kyiv this week, the first joint visit of this kind for well over a decade. We are the closest of allies, so I’m delighted that we will travel together demonstrating our commitment to Ukraine.

And on the Middle East, we are completely aligned on the need to secure that ceasefire, completely aligned on the need to get the region onto a path to peace and reconciliation with a two-state solution at its heart, and completely aligned too on the need to tackle Iran’s malign activity in the region and beyond. We’re seeing a disturbing pattern of greater Iranian support for the Kremlin’s illegal war, and we discussed today our shared commitment to holding Tehran to account for their undermining of global stability.

Last month we also saw a historic breakthrough in defense innovation between our two countries. The so-called ITAR exemption is a landmark export control change which will benefit the U.S. and AUKUS partners covering up to 500 million pounds worth of defense exports a year.

And finally, we discussed today our cooperation on global challenges ahead of UNGA in New York. We share a desire to see ambitious global action on climate, to see secure global supply chains for critical minerals, and to see relations with global majority countries prosper on the basis of mutual respect.

The UK-U.S. relationship is special. It’s special to me personally and it’s special to so many Brits and Americans. Only a few weeks ago we saw the Arsenal women’s team head over there for their preseason. They were following, of course, the Tottenham Hotspur women’s football team. But Tony, it’s a pleasure to welcome you here today. Thank you so much for spending the time.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: David, thank you so much for not just your warm hospitality today but the extraordinary engagement that we’ve had ever since you’ve been on the job. And I said earlier that the foreign secretary hit the ground at a full sprint, and that is not an exaggeration. I think given the multiplicity, the complexity, the urgency of the challenges we’re facing, we are so grateful to have such a strong partner in David, the government, the prime minister. And today and the days ahead we’re continuing to deepen the work that we’re doing together.

We talk about the special relationship. I like to call it essential – essential for our nations, essential for our people, essential for people well beyond our shores. And that’s why on David’s first visit to the United States we agreed to launch this Strategic Dialogue to even more effectively advance our enduring shared priorities, our interests, our values – priorities that will be at the heart of the discussions that our team are having but also that Prime Minister Starmer and President Biden will have later this week in Washington.

Those priorities, of course, include our resolute support for Ukraine faced with the ongoing Russian aggression. The United States, the United Kingdom are leaders in providing security assistance to Ukraine, and together from day one continuing to this day we stand strongly with our Ukrainian partners. As David said, we’ll be traveling together to Kyiv this week, and I think it’s a critical moment for Ukraine in the midst of what is an intense fall fighting season with Russia continuing to escalate its aggression – aggression against civilians, against critical infrastructure, and of course, against Ukrainian forces. We see it ramping up its attacks on cities, on people, in particular targeting the energy infrastructure – electricity – all in advance of the coldest months – Putin’s winter playbook of weaponizing energy and electricity.

This joint trip reflects strong transatlantic support aligned also with our NATO allies, with our Indo-Pacific partners, with the more than 50 countries that continue to strongly and resolutely support Ukraine. Together we’re working to make sure that Ukraine can defend its territory against the ongoing aggression, that it will be able to stand strongly on its own two feet militarily, economically, democratically, and that it will remain on the path that the Ukrainian people so desire it to be on of closer integration with Europe, with transatlantic institutions. Ukraine is clearly on that path. Together we’re going to continue to help it move along that path.

Now, one of the reasons that Putin is able to continue this aggression is because of the provision of support from the People’s Republic of China, the biggest supplier of machine tools, the biggest supplier of microelectronics, all of which are helping Russia sustain its defense industrial base. Our countries are aligned in holding accountable PRC entities that are engaged in these practices fueling the Russian war machine.

We also discussed joint efforts to ensure peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and freedom of navigation and overflight of the South China Sea. For both of us, maintaining peace and stability, preserving the status quo is essential. And it’s essential not just to us; it’s, again, essential to countries all around the world.

We also agree on the importance of continuing to seek ways to cooperate with China on global challenges that affect our mutual interests and affect people everywhere, like the climate talks that a U.S. team held in Beijing just in recent days in advance of the next COP.

Now, to wage its war of aggression on Ukraine, Putin is also relying increasingly on help from Iran and the DPRK, in these instances to get actual weapons, in clear violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions. Now, Tehran has long supplied deadly drones. It’s built a drone factory in Russia. It’s trained Russian personnel on how to operate them. For some time, the United States has warned of an additional threat: the provision by Iran of ballistic missiles to Russia for use in Ukraine. We’ve warned Tehran publicly, we’ve warned Tehran privately that taking this step would constitute a dramatic escalation. Dozens of Russian military personnel have been trained in Iran to use the Fath-360 close-range ballistic missile system, which has a maximum range of 75 miles. Russia has now received shipments of these ballistic missiles and will likely use them within weeks in Ukraine against Ukrainians.

Russia has an array of its own ballistic missiles, but the supply of Iranian missiles enables Russia to use more of its arsenal for targets that are further from the frontline, while dedicating the new missiles it’s receiving from Iran for closer-range targets. This development and the growing cooperation between Russia and Iran threatens European security and demonstrates how Iran’s destabilizing influence reaches far beyond the Middle East. For its part, Russia is sharing technology that Iran seeks – this is a two-way street – including on nuclear issues as well as some space information. So as Iran’s destabilizing activities spread, so does Russia, sowing even greater insecurity in their regions and around the world.

In recent days, we’ve been sharing intelligence behind these findings with our allies and partners, and working together to ensure that there will be significant economic consequences for Tehran’s actions. The United States will be announcing further sanctions on Iran later today, including additional measures on Iran Air. We expect allies and partners will be announcing their own new measures on Iran as well. Iran’s new president and foreign minister have repeatedly said that they want to restore engagement with Europe, they want to receive sanctions relief. Destabilizing actions like these will achieve exactly the opposite.

As David mentioned, we also discussed efforts by Russia to interfere in our democracies. We agree that deepening cooperation with our partners in Europe to push back against the Kremlin’s efforts to use disinformation and lies to polarize our societies, to distort the public debate, that this work is essential.

Finally, on Israel and Gaza, we talked today about our ongoing efforts to prevent the crisis in the Middle East from escalating further. Our nations helped Israel defend itself against an unprecedented attack from Iran a few months ago. We’re prepared to act together to help Israel defend itself in the future. But we’re equally determined to end the conflict in Gaza as soon as possible, and the quickest way to do so remains bringing the ceasefire agreement over the finish line. It’s the best way to get the hostages home, the best way to get a massive infusion of assistance for people who so desperately need it in Gaza. But we agreed that we cannot wait on a ceasefire in order to continue to do everything possible to get humanitarian assistance to those who need it. And you see what we’re doing now with the vaccinations and the polio campaign to prevent a terrible outbreak of polio in Gaza.

Let me just note in conclusion that we also talked more broadly – and our teams will be talking more broadly in the coming days – about how we can strengthen the alliances that we are both a central part of, in particular NATO. We welcome Britain’s new “NATO first” defense strategy, the prime minister’s commitment to increase UK defense spending to 2.5 percent. And we’re urging others to do the same, especially in light of the serious threats that we all face.

We discuss continued trilateral cooperation with Australia through AUKUS, especially through nuclear-powered submarines. This reflects growing efforts to weave together allies in Europe and the Indo-Pacific, to build bridges between them, because what happens in one theater has an impact on the other. And more and more, our allies and partners in Europe, the transatlantic theater, and the Indo-Pacific theater recognize this and are acting on it.

Finally, the prime minister and David have made it a top priority to reset relations with Europe, including seeking closer UK-Europe cooperation through a wide-ranging UK-EU security pact. We fully support these efforts. It’s good for the UK; it’s good for Europe. It’s good for the United States, which benefits when our transatlantic allies are tied even more closely together.

And I know when the President sees the prime minister on Friday, he’ll also look forward to having a few words about Northern Ireland. We are very pleased at the commitment that Prime Minister Starmer and Secretary for Northern Ireland Benn are showing to the Good Friday Agreement, to supporting Northern Ireland’s prosperity. And we share this goal, and we’ll work with all parties to sustain and advance the agreement.

David’s often said that Britain is always stronger when it works with others. So is the United States, especially when we work with our closest ally, the United Kingdom. I look forward to building on that strength and also spending a little bit of quality time with David as we make our way to Ukraine the days ahead. Thank you.

MODERATOR: So now, first, Dominic Waghorn from Sky News.

QUESTION: Thank you very much. Mr. Secretary, you’ve announced new sanctions today. We’ve had a lot of sanctions and the war grinds on for – as you say, into a third winter. What the Ukrainians have said they want – and reportedly your British allies have also said this privately – is the freedom to use the long-range missiles that you’re supplying them to do what they’re designed to do, which is to hit targets deep in Russia, to hit the source of those glide bombs and possibly the new missiles you’re saying that that supply of ballistic missiles could allow the Russians to now use. Has that time now come? And if not, why not, and what are you afraid of?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: So I think a hallmark from day one of our efforts to support Ukraine against this aggression is to work to make sure that they have what they need when they need it to be most effective in dealing with the Russian aggression. And I think that you’ve seen – again from day one – that we have continuously adjusted and adapted based on the battlefield conditions, based on what Russia was doing in a given place and by given means. And that’s been a through-line in everything that we’ve done.

I’ve said this many times before, so my own colleagues may be tired of hearing me say it, but it’s so important as we’re making these decisions that we factor in a number of critical elements. It’s not just the system itself that counts. You have to ask can the Ukrainian – Ukrainians effectively use it, and sometimes that requires significant training, which we’ve done. Do they have the ability to maintain it? Again, this is something that we’ve worked on. And then is it part of an effective strategy? All of these are questions we’re continuously asking ourselves. Secretary Austin, Secretary of Defense, his British counterpart, and others who just gathered on the defense side are constantly working these issues.

Now, one of the purposes of the trip that we’ll be taking together is to hear directly from the Ukrainian leadership, including Prime Minister Zelenskyy about exactly – President Zelenskyy, excuse me – about exactly how the Ukrainians see their needs in this moment, towards what objectives, and what we can do to support those needs. So all I can tell you is we’ll be listening intently to our Ukrainian partners. We’ll both be reporting back to the prime minister, to President Biden in the coming days. And I fully anticipate this is something they’ll take up when they meet on Friday.

MODERATOR: Great. Thank you. Daphne Psaledakis from Reuters.

QUESTION: Thank you. Secretary Blinken, the U.S. has provided Ukraine with billions in military aid since 2022 but has limited the use of U.S. weapons to Ukrainian soil and defensive cross-border operations. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has pushed back against allies who have supplied long-range weapons but said Ukraine cannot use them deep inside Russia. So to follow up on my colleague’s question, what will your message be to the Ukrainians about this during your visit this week? And more broadly, what do you see as the potential military impact of Iran supplying the ballistic missiles to Russia?

Foreign Secretary, has Britain received sign off to allow Ukraine to use the Storm Shadow missiles to strike targets inside Russia? And have you pushed for this? Thank you.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thank you. I’m tempted to refer you to the previous answer, but look, again, I just want to emphasize this: as always, we’re going to look and to listen and to make sure that we have our own best assessment of what’s needed, what the objectives are that our Ukrainian partners have in the weeks and months ahead, and how we can best support them. And we will take that back and we’ll both inform our bosses – the prime minister and the President – and again, I fully expect that will be a part of their conversation on Friday.

A lot goes into each one of these decisions, but every step along the way our purpose has been to make the Ukrainians as effective as possible in warding off the Russian aggression. And the fact of the matter is if you look at where we are, it’s – these are difficult days given this aggression, but Ukraine continues to stand strong. And I believe that it’s very much on a trajectory where it will be able to stand strongly on its own two feet – militarily, economically, democratically – will be increasingly integrated with Europe. And Putin will continue to know a strategic failure in Ukraine, and the Ukrainians will know a strategic success in building a strong, vibrant country. But a lot more work has to go into making sure that that happens, and we will be listening very intently on this and reporting back.

On the Iranian weapons, as I said, this gives the Russians an additional capability and it gives them additional flexibility. They have ballistic missiles already, but the particular Iranian missiles that they’re getting have a certain range. This means that Russia will be able to dedicate its own ballistic missiles to longer-range targets, not use them on the shorter-range because it will have these Iranian missiles – that have about a 75-mile radius to them – to do that. So it adds to their capacity and it fuels the war.

Anyone who is providing assistance to Russia – whether it’s direct lethal assistance like Iran or North Korea, whether it’s assistance to their defense industrial base like China – is perpetuating the war, is fueling the conflict. And this is a threat not only to Ukraine and to the Ukrainian people; it’s a threat to all of Europe. I think if you ask any of our European colleagues, they see Russia posing the greatest threat to European security since the end of the Cold War. So countries that are playing into this by supplying Russia, they are fueling a threat to Europe more broadly – not just Ukraine – and they have to take that into account, particularly in their own relationships with Europe.

FOREIGN SECRETARY LAMMY: As you would expect, Tony and I have discussed Ukraine now since taking office nearly every other week. We had a fruitful discussion today. It’s hugely important – and I said in my opening that this was a critical moment – it’s hugely important that we’re traveling together to hear from our Ukrainian counterparts and President Zelenskyy their assessment of the situation on the ground and their needs on the ground. It would, however, be quite wrong to comment on the detail of operational issues in a forum such as this, because the only person who could benefit is Putin, and we will do nothing to give him any advantage in his illegal invasion.

On the transfer of ballistic missiles from Iran, this is a troubling pattern that we’re seeing from Iran. It is definitely a significant escalation, and we are coordinating actions, and we’ll have more to say on that very shortly.

MODERATOR: Thank you. Patrick Wintour, The Guardian.

QUESTION: Thank you very much. Secretary of State, the Israeli Defense Minister Gallant this week warned that Israel had reached a strategic junction in its war with Hamas where it must choose between the risk of a broader escalation and a hostage deal with Hamas. Do you agree with that assessment?

And secondly, is it not really the case that these ceasefire talks are at a deadlock? And could you, in any way, give any assurances to Benjamin Netanyahu about the Philadelphi Corridor and the – that there’s no need for Israeli forces to be there, Israel’s security will be preserved?

And Foreign Secretary, you were in the UAE last week. The UAE is one of the few countries that has said it’s willing to put troops into Gaza as a peacekeeping force. Would you welcome that, and would you like to see other Arab states make the same offer?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: On the ceasefire, here’s what I can tell you: More than 90 percent of the issues have been agreed, decided. So we’re down to a handful of issues – not even a handful of issues – that are hard but fully resolvable, in our judgment. And as we’ve said before, when you get down to the last 10 percent, the last 10 meters, those are, almost by definition, the hardest ground to cover. But we believe that these are fully resolvable.

Right now, we’re working intensely with our Egyptian and Qatari counterparts to work together to bridge any remaining gaps. And in the coming time, very soon, we’ll put that before the parties and we’ll see what they say.

I think what is evident, though, is the strong interest that everyone in the region has in being able to get the ceasefire concluded. It’s clearly in Israel’s interest. It’s in its interest to get hostages home. It’s in its interest to turn down the temperature in Gaza. It’s in its interest to have possible off-ramps in the north with Hizballah and Lebanon that a ceasefire in Gaza would make more possible. It’s in its interest to also further enable us to calm the situation in the Red Sea with the Houthis. And it’s in its interest because it opens other prospects that could fundamentally alter Israel’s security for the long term, including the prospect of normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

We saw back on April 13th, when Israel was attacked directly by Iran for the first time, something unprecedented, and that was other countries coming to its active defense. And this showed, in embryonic form, what the future could be – a future in which Israel is integrated into the region, in which it enjoys normal relations with other countries, something it’s sought from day one of its existence, and which is protected against the aggression coming from Iran or its proxies, and in which Iran and those proxies are isolated. That’s very much possible in the future.

But it requires resolving Gaza, ending the conflict there. It requires, as David said, a credible pathway for the Palestinians to a state of their own. And these are very hard issues, but that future is very powerful and very positive. The alternative is a perpetuation of conflict, a perpetuation of insecurity, and multiple fronts at the same time – not only in Gaza, but we see what’s happening in the West Bank and growing insecurity there. We see what’s happening in the north and the possibility of conflict with Hizballah, an even broader conflict with Iran. From day one, our purpose has been not only to make sure that Israel can effectively ensure that October 7th never happens again but also that the conflict doesn’t spread, and we’re intent on that. But the longer all of this goes on, the greater the risk of just that happening.

So I think for Israel, for – clearly for the Palestinian people, and especially Palestinians in Gaza, who desperately need this conflict to be over so that they can get the help that they need and begin to rebuild their lives, for every country in the region, the interest is clear. I can’t speak to what’s in the mind of Mr. Sinwar and where his interests lie. He will have to make those judgments for himself. But we remain resolute in working to bring the ceasefire over the line, because it would open up so many more positive prospects. And let’s see where we are in the coming days.

FOREIGN SECRETARY LAMMY: Could I just say, Patrick, that Tony’s assessment that 90 percent of the deal is there is completely correct. And in the end, what you need are partners for peace, and that is now in the hands of Bibi Netanyahu and Sinwar to get us over the line and to take that deal that is on the table, and we’ve now been talking about that deal for weeks.

It was important to go to the UAE, as it’s important to speak to Arab partners across the region. And the focus of your question is on the day after, and clearly it’s on the security guarantees that are important for Israel to have, and Arab partners – and certainly the UAE – are showing some forward leaning in their commitment to securing that.

But what I think is absolutely essential – and they all say this – is that there has to be a pathway to two states. That has to be present, or they cannot give that commitment. And then there’s also discussion of both the security in Gaza and the administration. And clearly we have to see a reformed and renewed Palestinian Authority, and there can be no role for Hamas going forward.

So we’re very focused on the day after. But let’s remember that when we talk about the deal, it is a phase deal. Let us get over the line to get to that first phase, and let us see that pathway to security on both sides.

MODERATOR: Shaun Tandon from AFP.

QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. Secretary, Mr. Foreign Secretary. Secretary Blinken, could I ask you about a couple of aspects on the Middle East? The Israel Defense Forces just a moment ago released an investigation, or released a preliminary – some preliminary findings to the death of an American citizen, Ms. Aysenur Eygi. Could you say – they said that she was killed most likely by Israeli fire, but unintentionally. Are you confident of that assessment? Does the United States want to see anything further? Are you confident with the assessment that this was unintentional, and what more do you want Israel to do? Could there be repercussions?

For both of you, could I ask you about the International Criminal Court? The – it seems that in the coming days there could be a formal decision on whether to seek an arrest warrant for Prime Minister Netanyahu, among others. Mr. Foreign Secretary, the Labor government, of course, has taken a slightly different stance from your predecessors, from the Conservatives, on this. Could you say what your position is, whether you support going ahead? And is there unity between the two allies on this? Thank you.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Shaun, thank you very much. With regard to the tragic killing of Aysenur, I think what we saw of this investigation is it seems to show what eyewitnesses have said and made clear: that her killing was both unprovoked and unjustified. No one – no one – should be shot and killed for attending a protest. No one should have to put their life at risk just for freely expressing their views.

In our judgment, Israeli security forces need to make some fundamental changes in the way that they operate in the West Bank, including changes to their rules of engagement. We’ve long seen reports of the security forces looking the other way when extremist settlers use violence against Palestinians. We’ve seen reports of excessive force by Israeli security forces against Palestinians. And now we have the second American citizen killed at the hands of Israeli security forces. It’s not acceptable. It has to change. And we’ll be making that clear to the senior-most members of the Israeli Government.

Now, we’re looking carefully at the results of this investigation, but even on an initial read and even accepting it at face value, it’s clear that there are serious issues that need to be dealt with. And we will insist that they be dealt with.

FOREIGN SECRETARY LAMMY: I think the important thing to stress in great democracies such as ours is our belief in the separation of powers. There is an important forum for lawyers and the judiciary and our courts, and then there is also an important forum for politicians and those who represent the people.

We’ve always been clear in the UK in our belief in the international rule of law, the rules-based order, and in IHL issues which are fundamentally important. And we took a decision last week in relation to arms exports that were quasi-legal on the basis of our law as they stand. We believe in international law, we believe in the Statute of Rome, but these must be decisions for the international courts to determine. I don’t want to comment on the assessment that they will reach. I’m qualified as a lawyer in part because of the great Harvard Law School. But I’m going to leave it to the lawyers to determine these very complex matters.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thank you.

FOREIGN SECRETARY LAMMY: Thanks a lot.




New Iran and Russia Sanctions Designations
09/10/2024

New Iran and Russia Sanctions Designations
09/10/2024 12:40 PM EDT



Office of the Spokesperson

The Department of State is taking action today to constrain further Iran’s destabilizing activities, including its transfer of ballistic missiles to Russia, a serious escalation in its support for Russia’s illegal war against Ukraine. The expanding military partnership between Iran and Russia threatens European security and illustrates how Iran’s destabilizing influence reaches beyond the Middle East to undermine security around the world. The United States will continue to use all tools at our disposal to disrupt and counter Iran’s weapons exports, with particular attention to transfers that support Russia’s war against Ukraine. Today’s sanctions actions build on previous Department of State designations of entities and individuals facilitating Iran-Russia cooperation, including in February 2024, October 2023, May 2023, December 2022.

The Department is designating IRAN AIR pursuant to section 1(a)(i) of Executive Order (E.O.) 13949 for materially contributing to the supply, sale, or transfer, directly or indirectly, to or from Iran, or for the use in or benefit of Iran, of arms or related materiel, including spare parts.Iranian proliferators use IRAN AIR to facilitate procurement of sensitive western-origin goods on behalf of Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and its expeditionary Qods Force (QF) through direct Europe to Iran routes.
IRAN AIR has transported on numerous occasions proliferation –sensitive materiel to the IRGC QF unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) program.
IRAN AIR constitutes a key element of Iran’s illicit proliferation network enabling Iran’s acquisition of sensitive-western origin dual-use materials for use in the development of UAVs, some of which are provided to Russia for use in Ukraine.

The Department is designating two Russia-based shipping companies pursuant to section 1(a)(i) of E.O. 14024 for operating or having operated in the marine sector of the Russian Federation economy:VAFA WHOLESALE LTD owns vessels that have transported Iranian UAV-related equipment from Iran to Russia via the Caspian Sea.

The following two vessels are being identified as property in which VAFA WHOLESALE LTD has an interest:VAFA (IMO 8422670).
VAFA-1 (IMO 8422682).
SEA RIVER SERVICE LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY owns vessels that have transported munitions from Iran to Russia via the Caspian Sea for use against Ukraine.

The following three vessels are being identified as property in which SEA RIVER SERVICE LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY has an interest:OMSKIY-103 (IMO 8889385). As additional information, OMSKIY-103 transported munitions from Iran to Russia via the Caspian Sea in February 2024.
OMSKIY-119 (IMO 8926913).
ZAKAMSK (IMO 8951413).

Sanctions Implications

As a result of today’s action, and in accordance with E.O. 14114, 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 the 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. Additionally, the entry of designated individuals into the United States is suspended pursuant to Presidential Proclamation 8693.

Petitions for removal from the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List may be sent to: OFAC.Reconsideration@treasury.gov. Petitioners may also refer to the Department of State’s Delisting Guidance page.




Secretary Blinken’s Meeting with UK Prime Minister Starmer
09/10/2024


Secretary Blinken’s Meeting with UK Prime Minister Starmer
09/10/2024 02:37 PM EDT



Office of the Spokesperson

The below is attributable to Spokesperson Matthew Miller:

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met today with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London. Secretary Blinken and Prime Minister Starmer underscored the fundamental importance of the Special Relationship in addressing the most pressing global challenges. The two discussed the importance of enduring support for Ukraine and our sustained efforts in countering the Kremlin’s brutal war of aggression. They also discussed the need to finalize a ceasefire deal in Gaza that brings the hostages home, increases the flow of humanitarian assistance into Gaza, and brings an end to the war.




Secretary Antony J. Blinken And United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer Before Their Meeting
09/10/2024


Secretary Antony J. Blinken And United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer Before Their Meeting
09/10/2024 03:01 PM EDT



Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

London, United Kingdom

Lancaster House

PRIME MINISTER STARMER: Secretary of State, I warmly welcome you once again. It is fantastic that you’re here and we’re able to have this meeting. This is the closest relationship, the special relationship, so important historically to our two countries, and so important going forward. So I’m really looking forward to having an opportunity to talk to you about the pressing issues. Of course, we’re praying for the Middle East, where the next few weeks and months are crucial, in my view, and very much looking forward to seeing the President on Friday to continue those discussions.

So you’re very welcome. Thank you for making the time, and it’s really a great pleasure and privilege to be able to welcome you as prime minister to this meeting here today.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Prime Minister, thank you so much, and I’m really grateful to you for taking the time. I know how much President Biden looks forward to seeing you on Friday. I’m glad for this opportunity to talk before you head to Washington, and I can simply say what I said earlier today, which is that for the United States, you remain not only the most special relationship but really the most essential relationship. We are together dealing with a greater complexity, a greater multiplicity, a greater interconnectedness of problems than ever before, but the fact that we’re doing it side by side makes all the difference and is a tremendous sense of confidence for us.

And I just want to also express to you, Prime Minister, and to my friend the foreign secretary our gratitude for the fact that you’ve hit the ground at a full sprint. And that we really welcome as well because so much of this, as you’ve described, is urgent, and we’re tackling it together. So thank you for the time today.

PRIME MINISTER STARMER: Thank you very much.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thanks.




Secretary Antony J. Blinken with Yalda Hakim of Sky News
09/10/2024


Secretary Antony J. Blinken with Yalda Hakim of Sky News
09/10/2024 04:57 PM EDT



Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

London, United Kingdom

Chatham House
HomeOffice of the SpokespersonPress Releases…Secretary Antony J. Blinken with Yalda Hakim of Sky News
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Secretary Antony J. Blinken with Yalda Hakim of Sky News


Interview





September 10, 2024



QUESTION: Secretary Blinken, thank you so much for your time. We heard you earlier today talk about Iran shipping ballistic missiles to Russia. You said they’re going to be used on Ukrainians in the next few weeks.


SECRETARY BLINKEN: That’s right.


QUESTION: We’re also hearing about economic sanctions being imposed on Iran. I guess it makes me think, are you just kicking the can down the road? What exactly is the Iran strategy? Because it doesn’t feel like economic sanctions is going to cut it.


SECRETARY BLINKEN: Well, two things. First, let’s look at what they’re doing, which is providing Russia with ballistic missiles for use in Ukraine. These are missiles that have a relatively short range, but what it means is that the Russians can free up their own longer-range ballistic missiles, which they’ve been using on near-in targets, to range even more of Ukraine, including all the way west to Lviv, civilian targets of one kind or another, energy infrastructure. So this is a material difference that’s not a good one.


I think you’ve seen just in the last few hours the United States come out and now, just in recent minutes, European partners making it clear that we are taking and will take additional actions against Iran in response to what they’re doing. We’ve been clear with the Iranians as we saw this brewing that this would have consequences if they went ahead and did it. There will be consequences. And —


QUESTION: And they have done it, though.


SECRETARY BLINKEN: They have done it. But the consequences will be there. And this is at a time when we know from the new Iranian president that they desperately need and want some economic relief, that there’s a very heavy burden on the country, and that they’re looking for that. This is exactly the opposite way to get what they purport to want – better relations with other countries and some relief from the sanctions that have been imposed on them for their conduct.


QUESTION: Secretary, we could see, though, Pokrovsk fall, which would mean effectively Donetsk falls, and that is one of Vladimir Putin’s objectives. So I guess taking all that into account, and now the Iranians are sending ballistic missiles, what more are you going to do other than these economic sanctions?


SECRETARY BLINKEN: Well, I think if you look at what we’ve already done and what we’re committed to continuing to do, it’s been quite extraordinary. And of course, it starts, first and foremost, with the Ukrainian people.


But let’s not forget where we were and where we’ve come. When Russia proceeded with its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022, there were predictions that it would march over the entire country, erase it from the map, which was Putin’s objective, subsume it into Russia. And of course, that hasn’t happened. To the contrary, the Russians were pushed back, pushed back dramatically, all the way to the east.


Now, the costs that have been imposed on Russia are significant and they’ve been sustained. More than 50 countries have come together in support of Ukraine. That support remains. We’ve seen further manifestations of it, including 23 countries that have signed long-term security agreements with Ukraine, to make sure that it can build a military that can deter and, if necessary, defend against future aggression.


But here’s what matters the most, I think. Of course, Ukraine wants and we want to see it get back the territory that Russia has seized from them. Fundamentally, success will come – and I believe is very much achievable – with a Ukraine that can stand strongly on its own two feet militarily, economically, democratically. The military support that’s there from dozens of countries will help it do that militarily, as well as its path toward NATO. Economically, we’re driving private sector investment into Ukraine. We’ve seen it have real success continuing to export through the Black Sea. In fact, its exports are what they were before February of ’22. And its democratic trajectory through the process of the accession to the European Union, through the process of accession to NATO, that will deep-root the reforms that are necessary.


So Ukraine is on a trajectory to succeed. That will be the strongest possible rebuke to Vladimir Putin.


QUESTION: I guess the Ukrainians are pushing to be able to use long-range missiles deep into Russian territory. Is this something now that President Biden is not going to rule out? Is it on the table?


SECRETARY BLINKEN: At every step along the way over these last several years, we have adjusted and we’ve adapted, trying to make sure that Ukraine had what it needed, when it needed it, to be effective in repelling the Russian aggression. And you’ve seen from the different highly sophisticated weapons systems we’ve provided, intelligence sharing, and many other forms of support, we’ve worked with many other countries to ensure that Ukraine has what it needs.


But one of the things that – Yalda – that’s so important is it’s not simply saying, oh, should they have this weapon system or that weapon system? There are a lot of things that go into it. Do they know how to use it? And some of these sophisticated systems take training, and that’s one of the other things we’ve done. Can they maintain it? Because if you give them something that falls apart in seven days because it can’t be maintained, that doesn’t do you a lot of good. And then, is it part of a coherent strategy to achieve a very clear objective? All of those things have to go into these decisions.


But what I can tell you is we’ve adapted and adjusted every step along the way. We’ll continue to do that.


QUESTION: So not ruling out at this stage?


SECRETARY BLINKEN: We don’t – we never rule out, but when we rule in, we want to make sure it’s done in such a way that it can advance what the Ukrainians are trying to achieve.


QUESTION: Secretary Blinken, I want to turn your attention to the war in the Middle East. I was just in Israel. I spent a week in Israel over the last couple of days. I spoke with the security establishment, the defense establishment. I spoke to politicians, former prime ministers. All of them have said to me, including – I mean, the prime minister didn’t say this to me, but he has said publicly that he doesn’t believe that there is a deal on the table, that there is zero plan at this stage. That is in sharp contrast to what you’re saying.


SECRETARY BLINKEN: When we look at where we are with the work that we’ve done on a ceasefire agreement, along with Qatar and along with Egypt, in terms of what’s on paper right now, more than 90 percent of it has been agreed. Now, people can change their minds, but at this moment more than 90 percent of that agreement reached between both sides. Almost by definition, the closer you get to the finish line, the harder it gets, because the toughest things usually remain until the end.


A couple of months ago, when President Biden put before the world a framework agreement for a ceasefire, the entire world rallied behind it. Israel endorsed it, and ultimately Hamas came around as well after about three weeks. Since then, we’ve been working to fill in some of the details, because it didn’t cover everything, and you also have to do a lot of work to make sure that you agree on how it’s implemented.


Now, the challenge of course is with every passing day there’s the risk of an intervening event that sets you back or makes things more difficult. But I’m convinced, based on what’s on paper that’s already been agreed, that we’re close. But does that mean that we’ll get there? No, because there remain hard issues, and ultimately people have to decide. Leaders have to decide.


QUESTION: But surely the United States can put more pressure on Israel.


SECRETARY BLINKEN: It’s not a question of pressure. It’s a question of what is in the interest of the parties and do they see that interest and are they prepared to act on it. It’s manifestly in the interest of Israel, the Palestinian people, every country in the region for there to be a ceasefire. For Israel, not only bringing the hostages home but also opening up opportunities to defuse other crises, including in the north with Hizballah and Lebanon; the opportunity to pursue with Saudi Arabia the normalization of relations; the opportunity to move forward and actually integrate Israel into the region in ways that it’s sought from the first day of its existence – those are all possibilities. They’re real possibilities.


We saw on April 13th when Iran attacked Israel directly, for the first time, countries come together in defense of it. But in order to do that, to move forward, the conflict in Gaza has to be over. And there also has to be a credible pathway to a Palestinian state.


QUESTION: And we’ll get to the humanitarian situation in a moment. But Benjamin Netanyahu has said, “There is not a deal in the making… unfortunately it’s not close.” And the security establishment I’ve spoken to said it’s close to zero, very broad pessimism at the moment. I spoke to Ehud Olmert last week, and he said to me, I’ve known President Biden for a long time – I’m a great admirer, he’s a friend – but I feel disappointed because he hasn’t put the kind of pressure that will make this prime minister understand what’s at stake and what’s – what the risks are. He said, preferably, I’d like him to take him into a room alone with a baseball bat. I mean, how would you respond to that?


SECRETARY BLINKEN: Ultimately, in a democratic system leaders make decisions, and they have to be responsive to their people and they have to be responsive to the interests of their country. We can’t compel anyone to do that. All we can do is point out the clear benefits of doing that.


When it comes to Mr. Sinwar, no one can tell you what he’s going to do from one day to the next. Anyone who says that they can I wouldn’t listen to. And the fact of the matter is we’ve seen additional issues come up on all sides that need to be resolved.


QUESTION: Are you frustrated, though? I mean, you’ve made almost half a dozen trips to the region, have spoken to various parties.


SECRETARY BLINKEN: It’s unfortunately, tragically, the nature of diplomacy in general, and particularly in this region. George Mitchell, the great United States senator, he negotiated the Northern Ireland peace process with – for President Clinton, and that was a tremendous labor. And to this day we continue to focus on it. But I say this for a reason. He described that process as 700 days of failure and one day of success. It’s the responsibility of those of us who are in the business of diplomacy to keep striving for that one day of success, because the stakes are so high that we simply can’t throw up our hands and say it’s not possible.


QUESTION: I mean, just today we saw 40 Palestinians killed in a displacement camp. In July, 57 civilians were killed in al-Mawasi, which is considered a humanitarian zone. I mean, these – we can dispute the death toll and where these numbers come from, but the fact is a lot of Palestinians are dying.


SECRETARY BLINKEN: It’s horrific. The suffering of innocent men, women, and children in Gaza is gut-wrenching, and it hits me every day, and I think most of us think of our own children. And it’s one of the reasons we’ve been determined to do everything we can to make sure that they get the assistance they need. Right now, we’re in the midst of a – what seems to be a successful polio vaccination campaign, thankfully. But it’s not enough, and every day we’re working to do more. The quickest way to make sure that people stop dying and start getting what they need is through a ceasefire.


Now, it’s also true – and one of my frustrations has been – just as I fully understand the hue and cry from so many parts of the world about Israel needing to do much better by Palestinians who are suffering, if maybe 10 percent of that time was actually spent demanding that Hamas get out of the way, that it put down its arms, that it stop hiding behind civilians, that it stop using civilian sites to do its operations and planning, that it get out of the schools, get out of the safe areas, that would be helpful too. I’ve heard virtual silence since October 7th on that. That doesn’t —


QUESTION: Do you —


SECRETARY BLINKEN: That is not to justify any actions that Israel may have taken, but it is to say there is silence.


QUESTION: Do you think, though, this is a failure on the part of American leadership? And do you worry this is part of your legacy now?


SECRETARY BLINKEN: Everything we’re doing around the world because of the unique role that the United States plays is something that gets factored into how people think about the United States, and I won’t talk about individuals. And so whether it’s rallying 50 countries in support of Ukraine and its defense and preventing it from being erased from the map; whether it’s the massive effort we made that’s now forgotten, I think, for all of us on COVID and getting free vaccines, effective vaccines, safe vaccines to countries and millions of people around the world; whether it’s the fact that we’re the number one provider of food aid and food security to countries who desperately need it, and continue to do that – what —


QUESTION: But an American can get killed in the West Bank and it doesn’t feel like America can do anything about it.


SECRETARY BLINKEN: Well, we’ve seen this horrific loss, the killing of a young American-Turkish woman. Just today we got a preliminary investigation that was provided to us. And the actions that were taken are totally unacceptable. I think it goes to, among other things, the rules of engagement that Israel has.


QUESTION: What will you do about it?


SECRETARY BLINKEN: We will, first of all, make sure that we have fully understood the facts, and we’ll draw conclusions from that, and there’ll be consequences to follow from those conclusions.


QUESTION: Can I ask what consequences?


SECRETARY BLINKEN: Well, look, let me give you some examples, not specific to this instance. We have been and remain deeply concerned about settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. We’ve taken action in recent months against those who’ve been responsible for that violence – individuals, organizations. That’s just one example of actions that we have taken. We continue to review every incident that comes before us and, as necessary, following the law, we’ll take action.


But I believe the single best way forward, the place that would move us – the thing that would move us the quickest to relief for people who so desperately need it is through a ceasefire. And keep in mind, a couple of months ago, President Biden put this ceasefire proposal – the framework for the proposal – in front of the entire world and he laid out much of what was in it, and the entire world rallied behind it.


QUESTION: But we’re 11 months in and nothing.


SECRETARY BLINKEN: So this was a couple of months ago. Since then, we’ve been working on the details that are required to implement the agreement. We’ve seen intervening events that do make things more difficult. Any given day, that’s the biggest challenge of all: something else happens that sidelines things, stops things, potentially derails things. We have to keep working through that, and we are.


QUESTION: I’ve got a couple more questions. I know we are short of time. But do you think that you will reach some kind of agreement before President Biden’s term is up?


SECRETARY BLINKEN: I believe we need to reach an agreement urgently, and by that I mean not in two months but in days or certainly weeks. The fierce urgency of now is real for every individual who is suffering as a consequence of this conflict. We feel that urgency, and we – and so we have a determination.


Now, at the end of the day, people have to make decisions. Leaders have to make decisions. We can’t make those decisions for them.


QUESTION: You can pressure them, though.


SECRETARY BLINKEN: You can pressure; you can reason; you can do all sorts of things. But you can’t – fundamentally, you can’t make the decision. They have to make it. And we’re looking to them to do exactly that.


QUESTION: You’ve dealt with this ongoing war for the past year. You’ve – in your time in office you’ve dealt with the Ukraine war. We spoke when you first arrived into office, and you spoke about America is back. That’s what you said to me at the time. Are you worried, if there is a change in leadership in November in the United States, that America could take the isolationist approach that it had before President Biden came to power?


SECRETARY BLINKEN: Look, in democracies elections have consequences. I don’t do politics, but I do do policy. And I think the policy that we pursue – starting with renewing, reinvigorating, in some cases reimagining our alliances and partnerships – has borne tremendous fruit across the world and around the world, real benefits for the United States and the American people, benefits for other countries too. I still believe that there’s actually a strong bipartisan support for that approach, for an approach that has America engaged in the world and leading, but also working in cooperation with others, because we simply can’t do what we need to do for our own people doing it alone.


We need the collaboration, the cooperation of others. We’ve demonstrated that across the board. We’ve been talking about Ukraine. It’s not just the United States there helping Ukraine; more than 50 countries are doing it, countries that we helped bring together. Around the world in so many different places and so many different ways, we’ve put together alliances and partnerships of countries to deal with everything from food security to synthetic drugs, which are wreaking havoc in so many communities, including in our own country. Energy, infrastructure – you name it. And in each instance, there’s been a clear benefit to Americans but also to other people. I think that model is demonstrating results. At the end of the day, all you can do is do the best you can to actually deliver, and people will have to decide.


I believe that there is a strong bipartisan consensus in the United States for our engagement, for our leadership in the world, and my hope and expectation is regardless of the outcome of our election that that fundamental conviction of the American people remains.


QUESTION: Secretary Blinken, always good to talk to you.


SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thanks. Good to be with you all.



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Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Iran Israel Israel-Hamas Conflict Office of the Spokesperson Official International Travel Russia Secretary Trip The Secretary of State Ukraine United Kingdom


Department of State Hosts Inaugural U.S.-Nigeria Strategic Energy Dialogue
09/10/2024


Department of State Hosts Inaugural U.S.-Nigeria Strategic Energy Dialogue
09/10/2024 05:46 PM EDT



Office of the Spokesperson

Bureau of Energy Resources (ENR) Assistant Secretary Geoffrey R. Pyatt, will lead the inaugural U.S.-Nigeria Strategic Energy Dialogue in Washington, DC on September 11-12, hosting a senior delegation from the Nigerian government led by the Honorable Minister of State Petroleum Resources Ekperikpe Ekpo.

In addition to Assistant Secretary Pyatt, the United States’ delegation will include senior officials from the Bureau of African Affairs, the Office of the Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy, USAID’s Power Africa, the Department of Energy, the Development Finance Corporation (DFC), the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), and the Export-Import Bank (EXIM). The dialogue will also include a public-private discussion hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to deepen private sector partnerships and investments between the United States and Nigeria.

Over the course of the dialogue, U.S. and Nigerian officials will discuss opportunities to expand cooperation on improving energy security and access, decarbonization of the oil and gas sector, and accelerating the energy transition. They will also engage on strategies to enhance Nigeria’s power sector, including electricity production and distribution. The dialogue will advance bilateral cooperation on key State Department energy initiatives such as the Foundational Infrastructure for Responsible Use of Small Modular Reactor Technology (FIRST), Women in Energy, and the Clean Energy Demand Initiative (CEDI). Additionally, participants will engage on promoting progress on U.S. government initiatives like Power Africa, which aims to increase electricity access and promote energy, investment in sub-Saharan Africa, USAID’s Gas Flare Program, and the Department of Energy’s Net Zero World.

Understanding the fundamental role the private sector plays in meeting our bilateral energy and climate goals, this dialogue aims to foster enhanced collaboration between the U.S. and Nigerian private sectors, creating new opportunities for American and Nigerian businesses and contributing to the growth and sustainability of the energy sectors in both countries, with the goal of delivering shared prosperity to the Nigerian and American people. The Dialogue is a key outcome of a series of successful bilateral engagements, including Secretary of State Antony’s Blinken’s trip to Nigeria in January 2024, Deputy Secretary Kurt Campbell’s meeting with Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar during the sixth U.S.-Nigeria Binational Commission in April, and Assistant Secretary Pyatt’s meeting with Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2023, where this dialogue was agreed.

To stay up to date, follow Assistant Secretary Pyatt on X: @AsstSecENR and the Bureau of Energy Resources on X: @EnergyAtState.

For further media information, please contact enr-pd-clearances@state.gov




Secretary Antony J. Blinken at 4th Crimea Platform
09/11/2024

Secretary Antony J. Blinken at 4th Crimea Platform
09/11/2024 10:46 AM EDT



Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Kyiv, Ukraine

Mariyinsky Palace
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Secretary Antony J. Blinken at 4th Crimea Platform


Remarks





September 11, 2024



SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thank you very much. Mr. President, it’s so good to see you; colleagues, leaders, fellow ministers.


Crimea teaches us a lot. Crimea shows the future Putin seeks for all of Ukraine. Crimea shows Ukrainian resilience, and what drives it. And Crimea shows what we partners of Ukraine – and nations committed to defending international rules and rights – what we must do to respond to Russia’s relentless war of aggression.


Crimea is a reminder that Putin didn’t launch his invasion in February 2022 – but over a decade ago, in February 2014. At the time, some argued that if only Ukraine were to hand over Crimea, Putin would be satisfied, and the threat of Russian aggression would subside.


Putin’s aggression since that time have punctured that myth – demonstrating that he will never be sated with just part of Ukraine. He wants all of it. He’s said so openly; he’s said he wants to reconstitute Russia’s empire, end Ukraine’s very existence. And here, we should take Mr. Putin at his word. Like autocrats before him who believed they had the right to withdraw borders by force, Putin’s appetite grows as he eats.


Crimea is also an alarming illustration of how Russia governs the territory that it seizes. In Crimea, Russian occupiers have eradicated the free and independent press. They have arbitrarily detained, tortured, disappeared human rights defenders, journalists, and other civil society activists who dare to document Russia’s abuses or criticize its purported annexation.


They have repressed non-Russian culture, language, religion – including that of Crimean Tatars – and destroyed non-Russian cultural heritage sites. They have repeatedly held sham elections at gunpoint. They forcibly transferred children and compelled them to participate in Russian re-education programs.


Crimea is not an isolated case – it’s a blueprint. This is how Russia governs every part of Ukraine that it occupies. And it’s what we can expect Putin would do whenever and wherever he seizes Ukrainian territory.


This in turn is a big part of the reason why Ukrainians fight. They know the world that awaits them if Putin were to succeed in absorbing Ukraine into Russia.


But the story of Crimea is not just the story of what Russia has done. Crimea is also the story of Ukrainian tenacity, ingenuity, perseverance. Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion, Ukraine has sunk or damaged nearly a third of Russia’s fleet, pushing Russia back from the Black Sea – feats that Ukraine achieved without a fleet of their own. Ukraine has reopened a maritime corridor, once again allowing its grain to feed the world. And now, with long-range missiles supplied by its partners, Ukraine is effectively targeting Russian military assets in Crimea.


Finally, Crimea is about much more than what Ukrainians are fighting against. Crimea is about what Ukrainians are fighting for.


In Crimea – and in all of Ukraine – Ukrainians fight for the inalienable right of people to choose their own future, and to have their human rights respected. They fight for the right of nations to have their sovereignty, their territorial integrity, their independence respected – principles at the very heart of the United Nations Charter.


And when the United States and so many other partners stand with Ukraine, we not only help affirm those rights for Ukrainians, we help affirm them for all nations – and for all people.


That’s why we are proud to join Ukraine in reaffirming, today and every day: Crimea is Ukraine.


Thank you.



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Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Human Rights and Democracy Office of the Spokesperson Official International Travel Secretary Trip The Secretary of State Sovereignty Ukraine


Joint Readout of the Consultations between Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary General Stefano Sannino
09/11/2024


Joint Readout of the Consultations between Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary General Stefano Sannino
09/11/2024 10:59 AM EDT



Office of the Spokesperson

The following is a joint readout released by the Deputy Secretary of State and EEAS Secretary General Sannino.

Begin text:

Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and Secretary General Stefano Sannino met bilaterally to discuss a range of global security issues and shared priorities.

They commended the enduring strength of the transatlantic partnership and U.S.-EU close coordination and cooperation. They reaffirmed the joint commitment to supporting Ukraine’s defense from Russia’s war of aggression and its reconstruction. Russia must immediately and unconditionally end its unprovoked war of aggression, withdraw all its troops and military equipment from the entire territory of Ukraine in its internationally recognized borders, and pay for the damage it has caused to Ukraine. Together with international partners, the United States and the EU will continue to provide military, budget, humanitarian, and reconstruction support to Ukraine and its people for as long as necessary. The United States and EU underlined that they stand behind Ukraine’s legitimate exercise of its inherent right for self-defense. Both sides expressed strong concerns regarding the increasing military support to Russia’s war of aggression provided by China, the DPRK, and Iran and underlined their determination to appropriately react to such actions.

Deputy Secretary Campbell and Secretary General Sannino also discussed the situations in the Middle East, Sudan, Haiti, and Venezuela. They reiterated their support for Israel’s security and the call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and release of all hostages; respect for international law; facilitation of humanitarian access to and within Gaza Strip; and a viable pathway towards peace that leads to a two-state solution. They also discussed the threats to broader regional peace, underlining inter alia the need to support the stability of Lebanon and on the Blue line, and of defending freedom of navigation in the Red Sea. The United States and the European Union remain deeply concerned about the unfolding crisis in Sudan and its catastrophic humanitarian impact.

End text.




Joint Statement on the U.S.-EU Dialogue on China and Indo-Pacific Consultations
09/11/2024

Joint Statement on the U.S.-EU Dialogue on China and Indo-Pacific Consultations
09/11/2024 11:17 AM EDT



Office of the Spokesperson

The text of the following statement was released by the Government of the United States of America and the European Union.

Begin text:

On September 9-10, 2024, Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service (EEAS) Secretary General Stefano Sannino held the seventh high-level meeting of the U.S.-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth meeting of the U.S.-EU High-Level Consultations on the Indo-Pacific.

Deputy Secretary of State Campbell and Secretary General Sannino discussed recent U.S. and EU engagement with China and the trajectory of their respective bilateral relationships. As we continue to engage in robust and fair competition with China, it remains important to keep open channels of communication. They reiterated their openness to continued substantive diplomacy with China both in areas of common interest and in areas of difference. They affirmed the importance of close coordination between the United States and the European Union in advancing shared objectives and democratic values and interests.

Deputy Secretary of State Campbell and Secretary General Sannino reiterated deep and increasing concern about China’s exports of significant amounts of dual-use goods and items used by Russia on the battlefield against Ukraine, and China-based companies’ continued involvement in sanctions evasion and circumvention. They recognized China’s ongoing support for Russia’s military industrial base is enabling Russia to maintain its illegal war against Ukraine, which poses a threat to transatlantic as well as global security and stability. They reiterated their expectation that China, as a Permanent Member of the UN Security Council, should act in support of international law, including the UN Charter, and recalled that any peace proposal in Ukraine must be based on the UN Charter and its principles, including respect for sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity, and in line with continued efforts to uphold the international rules-based order.

The United States and European Union both recognized the importance of balanced and fair economic relations with China, and reiterated their commitments to rules-based, free and fair trade, and to ensuring a level playing field for their workers and companies. In this respect, the United States and the EU will both continue to actively address the challenges posed by China’s non-market policies and practices, including overcapacity and economic coercion. Both sides confirmed their intention to continue de-risking by investing in their resilience and reducing dependencies and vulnerabilities in strategic sectors, which fosters resilience to economic coercion. They also confirmed the importance to advance the governance of critical and emerging technologies.

Deputy Secretary of State Campbell and Secretary General Sannino also discussed the human rights situation in China, including recent respective engagement with China on this subject. Both recognized the need for increased global awareness and decisive action to address continued human rights abuses by China, including in Tibet and Xinjiang. They underscored that China should effectively cooperate with the OHCHR, including towards the implementation of the recommendations of its assessment report on the human rights situation in Xinjiang, as well as with international human rights mechanisms. They noted in particular the many cases of unjust and arbitrary detentions and called upon China to release all unjustly and arbitrarily detained individuals. They committed to continue working on countering China’s practice of transnational repression, which targets individuals around the world. They also committed to continue to share information concerning identifying and responding to foreign information manipulation and interference. Finally, they noted their concern over China’s crackdown on Hong Kong’s autonomy, independent institutions, and civil society and continued erosion of rights and freedom, including through the March 2024 enactment of legislation under Article 23 of the Basic Law.

The United States and the European Union underscored the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, which is indispensable to international security and stability. They called for the peaceful resolution of cross-Strait issues through dialogue. They urged China to act with restraint in the Taiwan Strait and around Taiwan. They expressed opposition to any unilateral attempt to change the status quo, in particular by force or coercion. They expressed support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations.

Both sides expressed serious concern about tensions in the East and South China Seas and reiterated their strong opposition to recent actions by China that endanger the safety of life at sea and infringe upon freedom of navigation. The two sides welcomed diplomatic efforts between the PRC and the Philippines, yet remained concerned about China’s dangerous and escalatory actions against lawful Philippines aerial and maritime operations in the South China Sea. The principals recalled the June 14 Group of Seven Leaders’ statement, which reaffirmed that there is no legal basis for China’s expansive maritime claims in the South China Sea, and emphasized the universal and unified character of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the vital importance of all states remaining free to exercise their rights and freedoms consistent with this international legal framework. They reiterated that the award rendered by the Arbitral Tribunal on 12 July 2016 is legally binding upon the parties to those proceedings and forms a useful basis for peacefully resolving disputes between the parties. The United States and the European Union expressed their strong commitment to upholding peace, stability and international law in the region.

Deputy Secretary of State Campbell and Secretary General Sannino also held the sixth meeting of the High-Level Consultations on the Indo-Pacific. They discussed ongoing and mutual strong support of a free, open, and rules-based Indo-Pacific, which is inclusive, prosperous, and secure, and protects shared principles including sovereignty, territorial integrity, and peaceful resolution of disputes, as well as respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, gender equality, and the rule of law. They shared their respective assessments of the geopolitical trends shaping the situation in the Indo-Pacific.

They discussed current challenges in Myanmar, highlighting the UN Special Rapporteur’s June 26 report identifying banks assisting the military government and discussed means to further enhance coordination and assessment of restrictive measures. They also strongly condemned the DPRK’s continued arms transfers to Russia and Russia’s use of DPRK ballistic missiles in Ukraine. They discussed the value of U.S. and EU respective engagement with India on global challenges, on security, including in the maritime sphere, energy and connectivity in the Indo-Pacific. The United States and the European Union also discussed the latest developments in Bangladesh.

The two sides also discussed their further respective engagement and partnerships across the region. They reaffirmed the importance of U.S. and EU combined initiatives on regional connectivity, notably in the framework of the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGI) and the EU’s Global Gateway. They confirmed their shared commitment to building clean energy connectivity across the Indo-Pacific, and planned to advance coordination on Vietnam and Indonesia through the Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETPs). In furtherance of this effort, the United States and EU are co-chairing a new development partners working group to further cross-border electricity in South Asia. They positively discussed the U.S. Smart and Secure Ports Program and EU Global Ports Safety Project, both supporting Indo-Pacific partners with port modernization, security, and safety, as well as their complementary programming to promote digital connectivity infrastructure and modernization in the Philippines.

They highlighted ongoing efforts to advance U.S.-EU cooperation on maritime security in the Indo-Pacific and underlined their intention to continue joint maritime security activities in the region. They confirmed the first-ever U.S.-EU roundtable discussion at U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. They reiterated their shared commitment to continue enhancing maritime domain awareness (MDA) in the Indo-Pacific and highlighted the concrete steps to deepen complementarity between the U.S. SeaVision and EU-funded IORIS systems. The United States and the EU will coordinate on maritime security trainings for partners and will explore the possibility of organizing a U.S.-EU Maritime Security Conference on the Indo-Pacific.

They discussed ongoing and increasing engagement in the Indian Ocean Region, including support for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and with the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA).

They assessed the continued threat posed by the widespread use of foreign information manipulation and interference and committed to further joint work with Indo-Pacific partners and deepening support to build free and resilient information ecosystems. They also decided to explore future opportunities to continue supporting media practitioners in the region.

They discussed the success of the U.S.-EU-Japan Cybersecurity Week program in Tokyo and recommitted to continuing to explore activities in the context of the ASEAN Regional Forum to further enhance global cyber resilience and strengthen coordination on cyber capacity building in the Indo-Pacific region.

They noted progress made to support the Pacific Island countries (PICs) and Small Island States (and SIDS) by working through regional bodies such as the Pacific Island Forum (PIF) and affirmed their commitment to consider joint activities in support of the PICs and SIDS, including in the fields of blue economy, infrastructure, and climate resilience. They welcomed partner cooperation alongside Australia on upcoming investment opportunities to support the fishery sector in the Republic of Marshall Islands and across the Pacific Islands.

They reiterated our shared values and commitment to explore ways in the Indo-Pacific region to advance the human rights of all, including by preventing and combatting discrimination and violence against persons on the grounds of their sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, and sexual characteristics.

Deputy Secretary of State Campbell and Secretary General Sannino reaffirmed the intent of the U.S. Department of State and European External Action Service to continue close coordination on China and the Indo-Pacific and to hold the next round of talks in Washington in the first half of 2025.

End text.




Secretary Antony J. Blinken, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy Before Their Meeting
09/11/2024



Secretary Antony J. Blinken, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy Before Their Meeting
09/11/2024 01:11 PM EDT



Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Kyiv, Ukraine

Mariyinsky Palace

PRESIDENT ZELENSKYY: It’s a big pleasure, first of all, to see you, Secretary Blinken, Secretary Lammy, your teams. We highly appreciate for your coming. Thank you so much that you decided to participate. Our Crimean Platform is so important, especially this year, 80 year since Crimean Tatars been deported from their native land. Thank you for this participation.

And of course, using this opportunity, I want to discuss with you a lot of things which – on which we count very much. But first of all, thanks to your president, President Biden, and Congress bipartisan support. We’re very thankful for your support, huge support. And also we are very thankful to United Kingdom for your support. Both your countries have been leaders of supporting from the very beginning of full-scale war. Thank you so much.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Mr. President, thank you very, very much. And it’s always so good to see you and to see all of our colleagues. I’m delighted particularly to be here with David – the United States, the United Kingdom, united for Ukraine. And not just our two countries – dozens of other countries that continue to support Ukraine’s success, Ukraine’s victory.

And we’re here to continue our work with you, to hear from you about how you see the months ahead, and what we can do to continue to strengthen our support for Ukraine going forward. So thank you, Mr. President, for having us today.

PRESIDENT ZELENSKYY: Thank you.

FOREIGN SECRETARY LAMMY: Mr. President, it’s wonderful to be back here in Ukraine and to be here as the UK foreign secretary on this occasion, and to be here with my good friend Tony Blinken. This is the first time in well over a decade that a secretary of state from the U.S. and a foreign secretary of the UK have traveled together, and that is to reiterate our complete support for the Ukrainian struggle.

We come here at a critical moment. I express my deep condolences on behalf of the British people for the horrendous civilian loss of life over the last few weeks. And we come here too where we see Russia relying on its friend Iran for ballistic missiles that would contribute to a greater loss of life here in Ukraine.

So we come in a deep spirit of friendship – at a critical moment, we understand, for Ukraine – to hear, to listen, to strategize on the coming months, with our determination that Ukraine must win this fight against Russian aggression and imperialism at this moment in time.

PRESIDENT ZELENSKYY: Thank you so much.




Secretary Blinken’s Meeting with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and UK Foreign Secretary Lammy
09/11/2024


Secretary Blinken’s Meeting with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and UK Foreign Secretary Lammy
09/11/2024 01:27 PM EDT



Office of the Spokesperson

The below is attributable to Spokesperson Matthew Miller:

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy today in Kyiv. Secretary Blinken reiterated the United States’ enduring support for Ukraine in the face of Russia’s war of aggression. The three reviewed upcoming diplomatic engagements, including at the UN General Assembly in New York, and discussed the importance of nations across the world supporting Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and the principles of the UN Charter. They also discussed Ukraine’s continued progress toward NATO and EU membership and ongoing efforts to attract investment and strengthen institutions in support of Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic path.




United States Announces Additional Energy, Humanitarian, and Demining Assistance for Ukraine
09/11/2024

United States Announces Additional Energy, Humanitarian, and Demining Assistance for Ukraine
09/11/2024 01:43 PM EDT



Office of the Spokesperson

Today, while visiting Kyiv, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken announced more than $700 million in new assistance to continue to support Ukraine and its people against Russia’s war of aggression. This assistance will support Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, provide vital humanitarian assistance for Ukrainian internally displaced persons and refugees, and support demining operations that are preventing civilian casualties, restoring civilian infrastructure, and facilitating the safe delivery of humanitarian aid.

Specifically, Secretary Blinken’s announcement includes the following:$325 million in energy assistance to support Ukraine’s energy infrastructure efforts in the midst of ongoing Russian attacks. Working with Congress, the Administration intends to provide $325 million in urgent energy sector assistance for Ukraine, in addition to the $500 million announced by Vice President Harris at the Ukraine Peace Summit and over $1 billion announced by our international partners since June 2024. This assistance will help repair and restore Ukraine’s power generation facilities damaged by Russia’s brutal attacks, deploy new, distributed power technologies, provide emergency backup power for critical services like water and heat, and strengthen the physical security of critical energy infrastructure.
Nearly $290 million in new humanitarian assistance. The U.S. Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development will provide the people of Ukraine and refugees in the region with critical support, including safe drinking water, food, accessible shelter, legal assistance, healthcare, livelihoods, protection services, and education through the support of international and local partners. Additional funding will allow humanitarian organizations to provide assistance such as generators, fuel, and thermal kits to help people stay warm through winter as Russia targets Ukraine’s energy and electric grids.
Over $102 million in humanitarian demining assistance. Working with Congress, the Administration intends to provide over $102 million to address landmines and unexploded ordnance left behind by Russia’s forces, supporting Ukraine’s economic recovery and civilian security in line with Ukraine’s National Mine Action Strategy. Projects will include training and equipment for Ukraine’s deminers and support for NGO demining teams to return land to productive use.




Secretary Blinken’s Meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Shmyhal
09/11/2024


Secretary Blinken’s Meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Shmyhal
09/11/2024 03:49 PM 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. The Secretary and Prime Minister discussed U.S. support for Ukraine’s military, ongoing needs on the battlefield, and continued investment in and strengthening of Ukraine’s air defense systems. They also discussed ongoing anti-corruption reform efforts to bolster Ukraine’s economic recovery and continue its trajectory towards Euro-Atlantic integration. Secretary Blinken reiterated the United States’ enduring support for Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity and the U.S. commitment to protecting and repairing Ukraine’s energy grid.




Secretary Antony J. Blinken and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and United Kingdom Foreign Secretary David Lammy at a Joint Press Availability
09/11/2024


Secretary Antony J. Blinken and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha and United Kingdom Foreign Secretary David Lammy at a Joint Press Availability
09/11/2024 04:36 PM EDT



Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Kyiv, Ukraine

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

FOREIGN MINISTER SYBIHA: (Via interpreter) Minister, please. I am glad to greet in Kyiv my American and my British colleagues. This is the first meeting in my new position of minister of foreign affairs with Antony and David. This is the excellent format we had to a wonderful atmosphere – very productive talks, not just on the premises of the ministry of foreign affairs and also in the wings. And there were – there was a meeting with the President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as real allies. We had that meeting.

We are grateful to the U.S. and the UK for their unwavering support rendered to Ukraine, its territorial integrity, and sovereignty. That was a very busy day for both our guests and our state. It’s very important that Antony and David participate in the fourth summit of the Crimean Platform. It’s today. It started today. It’s to be continued. Fair and sustainable peace is impossible without restoration of sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and that includes the Crimea. Crimea is Ukraine.

Today on the 11th of September, we have a tragic anniversary for the American, U.S. people – the 23rd anniversary of terrible terrorist attacks against the U.S. I offered my condolences to the state – Secretary of State and through him to all the nation. We know the price of human life, and we know how loss hurts.

The principal topic we discussed was military capability and their reinforcement – air defense, F-16s, munition, drones, armored vehicles, and other equipment – everything that can work for victory.

And specifically I emphasized the necessity to make investment to buy military systems for the defenders of Ukraine that will support our defense industry and see the resources provided by our allies. The key mission is to strengthen the (inaudible) with all the necessary contributions. We have to remove all the obstacles and limitations with the use of British equipment, American equipment in the territory of Russia against military targets. We need also more decisiveness in downing Russian rockets, missiles, and drones over the territory of Ukraine. That will provide for sustainable peace and strong position of Ukraine.

The ballistic missiles provided by Iran to Russia was another issue. Enemies of the free world have no doubts; they provide unacceptable threats for Europe and Middle East. And under such conditions, we should not have any difference within the ranks of democracy. We have to be courageous and we have to be decisive. We have to increase sanctions against Russia and block all the loopholes and stop access Russia to any kind of resources to continue this war. The frozen assets should be used for support of Ukraine. Russia should pay. International rule provides all the grounds for the use, not just income and interests, but the assets themselves. We call upon our partners for decisive action.

We discussed economic resilience and energy security of Ukraine. We are grateful to the U.S. and the UK for the support of our energy sector, and for our colleagues on engagement of munition with chemical components and their use against our soldiers, and the necessity to have very severe collective action and clean response to that.

We discussed the second peace summit. We have relied upon the support of the U.S. and British diplomacy in expanding the coalition for a peace formula and the number of signatories. The peace formula has no alternative. We discussed specifically further integration of Ukraine, and accession to NATO. This is a priority and this is our steady course. We are approaching accession and membership of – in NATO for Ukraine is the necessary precondition for a sustainable and steady peace in Europe.

In closing, I would like to say that we observed a high awareness among our partners and their recognition of the fact that peace and victory in Ukraine are part and parcel (inaudible) of the future of Europe and all the world. This has been a very busy day. Now, I’m turning it over to Antony Blinken.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Well, Andrii, thank you very, very much; and thank you for your hospitality today but also thank you for the very good work we’ve been able to do today.

I was very pleased as well with David Lammy to be able to spend time with President Zelenskyy and other colleagues. And the foreign secretary and I came to Ukraine today to really hear from our partners how we can continue to work together to help Ukraine defend its people, defend its territory through the fall fighting season into the winter as Putin continues his vicious war of aggression, and also how to continue to set up Ukraine for success as a strong, independent country for the long term.

We’re going to take what we learned back to President Biden in my case, and the prime minister in David’s case. The two of them will meet in just a few days’ time in Washington to discuss how our countries will continue to support Ukraine. And we’ll also use what we learned to further rally support among many countries that are behind Ukraine. We’ll be at the UN General Assembly in just a couple of weeks’ time. We’ll be meeting with many allies and partners as well who are in NATO, the G7, the compact of states that have signed bilateral security agreements with Ukraine. All of this is happening in the coming weeks.

It’s important that the Ukrainian people continue to hear directly from us: We remain fully committed to Ukraine’s victory – to not only ensuring that Ukraine can defend itself today, but can stand on its own feet strongly, militarily, economically, democratically, for many, many days ahead; to securing the path the Ukrainian people have chosen toward greater integration in the Euro-Atlantic community, including the European Union and NATO; to getting a just and lasting peace.

The bottom line is this: We want Ukraine to win. And we’re fully committed to keep marshalling the support that it needs for its brave defenders and citizens to do just that.

Now, support for Ukraine will endure because it doesn’t depend on any one country, any one party, any one election. Here today, the United States, the United Kingdom are united in support of Ukraine and its success. But we’re united along with dozens of other countries, including the enduring coalition of more than 50 countries that have provided more than $100 billion in security aid to Ukraine since February of 2022, and continue to materially support Ukraine today.

Our message, our collective message to Putin is clear: Our support will not wane; our unity will not break. Putin will not outlast the coalition of countries committed to Ukraine’s success, and he is certainly not going to outlast the Ukrainian people. They’ve never wavered in their belief that they and they alone will decide their future.

Now, we have challenging moments. This is a challenging moment as well, with an expansion of attacks from Russia pummeling Ukrainian cities, citizens, infrastructure with monstrous brutality. And now Putin is further empowering his aggression with the acquisition of Iranian ballistic missiles.

So we’re working with urgency to continue to ensure that Ukraine has what it needs to effectively defend itself. At the NATO summit back in July, President Biden promised five strategic air defense systems, and dozens of tactical air defense systems. We’ve delivered on several of those strategic systems; we’re fully working to meet the commitment in the coming weeks, and we’ll continue to add to Ukraine’s air defense systems. We’ve also supported and trained the F-16 program that is now flying over Ukraine. The United States continues to be the largest provider of security assistance to Ukraine, and to lead the international coalition in support of its defense.

As we’re meeting here today, we’re again seeing Putin dust off his winter playbook, targeting Ukrainian energy and electricity systems to weaponize the cold against the Ukrainian people. That’s why today we’re announcing $325 million in new funding to help repair Ukraine’s energy and electric grid. And we’ll rally additional support from the G7-plus countries when we have a meeting of the Energy Coordination Group in the next couple of weeks.

I’m also announcing today $290 million in new humanitarian support to help provide vital services like safe drinking water, food, shelter, medicine to millions of people in Ukraine and around the region who have been displaced by Putin’s war. And finally, we’re announcing $102 million in additional funding in humanitarian demining to help remove land mines are unexploded ordnance that Russia’s left behind across Ukraine.

Now, support for Ukraine’s defense and recovery is not only coming from Ukraine’s partners. The United States and our G7 partners agreed to deliver $50 billion from Russia’s frozen assets to pay for Ukraine’s reconstruction and defense, and we’re working to meet that commitment, to operationalize it. And we and our allies will continue to impose costs on countries that support Russia’s war machine.

For all of these challenges, Ukraine has made remarkable progress on each of its key goals since I was last here, which was back in May. They’ve made progress militarily in standing up a strong, enduring capacity to deter and defend against aggression. At the July summit we declared that Ukraine’s path to NATO membership is irreversible. And for the first time, NATO established a command dedicated to support Ukraine’s membership.

Last time I was here, nine countries had completed bilateral security agreements with Ukraine. Now that number is 26 and counting, including of course the United States and the United Kingdom. That will provide a foundation of support for Ukraine’s defense for years to come. And Ukraine’s defense industrial base has grown sixfold in the last year alone. In the coming years, that’s going to give Ukraine one of the most advanced defense industries in the world, and it will be able to take that to the global market and take global market share away from other countries like Russia, and also supply NATO Allies.

Ukraine’s making economic progress. We’ve been taking steps to make it easier for investors and companies to do business here in Ukraine. For example, together with the private sector, we recently announced a first-of-its-kind $350 million war risk reinsurance facility. That’s going to make it easier for companies to invest even as the war goes on.

And Ukraine continues to make progress on deepening its democracy. It’s taken important steps, including the Rada recently passing a law to reform oversight of financial crimes; expanding the number of judges on the anti-corruption court; delivering prosecutions in high-profile corruption cases.

The active engagement and leadership on the part of Ukraine’s engaged and committed civil society has been crucial to this progress. Now, more work needs to be done on reform. Ukraine needs to ensure investors in businesses that they’re treated fairly and don’t have to compete in a gray market. Ukraine needs institutions that are independent, effective, and free from political interference. That’s crucial for the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, for its regulatory bodies and the boards of state-owned enterprises, and for the customs legislation that’s currently before the Rada.

These and other reforms Ukraine is pursuing because it’s in Ukraine’s interests to do so. It’s what the Ukrainian people want. It’s also essential as Ukraine moves down the path to the European Union and to NATO.

The enduring commitment of the Ukrainian people is one of the main reasons that we’re confident Ukraine will keep moving forward. No matter how great the obstacles thrown in their way, Ukrainians have demonstrated time and again that nothing can stand in the way of the people committed to shaping their own future.

MODERATOR: Foreign Secretary.

FOREIGN SECRETARY LAMMY: Well, thank you, Andrii, for welcoming me here to Kyiv. And thank you, Tony, for joining me on this important and historic visit. I last visited in May, and I return today at a vital time because we are united in our ironclad support for Ukraine. For two and a half years, you have bravely and fiercely defended yourselves against Russia’s full-scale invasion, but as we heard today, Putin’s ugly attempts to restore the Russian empire began much earlier with the illegal annexation of Crimea 10 years ago.

Putin claims he wishes to liberate Ukrainian civilians, but he denies the right of their nation to exist. He has sent in tanks and soldiers to enforce his diktat, and he inflicts horrors on Crimea and other regions of Ukraine under the Russian yoke, with stories of forced disappearances, sinister re-education camps, and torture. Putin’s barbaric actions are the latest example of a very old and evil story.

One of my ancestors was taken from their home, enslaved, chained on a ship, and forced to work for the profit of a foreign empire. He knew only too well what imperialism was. No act of authoritarianism is ever exactly the same, but 80 years after Stalin deported the Crimean Tatars, 240 years after Catherine the Great annexed Crimea, Putin has revealed the same arrogance, the same greed, the same disdain for the rights of other individuals and nations. This is imperialism; this is fascism. And this week we have been reminded of how other authoritarian regimes are aiding Putin, with Iran going even further in support for Moscow by providing ballistic missiles, a significant and dangerous escalation.

Britain and the U.S. and our partners have responded quickly to Tehran’s undermining of global security. Britain has sanctioned Iranian officials and entities as well as Russian entities and cargo ships involved in the transfer of weapons. And together, we’ve restricted Iran’s air flights to Europe. This response is in keeping with our commitment to remain Ukraine’s staunchest friend, and I’m proud of that commitment. I’m proud of Prime Minister Starmer’s commitment to provide 3 billion in military aid every year that is needed in your fight.

And today I can confirm more than 600 million worth of support for Ukraine, including 242 million this financial year, for immediate humanitarian, energy, and stabilization needs, as well as support for reform, recovery, and reconstruction – plus we’re confirming our intention to deploy $484 million worth of World Bank loan guarantees later this year. And the UK is speeding up military deliveries with air defense missiles, equipment of F-16 fighter jets, AS-90 self-propelled guns and spare barrels, military boats, and maritime guns having now been delivered. I can announce we will now also send hundreds of additional air defense missiles, tens of thousands of additional artillery ammunition rounds, and more armored vehicles to Ukraine by the end of the year.

But I am most proud of the unity we and our allies have shown in support for Ukraine, and that is why our joint visit today, the first joint visit of its kind for well over a decade, is such an important signal. Together, Britain and our allies are united in our commitment to Ukraine, to freedom, to victory, because we both recognize what is at stake here: not just the liberty of Ukraine but the security of Europe and the security of the West, and indeed the very principles that underpin the UN Charter on which rests the international order as it stands, which has brought peace and prosperity to so many. It’s good to be with you here; it’s good to stand with you.

Thank you very much.

MODERATOR: Thank you, excellencies. We’ll now take a few questions, starting with Michael Birnbaum from WaPo. I only have one microphone, so —

QUESTION: Thanks very much. Michael Birnbaum from The Washington Post. Mr. Secretary, Mr. Foreign Secretary, a question about ATACMS. How – and long-range missile Storm Shadows – how worried are you at this point about managing escalation with Russia based on your conversations today, and does the Ukrainian desire to use ATACMS, Storm Shadows, long-range missiles against the Kerch bridge that connects Crimea to mainland Russia make sense to you strategically? And what’s your personal view of whether Ukraine needs this long-range capability of striking into Russian territory, especially now that, as you say, Iran has facilitated Russia’s ability to strike more deeply into Ukraine?

And Mr. Foreign Minister, former President Donald Trump was asked a couple times last night at the debate whether he was committed to Ukrainian victory. He said he wanted the war to end as quickly as possible, but he didn’t say yes to victory. I wanted to ask what you made of that and what kind of plans you are making in case there is a change in U.S. policy sometime soon. Thanks a lot.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Michael, thank you very much. I’m happy to – happy to start. First, we had a very good discussion today with the foreign minister, with President Zelenskyy, with his whole team about the situation on the battlefield, Ukraine’s objectives, and what it needs to succeed going forward. And among other things, we discussed long-range fires, but a number of other things as well. And as I said at the outset, I’m going to take that discussion back to Washington to brief the President on what I heard. I know that David is doing the same, and both of our bosses know that no doubt will discuss this when they meet later this week, actually. on Friday in Washington.

Just speaking for the United States, from day one, as you heard me say, we have adjusted and adapted as needs have changed, as the battlefield has changed, and I have no doubt that we’ll continue to do that as this evolves. You referenced escalation. Of course that’s one of the factors that we always consider, but it’s certainly not the only factor and it’s not necessarily a dispositive factor. We have provided, as you know, extraordinary support to Ukraine over these more than two years – not just training, not just money, but among our most sophisticated weapon systems, again tied to what their needs are, tied to what can make them most effective. And I think the track record is there. We’re determined to ensure that they have what they need to succeed.

And when it comes to escalation, you made the point yourself we’ve seen Russia now pursue and indeed escalate its attacks inside Ukraine on civilians, on energy infrastructure, as well as on the Ukrainian military that’s defending its country. And we’ve now seen this action of Russia acquiring ballistic missiles from Iran, which will further empower their aggression in Ukraine. So if anyone is taking escalatory action, it would appear to be Mr. Putin and Russia.

I’ll leave specific targets and questions for the experts. And of course, I don’t have personal views, I have professional views in my capacity as Secretary of State, and I’ll be sharing what we’ve learned on this trip with the President in the coming days.

FOREIGN SECRETARY LAMMY: The escalator here is Putin. It is Putin who has escalated this week with the shipment of ballistic missiles from Iran, and we’re seeing this new axis – Russia, Iran, North Kore; we urge China not to throw their lot in with this group of renegades, renegades in the end that are costing lives here in Ukraine. So it’s been very important for me to be here with Secretary Blinken to meet, to listen, to learn, to strategize, yes, and to be able to inform the UK prime minister as we head out to Washington for further discussions.

I’m also reminded that as we head into the autumn, we have the UN General Assembly, where we’re meeting with allies and parts of global majority countries also to ensure that we have that support for Ukraine as we head into the late autumn and the winter. We have the G20, other forums, and we’ve wanted to talk about how we build on those opportunities going forward and how we put Ukraine in the best possible position as they head into a winter. And that has been the basis of the discussion.

But let us be clear: We’ve not just talked about military support. We’ve talked further about sanctions. We’ve talked further about the humanitarian needs. We’ve had a detailed conversation about energy because of horrendous Russian attacks on energy supplies here in Ukraine. So this has been a breadth of conversation across the board about very strong allies and about our commitment. The UK commitment is not just for this winter. We’re talking about a hundred-year partnership because we stand with Ukraine for the long haul.

FOREIGN MINISTER SYBIHA: (Via interpreter) I fully agree with the partners’ take on the escalation, and let me add on my own part that I remember very well when, before any kind of principal decision for supply of some new type of equipment or new batch of equipment, we would also review the issue of escalation. Still the decisions would be made. We had enough willpower and enough strength in our partners to take such decisions. After the Kursk operation of the Ukrainian military, we can say clearly that we have crossed the line of this fear of escalation.

Now, about possible outcome of the presidential election in the U.S., we will without any doubt have a new president of the United States, but we believe in steadfast support from the U.S. nation, the American nation. We believe strongly into bipartisan support, and we clearly believe and we are convinced that fair, comprehensive, sustainable peace in Ukraine is also a strategic interest for the United States of America. And that will be maintained, because we are here to protect our joint values, common values of democracy, and we believe that strategic democratic leadership of the U.S. is here to stay.

QUESTION: Emma Murphy from ITV News. If I could pose a question to you, Foreign Secretary, and also you, Secretary of State, with regard to President Zelenskyy’s comments today. He said that he would like to see a strong decision on the use of long-range missiles into Russia. How confident are you that you can take a message back to your superiors that will convince them of the need for that and get over divisions within your own governments potentially about the risk of escalation?

And also, Mr. Foreign Secretary, could I ask how important it is to Ukraine on the battlefield that the long-range missiles are allowed?

FOREIGN SECRETARY LAMMY: Well thank you for the question. We’ve had detailed conversations today with President Zelenskyy. We recognize that Ukraine is on the front line of the fight for freedom, and also that over these last few weeks we’ve seen a tremendous loss of life of innocent men, women, and children here in Ukraine. And I and the Secretary of State, we dedicate ourselves to supporting Ukraine at this particular time.

President Zelenskyy expressed gratitude and thanks for Britain’s 3-billion-a-year commitment that will continue for as long as this fight is needed. He expressed thanks for the milestone of the International Fund for Ukraine – 1 billion that we are committed to. And he’s grateful for the new package of military support, ammunition, Brimstone missiles, AS-90 artillery guns that we are providing. We are concerned about the attacks on Ukraine’s energy. We are concerned about these glide bombs; we are concerned about the drones. We’re very concerned about the escalatory action that we’re seeing from Iran particularly. We’ve looked at the breadth of things today. And as we’ve said, of course, I go back to Keir Starmer able to assist him with some of the operational detail that we’ve learned from the Ukrainians today. You wouldn’t expect me to go into detail about that at this press conference because I am not prepared to give Putin the advantage. But as the closest of allies, we look forward to discussions we will have not just on Friday but discussions I suspect that will go on over the next few weeks as we head also to the UN General Assembly.

MODERATOR: (Off-mike.)

QUESTION: Good evening. The public broadcaster of Ukraine – Valeria Pashko. So Minister Sybiha mentioned the Ukrainian path to NATO. So is it possible that Allies are ready to invite Ukraine to join NATO maybe this year? And one more – so the coalition within NATO is being formed to shoot down drones and missiles over Ukraine. Maybe there is a discussion between – I don’t know – Great Britain and the U.S. and Germany. And I think the last one – are you ready to invest in Ukrainian production of drones, maybe missiles as well? Thanks a lot.

FOREIGN SECRETARY LAMMY: Just to be clear, the United Kingdom is already investing in Ukrainian production of drones. And what I saw on my last trip to Ukraine was a amazing civilian – what we would call a blitz spirit, evoking the Second World War – ordinary people committed to the war effort here in Ukraine. It’s humbling, it’s moving to see people doing all they can to prevent this Russian aggression. Britain are supportive of Ukraine’s ambitions in relation to NATO and the security guarantees that they necessarily need. And that’s why we work very hard with our allies to get that irreversible pathway language into the text that we were able to agree back in July, just as the new labor government came to power. And we will continue, of course, to discuss these things with our allies.

And the other issue, of course, that Secretary Blinken has raised today is the continued need to work with Ukraine on these fundamental reform issues that make its pathway to the European Union and to NATO more achievable in the medium term.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: And really just to reiterate what the foreign secretary said, NATO allies came together, made clear that Ukraine’s path to NATO is irreversible, and now Ukraine is moving down that path. I mentioned a few moments ago that for the first time in NATO’s history, it has stood up a dedicated command whose purpose is to help move down the path to membership. And that command is up and running, and we have a representative here in Ukraine, so all of that is moving forward. And it’s important that as that moves forward, Ukraine continue to move forward on the necessary reforms. But we see that on track and moving forward.

With regards to the defense industrial base, I mentioned as well a moment ago Ukraine’s defense industrial base has increased six times over the last couple of years. That’s the result of tremendous investment that a number of us have made. I think what’s so important about that is that it also sets up Ukraine for the long term. Because one measure of success, one measure of Ukraine’s success is going to be its capacity to stand strongly on its own feet militarily as well as economically and democratically.

And militarily, these investments in the defense industrial base, the production of what it needs to defend itself not just today but for many years to come, is the best way to guarantee that there’s not a repeat of Russia aggression, that Ukraine has the capacity to deter aggression and, if necessary, to defend against it. We’re also taking steps besides making direct investments ourselves, as the foreign secretary alluded to. We’re also trying to make it easier for the private sector to do more in Ukraine even in the midst of the Russian aggression. Some of the risk insurance is critical to that, and we’ve set up a facility to do that. I think companies around the world see Ukraine as a very attractive place for investment, even with the ongoing aggression, because of Ukrainian capacity – and that includes the defense industrial base.

Deputy Secretary of State Verma was just here a few days ago bringing members of the American private sector with him, including from the defense industry, and we expect things to come out of that.

So all of this is moving forward. And again, I just want to emphasize there are two goals in mind: make sure that Ukraine has what it needs now to deal with the ongoing Russian aggression, but also make sure that it has what it needs to have an enduring success, to be a strong, independent country, increasingly integrated with the institutions of the Euro-Atlantic community, including the European Union and including NATO.

FOREIGN MINISTER SYBIHA: (Via interpreter) I would like to commend your question. As to the necessity to shoot down Russian missiles and drones over Ukraine, we already have some incidents of a violation of airspace of neighboring countries by Russia, NATO countries, and we think that Russia, by doing that, is testing the decisiveness and unity of NATO. That’s why we need to have this firm answer of the Allies to such a provocative and escalation by Russia, who are – more often target the targets close to the border with NATO, the targets close to the nuclear power stations in Ukraine, and they also target our underground storages, which are close to the western borders of Ukraine.

Our security agreement signed by Zelenskyy and Tusk, there was a paragraph saying that practical phase of consultations among allies about shooting down missiles over Ukraine – we think this would be a good and right step towards that. Today I had conversation with the general secretary of NATO, and I thanked him for his position as to this issue.

Secondly, you asked about our path towards NATO and speed to achieve that. I was next to Zelenskyy to – when he was in the bunker after February 24th, and on the second day, President Zelenskyy made a decision to file the petition to join the European Union, just to give you an idea to understand the spirit was in the air. At that time, the Russian troops were right next to Kyiv. We had – we could hear the artillery shooting. But out of strategic considerations, he made a decision. On the fourth day he prepared all the paperwork and we filed that petition, and in four months we achieved that – so having done the home assignment and meeting the requirements.

That’s why we need a quick and historical decisions as to bringing Ukraine – as to bringing Ukraine’s membership in NATO closer. If there is a political will, we are ready to become NATO member today.

Thank you.




Secretary Antony J. Blinken Before a Meeting with Civil Society
09/11/2024


Secretary Antony J. Blinken Before a Meeting with Civil Society
09/11/2024 04:53 PM EDT



Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Kyiv, Ukraine

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Secretary Antony J. Blinken Before a Meeting with Civil Society


Remarks





September 11, 2024



SECRETARY BLINKEN: So good to see some of you again and see all of you. Thank you, and I just really wanted to get a chance to stop by and say how much we value – and I know the Ukrainian people value – the work that you’re doing. Civil society is essential to both of our countries, and particularly in all of what you’re doing to strengthen even more Ukraine’s democracy and make sure that this is a society that’s working for all of the Ukrainian people.


So thank you for all of the efforts that you’re making and thank you for all of the work that we’re able to do together. And we’re happy to support your efforts.



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Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Civil Society Office of the Spokesperson The Secretary of State Ukraine


Secretary Antony J. Blinken and Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal Before Their Meeting
09/11/2024

Secretary Antony J. Blinken and Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal Before Their Meeting
09/11/2024 04:53 PM EDT



Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Kyiv, Ukraine

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

PRIME MINISTER SHMYHAL: Dear Mr. Secretary Blinken, dear colleagues, first of all, I would like to thank to Biden-Harris administration, U.S. Congress, all U.S. people for such a strong support of my country during these dark times of our history, during this full-scale aggression. Thank you so much for all kind of support, especially military support, functional support, financial support, and humanitarian support, and all other – even the mental support of our refugees. All of us thank you so much for this.

So the main challenges which we have now, it’s – once again, it’s the situation in the air defense spheres, so we discussed this very deeply. We are grateful for additional complexes, Patriot complexes, additional air defense missiles. Thank you for perspectives of our cooperation in this sphere of air defense. Thank you for support us in energy sphere. We are waiting for a difficult, tough wintertime. We are sure – and we have this information – the Russians will continue their terroristic attacks on our civilian infrastructure, our energy infrastructure. We need to protect this, and we have the support from U.S. in a sense of additional equipment, generators, transformers, and all other needed equipment. Thank you so much for financial support of energy sphere. We cooperate with U.S. embassy, with your ambassador. Thank you so much. All the list of priorities are approved, and we move forward with this issue and it’s very important for me as prime minister.

Thank you so much also for financial support. We had a first tranche – even $4 billion from U.S. to our budget and financing of our budget deficit. We also implement reforms and reform of our obligations. We will implement custom reform (inaudible) time. We will implement (inaudible) reform (inaudible) time, as we have agreed. And we hope that we will continue our financial cooperation. We had a good news from IMF today; we have statement of IMF. They finished fifth review and program of IMF is continuing in Ukraine. This is very good, like a pillar, financial pillar for our financial support from all G7 partners.

So on military, on financial, on energy sphere, thank you so much for your personal efforts. Thank you so much for support. Thank you so much to your country, to your people for this unwavering support of Ukraine during this hard time. Thank you.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Prime Minister, thank you very much as always. Very good to be able to spend time with you. I appreciate very much the discussion that we had. And simply put, I think you’ve seen again the determination on the part of the United States but also I was here, as you know, with Foreign Secretary Lammy from the United Kingdom – a shared determination along with many other countries to continue to strongly support Ukraine and really in two ways – one, to make sure that you have what you need to get through the immediate challenges being posed by the ongoing and even intensifying Russian aggression, but also to make sure that Ukraine is able to stand strongly on its own feet for a long time militarily, economically, democratically.

And I think the work that we’re doing together in all the areas that you’ve just described will help accomplish both goals – dealing with the immediate threat, but also making sure that Ukraine emerges as a strong, independent country, increasingly integrated with the institutions of the Euro-Atlantic community, including the European Union and NATO. So I think the program we have together, that we’re working together, is one for the immediate needs but also for Ukraine’s future – the future that the Ukrainian people so clearly want. And as always, it’s a pleasure working with you on this, and I’m also glad our teams are working so closely together.

So thank you for the good conversation this evening.




U.S.-Nigeria Strategic Energy Dialogue Highlights Key Bilateral Cooperation
09/11/2024


U.S.-Nigeria Strategic Energy Dialogue Highlights Key Bilateral Cooperation
09/11/2024 05:10 PM EDT



Office of the Spokesperson
HomeOffice of the SpokespersonPress Releases…U.S.-Nigeria Strategic Energy Dialogue Highlights Key Bilateral Cooperation
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U.S.-Nigeria Strategic Energy Dialogue Highlights Key Bilateral Cooperation


Fact Sheet





September 11, 2024



The delegations at the inaugural U.S.-Nigeria Strategic Energy Dialogue on September 11-12, 2024, highlighted recent advances in U.S.-Nigerian bilateral energy cooperation. These include:
The Department of State, through its Energy and Mineral Governance Program (EMGP), commits to renewed technical assistance to further support the Government of Nigeria and Nigerian National Petroleum Company in reducing methane emissions from the oil and gas sector.
USAID, through Power Africa, commits an additional $75-85 million technical assistance to Nigeria. The award, which aims to finalize the implementing partner before the end of the 2024, will build on the successes of Power Africa’s Nigeria programs. Over the next five years, it will improve the delivery and sustainability of electricity services in Nigeria while accelerating Nigeria’s power sector decarbonization. Through this program, Power Africa aims to provide more Nigerian homes, businesses, and institutions with sustainable access to electricity.
The Department of State launches the Clean Energy Alliance of Nigeria (CLEAN). In support of the Clean Energy Demand Initiative, the Department of State’s Power Sector Program (PSP) will launch a “clean energy buyers’ club” in the fall of 2024 to bring together a coalition of corporate consumers, public sector leaders, and other stakeholders to champion the development and use of clean, reliable, and affordable energy resources. In addition, PSP will provide regulatory technical assistance to promote clean energy investment in Nigeria.
The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Net Zero World program commits more than $1.3 million for clean energy technical support to Nigerian partners. DOE and its national labs are facilitating this effort for clean energy capacity building with Nigeria through DOE’s Net Zero World program. This includes five priority workstreams on methane mitigation from oil and gas sector, total energy sector planning and policy support, a scale up of energy distribution nationally, expanded power sector support, and regional energy market advancement. In addition, DOE appreciates Nigerian government participation in some of our multilateral engagements such as the Carbon Management Challenge and the Measurement, Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MMRV) partnership.
The U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) will welcome the Nigeria Methane Abatement and Flare Gas Utilization Solutions Reverse Trade Mission (RTM) in October. The Nigerian delegation will visit Washington, D.C.; Pittsburgh; the Permian Basin; and Houston during their 10-day visit, October 20-30. The RTM will connect delegates from Nigeria’s public and private sectors with the latest U.S. technologies, services, and best practices for methane abatement and flare gas utilization in the oil and gas sector.
U.S.-Nigeria collaboration under the Foundational Infrastructure for Responsible Use of Small Modular Reactor Technology (FIRST) capacity-building program: A workshop and series of other capacity-building programs will occur with Nigerian partners in the coming months under the FIRST capacity-building program. FIRST support will advance Nigeria’s consideration of the potential role of advanced nuclear energy technologies in Nigeria’s clean energy mix, consistent with the highest standards of nuclear security, safety, and nonproliferation.


For further media information, please contact enr-pd-clearances@state.gov.



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Africa Bureau of African Affairs Bureau of Energy Resources Energy Nigeria Office of the Spokesperson


Secretary Blinken’s Meetings with President Duda, Prime Minister Tusk, and Foreign Minister Sikorski of Poland
09/12/2024


Secretary Blinken’s Meetings with President Duda, Prime Minister Tusk, and Foreign Minister Sikorski of Poland
09/12/2024 10:18 AM EDT



Office of the Spokesperson

The below is attributable to Spokesperson Matthew Miller:

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met with Polish President Andrzej Duda, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, and Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski in Warsaw today. Their discussions focused on deepening U.S.-Polish bilateral relations across a wide range of mutual interests, including civil-nuclear partnerships. The Secretary reiterated that the United States stands united with Poland as NATO Allies in support of Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s aggression. He underscored our continuing work with Poland to advance this strong partnership and our shared vision for the future, grounded in our shared democratic values.




Digital Press Briefing on the New AFRICOM Strategy and U.S. Military Cooperation in Africa
09/12/2024
Digital Press Briefing on the New AFRICOM Strategy and U.S. Military Cooperation in Africa
09/12/2024 11:20 AM EDT



U.S. Marine Corps General Michael Langley, Commander, U.S. Africa Command



MODERATOR: Good morning to everyone from the U.S. Department of State’s Africa Regional Media Hub. I welcome our participants logging in from across the continent and thank all of you for joining us today. We are very pleased to be joined by the Commander of the U.S. Africa Command, U.S. Marine Corps General Michael Langley, who will discuss his recent travel in North and East Africa, the new AFRICOM Strategy, and U.S. military and counterterrorism cooperation in response to ongoing developments in Africa.

We will begin today’s briefing with opening remarks from General Langley, then we will turn to your questions. We will try to get to as many of them as we can during the briefing.

With that, I turn to you, General Langley, for opening remarks.

GENERAL LANGLEY: Thank you very much, and thanks for the opportunity to talk to you today, because I really just want to be able to focus on U.S. AFRICOM’s strategy going forward. But just set the stage: What our strategy emanates from is our National Security Strategy put out by the President of the United States.

For Africa, my approaches – our charge to do the last couple of years – to be able to ensure that all our activities and our partnership-centric type approach should be African-led and U.S.-enabled. So we still follow those first principles in any engagement with African militaries across the continent.

And so as we go forward and we ensure that we are – harvest these shared objectives, but also shared values going forward, to address some of these security issues – whether it be violent extremist organizations or transnational criminal organizations as well, to address the challenges of climate change and some of these layered type drivers of instability that that brings – population displacement, tribal conflict, or planned conflict across the region, across the Sahel, even (inaudible) activities in Somalia. All of those are addressed with our African partners first, and then I listen, learn, and then we come up with a collaborative solution set to be able to execute and go forward.

So yes, I did have a – recently came out of the trips across this summer, across the Maghreb, if you will – big exercise, African Lion in Morocco where we had over 20 countries participating in that exercise for a collaborative and interoperability-type objectives to address all of the security challenges that are before us.

And then also went to Algeria. Went to Algeria, Tunisia, and then culminated with – in Libya as well. This is all about unity – unity of effort – because we know that on the global stage there’s other pressures across the Maghreb and a possibility of a startup again of violent extremist organizations. Each one of those countries had different types of challenges.

So I was there to listen. I was there to learn and understand their approach for counterterrorism. So that’s what that trip did for me.

Now I’m back in East Africa. I try to come here every couple of months to sit down with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in Somalia to address some of the challenges that he has, but also the opportunities and way forward in his campaign against al-Shabaab. And now I’m here in Kenya because we know that what’s coming up at the end of the year is the transition of ATMIS, the – ATMIS is that construct of the African Union transition force that will be sundowning or coming to an end.

But then AUSSOM, the civilian support program, is in the nascent stages or formulation of what countries, troop-contributing countries, are going to participate in that new construct. But I know that sitting down with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, his fight and campaign against al-Shabaab is going to continue; building up at the same time and doing force generation and building up the Somali National Army is understood. It’s like flying a plane while still building it. He understands that, but he’s very, very optimistic that we’re going to be successful, and I think also is going to be the new construct that’s going to help them get there.

Thank you.

MODERATOR: Thank you, General Langley. We will now begin the question-and-answer portion of today’s briefing. If at any time you would like to ask a question live, please indicate that by clicking on the “raise hand” button and then typing your name, media outlet, location, and question into the “questions and answers” tab.

Please make sure to use the Q&A tab and not the Chat box. Also be aware that from our side, we only see your Zoom logon. If we cannot tell who you are, we cannot call on you.

We ask that you limit yourself to one question only related to the topic of today’s briefing: the new AFRICOM Strategy and U.S. military and counterterrorism cooperation in response to ongoing developments in Africa.

General Langley, our first question will go to a reporter from Raadraac in Somalia, and they ask: “How has Somalia evolved, or Somali evolved, in all the time you’ve been watching the country? And what sort of support has the American military given the Somali armed forces that has contributed to the success?”

GENERAL LANGLEY: Thanks. That’s a great question. You know, like I said. I was earlier this week in Somalia engaging with the Somali forces and Somali leadership, and of course President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud – started with him – but then was able, had the opportunity to meet with General Muhyadin to get – to be apprised and briefed on his operational design and where he is in his campaign in the south, in the Jubaland and even across the central region.

So they are in stages. They are still in stages of liberation in some areas, but stabilization in other areas. So, they’re mindful of that, that their operations are ebbing and flowing, because I’ll just use some of their narrative – yes, they have a young army; it’s a building army; so, there are some successes and some setbacks. But I think the morale across the forces is building and they’re very enthusiastic that they’re going to be able to keep al-Shabaab back on their heels going forward in future operations. Even with the transition of ATMIS to AUSSOM. And AUSSOM’s mission concept is to have logistical support across the board to enable these forces to carry on offensive operations.

MODERATOR: Thank you. The following question is from Mr. Ricardo Teixeira from DefenceWeb in South Africa, and they ask: “Does the U.S. Army have plans to assist the Kenyan and Somali army in containing or combating al-Shabaab in East Africa? Has AFRICOM considered or attempted to engage in bilateral co-operation with SADC?”

GENERAL LANGLEY: So the question – that’s a great question. With the construct of troop-contributing countries within Somalia, we know one thing: This is owned by the Government of Somalia. We are contributing to his – to President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s efforts for stabilization, stabilization activities.

So, as we well know, Kenya has been a big part of this in the past to present, and I will be engaged with the Kenyan military leadership today to see what they’re saying or what’s – what are the prospects for the future. They have been a tremendous partner with the Somalia National Army, institutionalizing, professionalizing, helping them be able to operate in various areas, collaborating along their border to ensure that – the defeat of al-Shabaan.

So yes, I see that Kenya – the KDF – is an anchor country. They’ve proven that with their successes in helping the Somali National Army hit their operational objectives. So absolutely. Just going forward, I will get more today, information today, as I sit down with the CHoD.

MODERATOR: Thank you, General. The next question comes from John Vandiver, who’s on the call, and he asks: “Since departing your bases in Niger, can you detail how AFRICOM has

adapted its force posture in Western Africa, especially in Benin and the Ivory Coast, to deal with the growing terrorism threat in the region?”

GENERAL LANGLEY: Yes, first and foremost, we executed without incident a safe and orderly withdrawal from Niger in accordance with the CNSP’s demands. And then the way forward will be determined as far as what capacity of security cooperation will be across the Sahel, whether we’re talking about the new alliance or coalition of the Alliance of Sahelian States of Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali. That’s to be determined.

But we’re going to stay engaged with them on conversations, but State Department is actually going to dictate or our national command authorities will dictate what depth and breadth of the relationship is going to be. But in the interim, yes, we are pivoting to some degree of likeminded countries with democratic values and shared objectives and shared challenges across coastal West Africa. So yes, we’re in talks with Cote d’Ivoire and in talks with Ghana and Benin as well as we start to reset and recalibrate some of our assets.

But I will just say, I need to establish a precursor. When we started this, I went and I engaged with all of these countries to look at their prospects because – and listened to what threats – because I knew that that threat of JNIM, al-Shabaab – excuse me, excuse me, JNIM and ISIS-West Africa, ISIS-Sahel, AQIM, were all resident in these countries across the Sahel, and Burkina Faso, and Mali, and Niger. But now they were metastasizing and moving towards the northern borders of the coastal West Africa states of Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, and Benin.

So I went on a campaign of learning and a listening tour to see how we can partner with them to address these shared challenges, because all these constructs, all these violent extremist organizations do have aspirations of attacking the United States homeland as well. So going there and listening as the way forward to address these challenges and to defeat terrorism across their borders was essential.

So yes, we are in consultations and administrated through the diplomatic realm to decide what level of capacity – what do they need to be able to successfully counter terrorism.

MODERATOR: Great, thank you for that answer, General Langley. Now to the next question, from Ms. Patty Nieberg from Task and Purpose, and she asks: “What is being considered as the U.S. looks at opening new bases or outposts in Africa?”

GENERAL LANGLEY: Well, let me just say when we talk about bases, when we talk about establishing a footprint, as some people will call it, I say that when we look at a – when we engage with the countries that have various challenges, whether it be transnational crime organizations, violent extremist organizations, or other type challenges, like I said, that’s a listening and learning tour and understanding and looking at what the U.S. can provide through

the whole of government. That’s why AFRICOM – what defines AFRICOM is that we’re a 3D organization. And when I say 3Ds, please indulge me – let me explain that.

The three Ds is made up of diplomacy – all the things and activities and investments the State Department brings in the diplomatic realm. And then also to development – the U.S. Agency for International Development, all their portfolio of things for – that address stability and responding to crisis. And then the defense element – that’s where U.S. AFRICOM comes in. Collectively, we work together to be able to address some of the challenges these countries have and what they invite us in to do. So whether they ask for us to establish posture there, or do they want us just to come there for temporal engagement to build institutional capacity.

So I don’t define things as far as bases, but I will say this: our ability to respond to crisis. So, there are some contingency locations that we do have across the continent to respond to crisis, enable. But not just our crisis, but theirs as well.

I went to Libya last year after the floods. Having access to Libya to be able to provide for the people in the Derna region that were affected by the floods was an example of how we operate, and being able to bring in relief supplies, and across all the challenges across West Africa. As you can see that when we pulled out of – when we pulled our American citizens and others out of Sudan when Burhan and Hemedti started a civil war in Sudan back in 15 April 2023. That’s an example of us being able to posture our forces to be able to go in and pull out American citizens and other citizens of other countries.

MODERATOR: Great, thank you, General. The next question comes form Mr. Joseph Haboush from Al Arabiya, and he asks: “Can you talk about Chinese and Russian influence in the AFRICOM AOR, particularly after the U.S. withdrawal from Niger and other subsequent scheduled withdrawals?”

GENERAL LANGLEY: Okay, that’s a great question, and let me say this: When we have engaged with our African partners, we don’t give them an ultimatum of who to choose for a security partner. We have a value proposition going forward, but also, we want a complete understanding, and we want them to have – our partners to have – a complete understanding of our initiatives and how we can work together to achieve shared objectives.

Now, that being said, I know that since 2022 when I took command, a lot of my efforts to be able to come in alignment with some of these countries on how we’re going to approach the challenges has been distorted through misinformation or disinformation, trying to state that – untruths of what U.S. AFRICOM was trying to do with a particular country. Misinformation and disinformation has stoked a lot of instability across civil society and across some of these militaries. For example, across the Sahel.

You know, we were there, as far as a shared objective to fight terrorism, but then, as you well see, that across the region the Russian Federation had activities in the information space to be able to effect false-type ideologies in civil society as far as the clear intent of what AFRICOM was trying to do to fight terrorism with them, collectively.

So, I’d say that, yeah, from the PRC across – excuse me, far as the Russian Federation across the Sahel, it’s been destabilizing – destabilizing from Central African Republic all the way into Libya and across the Sahel. Some of those false ideologies, disinformation, has been destabilizing across these countries. And the PRC – the PRC, they have been known to put out misinformation and disinformation across the continent as well.

MODERATOR: Thank you. We have time for one last question, and the last question goes to Andres from Financial Times in Nairobi, and he asks: “Can you comment on growing concerns of Somalia’s al-Shabaab collaborating with Yemeni Houthi rebels on the Red Sea?”

GENERAL LANGLEY: I’ll just say this: I’m concerned about it. I’m concerned about it. And that’s – the overall – the things going on in the Red Sea is different threats starting to emanate from the Red Sea and from Yemen. I am concerned about it. We’re watching it closely and stand ready to work with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and advise him where he needs it to be able to address some of these new challenges across all of his territories across the Somali country.

MODERATOR: Thank you. General Langley, do you have any final words?

GENERAL LANGLEY: Yes, thank you for the opportunity. So the AFRICOM approach, what defines us – again, and I will just have to amplify that it is African partner-led, U.S.-enabled. So, across our theater strategy, taking hits – taking opportunity to be able to hit upon objectives, shared objectives, that will beget prosperity, stabilization activities across the countries, across the continent, and the countries that invite us in to work with them to achieve these objectives. That’s what’s essential. That’s what I think has been working across the board, whether it’s North Africa, whether it’s in Southern Africa, in the East, and the West – that our approach is the same and consistent, and we’re going to collectively through the 3D process of development, defense, and diplomacy achieve those objectives. And we welcome the partnership with our African – African countries to partner with us to achieve those high-stated national interest goals.

Thank you.

MODERATOR: Thank you. Well, that concludes today’s briefing. I want to thank the Commander of U.S. Africa Command, U.S. Marine Corps General Michael Langley, for joining us. Thank you to all the journalists for participating. A recording and transcript of today’s briefing will be distributed to participating journalists as soon as we can get them out. If you have any questions about today’s briefing, you may contact the Africa Regional Media Hub at AFMediaHub@state.gov. I’d also like to invite everyone to follow us on X, Twitter, at our handle @AfricaMediaHub. Thank you.

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Secretary Antony J. Blinken And Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski At a Joint Press Availability
09/12/2024

Secretary Antony J. Blinken And Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski At a Joint Press Availability
09/12/2024 12:53 PM EDT



Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Warsaw, Poland

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. And welcome at the seat of the ministry of foreign affairs of the Republic of Poland. We shall now have the conference by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Minister Radoslaw Sikorski.

First, I would like to hand over to the host Minister Radoslaw Sikorski.

FOREIGN MINISTER SIKORSKI: (Via interpreter) Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I’m very happy to be to host in Warsaw at the ministry of foreign affairs Secretary of State of the United States Antony Blinken. With the secretaries coming back from Kyiv, important events are taking place. There, the Secretary met with representatives of Ukrainian authorities. It is definitely the most urgent topic when it comes to bilateral relations between Poland and the U.S.

Our relations are at the highest level in terms of intensity in history. This year’s dynamism is impressive. There are common values, common interests, and similar perception of threats that unite us. I believe that our collaboration aimed at supporting Kyiv will be continued until the end of the current administration and by the next administration as well. I hope that it will contribute to the quickest possible end of the Russian aggression, taking into account and with due regard of raison d’être of Ukraine, which has been attacked.

Ensuring security of Ukraine, a strategic forefront of the entire North Atlantic Treaty Organization is our joint priority, and we shall continue our efforts. Poland remains a strong advocate of increasing the pressure on the Russian regime in order to force it to end the conflict against Ukraine.

From the very beginning, we were a front runner when it comes to providing military and other kinds of assistance. As the West, we shall continue supplying Ukraine with advanced air defense and antimissiles defense systems. We shall also lift the ban on using long-range weapons. We are sure that the economic sanctions are bringing the expected effect, and we hope that more intense activities will be taken with regard to seizing frozen Russian assets.

The support for Ukraine is still one of the most important topics of our bilateral relations, however our cooperation with Washington spans beyond that framework. We are key partners for each other in the area of security. The American military presence in Poland – which many previous governments have been struggling to achieve – including permanent deployment of the American troops, increases Poland’s security.

We are modernizing the Polish army. This is possible thanks to the purchases made from the U.S. Let me just mention F-16, F-35s, Apaches, Abrams, HIMARS, and Patriot systems.

Our political collaboration is getting closer and closer. At the same time, the U.S. is becoming an even greater partner for Poland in other areas. Our economic relations are blooming. Let me mention areas such as energy, trade, or technology.

I would once again like to thank Tony Blinken for this meeting, for the possibility to talk about the key aspects of our dialogue. We shall continue in New York during the meeting of the General Assembly of the United Nations.

MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Ladies and gentlemen, now let me hand over to Secretary Blinken.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Well, thank you very, very much. And let me just say at the outset to my friend Radek, thank you for being such a great partner for the United States, but thank you especially for being such a long-time and staunch defender of democracy wherever it’s threatened, wherever it’s challenged. We could not be more grateful for that.

And also, if you’ll allow me a point of personal privilege, I’m especially pleased as well to be here with my friend, Ambassador Mark Brzezinski. The Brzezinski family has now for two generations contributed in remarkable ways to our foreign policy, to our national discourse, and having Mark here at this time could not be more important and more beneficial to both of our countries.

As Radek said, I’m here from Ukraine. I was there, as you know, with Foreign Secretary Lammy. We had a very good visit. We went to Kyiv to underscore our united and unwavering support for Ukraine, faced with the ongoing Russian aggression – the United States, United Kingdom, but also united with so many other countries who have come together in support of Ukraine, all committed not just to helping Ukraine ward off the aggression, but committed to Ukraine’s long term success, its success as a country that stands strongly on its own two feet militarily, economically, democratically. And in our conversations in Kyiv, we talked about our shared strategy to get there.

What we learned from our Ukrainian partners will inform discussions that we’ll be having with other allies and other partners in the days and weeks ahead as we work through and think through the coming months. And it’s very fitting for us to begin that conversation with our allies here in Poland.

Poland has been an absolutely essential partner to Ukraine from the moment that Putin reinvaded the country in 2022. It’s provided $4 billion in security assistance to Ukraine – tanks, aircraft, air defense, helicopters. It’s one of 26 countries that have now signed bilateral security agreements with Ukraine. These agreements, long-term commitments to help Ukraine build its deterrent and defense capacity, are critical not just in the immediate, but critical over time to make sure that Ukraine for many years has the capacity to defend itself.

And of course, it’s been working alongside other NATO Allies to help train the Ukrainians, including here in Poland. And it’s going to host the NATO-Ukraine Joint Analysis Training and Education Center so that the Alliance can draw on lessons learned from the war.

As many of you know and as you see every time we go into Ukraine, it’s also the key hub for getting assistance to Ukraine and to the Ukrainian people. More than 80 percent of all security and humanitarian assistance for Ukraine is flowing through Poland. And of course, Poland continues to host some one million Ukrainian refugees. This is a remarkable display of generosity and solidarity in a time when it’s most needed.

These joint efforts to support Ukraine, to help it defend against the Russian aggression, are a critical facet of our relationship, but only one facet of the relationship and our security cooperation, which in my judgment has never been stronger. Poland has spent – is spending over 4 percent of GDP on defense. This is really the gold standard among NATO countries, and we saw at the NATO summit just a few months ago the extraordinary progress the Alliance has made in countries stepping up and dedicating the necessary resources to defense. In 2020, nine NATO Allies were meeting the 2 percent threshold. Now it’s 23, but Poland has really been leading the way. And of course, it hosts thousands of U.S. and Allied forces.

We have also a remarkable relationship when it comes to financing the necessary expenditures on defense. There are now some $11 billion worth of loans through our foreign military financing program that we’ve dedicated to Poland to help it modernize its forces, including with F-35 aircraft, with the largest fleet of Apache helicopters outside the United States, and the co-production of Patriot missile defense systems. These investments are good for Poland’s security. They’re good for NATO’s capabilities. They’re good for the United States – for our security, for our industry, and for our jobs.

I also want to underscore the very important collaboration we have when it comes to energy security. Since February of ’22, Poland has made very important strides when it comes to increasing its own energy security. We see this in the context of extraordinary strides across Europe – moving away from dependence on Russian energy and developing different sources and self-sufficiency. The foreign minister and I discussed ways that the United States can further support Poland’s transition away from Russian energy by facilitating the production of safe, clean, and reliable nuclear energy.

Poland is also one of several nations across the region that has been subject to Russian sabotage, cyber operations – including with the support of the regime in Belarus. This is something that the entire Alliance is seized with. We see this, unfortunately, across Europe. So we’re deepening our cooperation to protect our countries and fellow democracies from Moscow’s malign efforts.

In June we came together in Warsaw with over a dozen countries – with the European Union, with NATO – to create the Ukraine Communications Group. Together we’re coordinating efforts to expose and to counter Kremlin misinformation and disinformation and put out accurate reporting on Russia’s ongoing aggression.

Twenty-five years ago, when Poland joined NATO, my very illustrious predecessor, Secretary Madeleine Albright, said this, and I quote: “We know that when the democracies of Europe and America are divided, crevices are created through which forces of evil and aggression may emerge; when we stand together, no force on Earth is more powerful than our solidarity on behalf of freedom.”

That was true then. It remains true today. And we continue to stand strongly together, Poland and the United States, for our own freedom and the freedom of others.

MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Thank you. Now we shall have time for questions. We will have two questions from Polish journalists and two questions from American journalists. The first question goes from Polsat News, Polish private broadcaster.

QUESTION: Katarzyna Pysza, Polsat News. Mr. Secretary of State, welcome. I have question for both you and Minister Sikorski here. Sir, is there a green light for Ukraine to hit targets deep inside Russia using Western weaponry? There were reports that this decision has already been made. There are also reports that London has given its permission recently, so if you could comment on that.

And Foreign Minister Sikorski, in Polish:

(Via interpreter) Sir, you said that Poland is in favor of increasing pressure on Moscow. What about the green light for hitting targets inside Russia? What is the impact on Ukraine? What does it mean for Ukraine and for Poland’s security?

Thank you.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thank you very much. Look, a hallmark of what we’ve done from day one – in fact, even before day one – of the Russian aggression against Ukraine in 2022 was to try to make sure that Ukraine has what it needs when it needs it to deal with that aggression. And as what Russia is doing has changed, as the battlefield has changed, we’ve adapted. And as you’ve seen through the provision of some of the most sophisticated weapon systems we’ve had, through the extraordinary provision of military assistance overall – more than $100 billion from the United States – the sharing of intelligence and many other things at every step along the way, as necessary, we’ve adapted and we’ve adjusted.

And one of the purposes of my visit to Kyiv yesterday was to hear from our Ukrainian partners what they believe they need now to deal with the current battlefield, including in eastern Ukraine and other parts of the country. And I can tell you that as we go forward, we will do exactly what we have already done, which is we will adjust, we’ll adapt as necessary, including with regard to the means that are at Ukraine’s disposal to effectively defend against the Russian aggression.

FOREIGN MINISTER SIKORSKI: (Via interpreter) Russia is committing war crimes, attacking civilian targets, residential areas, hospitals, and facilities which produce electricity and heat for Ukrainians, and the winter is coming. Missiles that hit civilian targets are shot from bombers that start from airfields in Russia. The victim of aggression has the right to defend itself, has the right to combat all means of air strikes that hit against it. I’m of the opinion that Ukraine has the right to use Western weapons to prevent war crimes.

MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Now a question from our American guests, Bloomberg News.

(In English) The microphone is – please hold it.

QUESTION: Thank you. Mr. Secretary, you spoke about individual and collective responses to Russia’s hybrid attacks on NATO Allies, particularly in the eastern flank. Poland has been one of those targets. The attacks have continued; they’ve intensified since your remarks in Prague and these – the Bucharest Nine meetings and so on. What progress has been made on this collective response, and what, if anything, are you seeking to move forward? And Mr. Foreign Minister, if you could respond as well.

And also, Mr. Secretary, could you just respond to the killing of six UNRWA workers in Gaza this week? Thank you.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thank you, Courtney. With regard to the hybrid attacks, exactly as you’ve said, this is something that we’ve brought to allies and partners, including at the most recent NATO summit in Washington, and the Alliance as a whole is seized with this because what we’re seeing are attacks in a number of different countries by different means. And while countries in the past might have seen these as one-off events, I think it’s now clear to everyone that this is part of a deliberate strategy that Russia is engaged in.

And what I can tell you is this: We are closely collaborating between ourselves, among different allies and partners, on, among other things, sharing the necessary information, and taking steps to impose consequences on Russia for these attacks. You see that, among other ways, in not only the extraordinary sanctions that have been imposed on Russia but further efforts to as necessary increase those, strengthen those, and make sure that they’re imposing a consequence.

I think it’s critical, though, that there’s a recognition – and I know that’s felt acutely here in Poland – that the Alliance that we’re both part of and that so many countries in Europe are a part of is also the most important guarantor of the safety and security of Europeans and Americans. And so as an Alliance, we’re also looking at what’s happening, and we’ll draw the necessary conclusions from that and, as appropriate, consequences.

With regard to the attack, look, the first thing that’s hugely important to underscore is the essential, vital, imperative work of humanitarians in Gaza, and for that matter around the world. And it’s essential that those activities be protected and indeed be facilitated. We need to see humanitarian sites protected, and that’s something that we continue to raise with Israel. At the same time, we continue to see Hamas hiding in, taking over, and otherwise using these sites from which to conduct its operations and to pose an ongoing threat. And that of course has to stop because those actions are endangering civilians.

I think it also underscores once again the urgency of reaching a ceasefire because that’s the best way of ensuring that we have a genuinely protected space throughout Gaza, a space in which the humanitarians can not only continue to do their work but massively increase it to the benefit of people who desperately need it – the children, the women, and men of Gaza.

FOREIGN MINISTER SIKORSKI: Some people think that hybrid warfare is mainly in the domain of information or making nuisances of themselves in cyber sphere, but I’d like to – you to focus on the fact that hybrid warfare has its kinetic elements. As I was telling Tony, Polish airspace is regularly breached by Russian drones and missiles. Last year, a Russian cruise missile traveled through two-thirds of Poland and landed 10 kilometers from my house. Sooner or later, people will be hurt.

It’s also terrorist sabotage activities. Some, but not all, we are able to prevent thanks to good collaboration of our intelligence services. And it’s also a kinetic assault in collaboration with the Belarusian regime on Poland’s eastern border. Migrants that have been on purpose brought to Russia are then pushed across the EU border, and one of our soldiers was actually killed defending the border of NATO, EU, and the Schengen Zone from these groups armed with sticks and knives and whatnot. We of course reserve the right to protect our territory and our citizens, and I can tell you that if another arson hurts a Polish citizen, Poland will take bilateral countermeasures that the Russian Federation will notice.

MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) The next question comes from TVN 24, Polish private broadcaster.

QUESTION: Hi, hello, Wojciech Skrzypek from TVN 24. I have pretty much the same question for you both: So what’s the situation on the front line in Ukraine? And do you believe that Ukraine can still win this war? Thank you.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Can Ukraine still win? Yes. In fact, we’re determined to see Ukraine win this war. And look, as we look at what’s happened over the last more than two years since the Russian aggression – or re-aggression, since this really started in 2014 – time and again we’ve seen Ukrainian success against the odds. Kyiv, Kharkiv, Kherson; the pushing back of the Russian fleet from the Black Sea, even though Ukraine has no fleet of its own; what’s happening now in Kursk – time and again, the Ukrainian people, supported by an extraordinary coalition of more than 50 countries, have demonstrated that they have the will and, if we sustain it – and we will – the capacity to succeed. So I have no doubt about that.

And in fact, if you look at what Putin was trying to accomplish, he’s already failed, because we know – and just take him at his own word; don’t take it from me – his entire purpose was to erase Ukraine from the map; to eliminate its existence as an independent, sovereign country; to subsume it into Russia for purposes of recreating a Russian empire. That has failed and cannot succeed, but it’s imperative that we continue to support Ukraine so that it can continue to ward off the aggression taking place against it and, as I said earlier, not just that, but continue to build a strong, independent country, increasingly integrated with the institutions of the Euro-Atlantic community, including the European Union and NATO; able to stand on its own feet militarily, economically, democratically. That’s the trajectory it’s on. That is success for Ukraine. And that is the most powerful rebuke to everything that Putin has been trying to do.

FOREIGN MINISTER SIKORSKI: I agree with Tony’s every word. I said it at the UN Security Council and I’ll repeat it: Russia has lost plenty of aggressive wars she has waged. Russia lost the Crimean War, Russia lost the Russo-Japanese War, Russia was knocked out of World War I, Russia lost the invasion of Poland in 1920, Russia lost the invasion of Afghanistan, which I watched myself, and Russia lost the First Chechen War, and Russia lost the Cold War. The good news is that every time Russia loses a war there are reforms, so Russia should lose this war for the sake of Ukraine, for the sake of taboos established after Second World War, for the sake of guarantees that Russia herself also gave to Ukraine, but also for the sake of the future of Russia.

MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Ladies and gentlemen, the final question goes to CBS.

QUESTION: Dziękuję bardzo. Thank you very much. Olivia Gazis with CBS News. As one quick follow-up to my colleague’s question, the first question from Polsat, Mr. Secretary –understanding a decision may or may not have been made on whether to allow Ukraine to use long-range weapons inside of Russia – would such a capability be accompanied by enhanced intelligence sharing with the U.S. and the Ukrainians in order to identify relevant targets in Russia?

And then my question for you, Mr. Secretary, is that the Polish Government and Minister Sikorski in particular have been calling for Poland’s ability to shoot down missiles over Ukraine heading towards Poland, not only to aid Ukraine’s air defenses in the west but also to assert Poland’s ability to self-defend. So especially given your own observations this week about the delivery of Iranian ballistic missiles now enhancing Russia’s capability and flexibility in striking more deeply into Ukraine, do you oppose this Polish proposal? And if so, why?

(In Polish.)

Ukraine has threatened to sever relations with Iran upon these revelations, again, that ballistic missiles have been delivered to Russia for use in Ukraine. Would Poland consider also taking such a diplomatic step? Or if not, what other costs are you willing to impose on the Iranian regime? Thank you.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Olivia, thank you, and thank you also for the eloquent demonstration of your Polish.

So I can only in this moment repeat what I’ve already said. We had good and extensive discussions with our Ukrainian colleagues yesterday about how they see the battlefield, what their needs are, and as I’ve said, we will always continue to take that into account, and as necessary we’ll adapt, we’ll adjust in terms of what we’re doing, what we’re providing, both the United States individually but also the collection of countries that has been supporting Ukraine. And you’ll understand that I’m not going to get into operational details in a public setting, but I can again assure that we will adapt, we will adjust, and make sure that Ukraine has what it needs when it needs it to deal with this Russian aggression.

When it comes to these violations that we’ve seen of Polish airspace and sovereignty – and other allies and partners – first, most important, we of course stand by Poland’s right to defend itself, just as we stand by the right of any of our allies to defend themselves, and we have an ironclad commitment to NATO, to Article 5. President Biden when he was here in Poland said that the United States is committed to defending every square inch of NATO territory, whether that’s in Poland or among any other Allies. This is an issue that we are discussing among NATO Allies because it has implications for the Alliance as a whole, but of course Russia needs to stop these reckless attacks – the attacks on Ukraine, but also attacks that may implicate other countries, including Ukraine’s neighbors.

FOREIGN MINISTER SIKORSKI: The issue of Russian missiles and drones crossing NATO territory will not go away. These missiles and drones – Russia launches hundreds of them. A significant proportion of them they lose control over. We’ve just had a drone land in Latvia. We’ve had incidents with Romania. And there are reports of the Belarusians shooting down drones before they cross into NATO territory. And remember that there are nuclear power stations on the territory of Ukraine. If the Russians lose control of one of these things and one of those power stations get damaged, you will all be asking us what – why we hadn’t done anything about it before. All of Europe might have a problem. So I believe we should do something about it preemptively.

As regards Iran, I’m disappointed, because we have a new president of Iran. He’s supposedly not as aggressive as the previous butcher of Tehran, but the policy of sending missiles and drones to use against Ukraine – and also using similar equipment against Israel – seems to be continuing. The trouble for Poland is that Iran is already under such severe sanctions that there is not that much more that we can do.

MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Thank you very much, Secretary. Thank you very much, Minister. Thank you for this press conference. I would also like to thank you, and we will be in touch. Have a good afternoon.




The United States of America and the Republic of Estonia sign Memorandum of Understanding on Countering Foreign State Information Manipulation
09/12/2024


The United States of America and the Republic of Estonia sign Memorandum of Understanding on Countering Foreign State Information Manipulation
09/12/2024 01:55 PM EDT



Office of the Spokesperson

Today, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and Estonian Secretary of State Taimar Peterkop, with Estonian Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Jonatan Vseviov in attendance, signed a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen cooperation between the United States and the Republic of Estonia on countering foreign state information manipulation.

The memorandum signifies our shared recognition of the threat of foreign information manipulation, which includes disinformation and propaganda, to democracies around the world. Through this MOU, the United States and the Republic of Estonia intend to expand information sharing about this threat, share best practices for countering foreign disinformation, and align policies along the five key action areas established in the U.S. State Department’s Framework to Counter Foreign State Information Manipulation.

With Estonia, a total of 21 countries across Europe, Africa, North America, and the Indo-Pacific have endorsed the Framework and intend to work together to strengthen government and societal resilience to foreign information manipulation. Together, this coalition of like-minded partners will help to secure a global, free, fact-based information environment.




Joint Statement on the 4th U.S.-Lithuania Strategic Dialogue on the Indo-Pacific
09/12/2024
Joint Statement on the 4th U.S.-Lithuania Strategic Dialogue on the Indo-Pacific
09/12/2024 03:43 PM EDT



Office of the Spokesperson

The text of the following statement was released by Deputy Secretary of State Kurt M. Campbell and Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis.

Begin text:

On September 12, 2024, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt M. Campbell and Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis of Lithuania met in Vilnius for the 4th U.S.-Lithuania Strategic Dialogue on the Indo-Pacific. The Strategic Dialogue highlighted the critical role of the Indo-Pacific and the shared interest in strengthening bilateral partnership and democratic values, and long-term relationships with like-minded countries. Recognizing that the threats and challenges faced in Europe and the Indo-Pacific are interconnected, Deputy Secretary Campbell and Foreign Minister Landsbergis reiterated their commitment to exchanging expertise and furthering cooperation with partners in the Indo-Pacific. They emphasized the importance of cooperation between NATO and its partners in the Indo-Pacific and practical cooperation in areas such as supporting Ukraine, cyber defense, countering foreign disinformation, and technology.

The two sides expressed unwavering support for Ukraine against Russia’s invasion and discussed the role that the PRC, DPRK, and Iran play in enabling Russia’s continuing aggression in Ukraine by its multi-faceted support for Russia’s defense industrial base. They also discussed the threat the sustained PRC malicious cyber and hybrid activities pose to transatlantic security. The deepening strategic partnership between Russia and the PRC and their attempts to undercut and reshape the rules-based international order remains a profound concern. They condemned Russia’s hostile hybrid attacks against Allies and agreed to work closely to address them. They also strongly condemned the DPRK’s continued export of arms to Russia and Russia’s use of DPRK ballistic missiles against Ukraine. Deputy Secretary Campbell and Foreign Minister Landsbergis reiterated their continued cooperation to counter the PRC’s use of economic coercion, with Deputy Secretary Campbell commending Lithuania’s resolve in resisting the unjustified PRC political and economic pressure. Both parties welcomed Lithuania’s efforts to strengthen its robust economic partnership with Taiwan and support Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international fora. The two sides also expressed concern regarding the PRC’s continued provocative, destabilizing, and intimidating activities in the South China Sea. They underscored the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and expressed opposition to any unilateral attempt to change the status quo by force or coercion. The two sides look forward to continuing the effective and constructive U.S.-Lithuania Strategic Dialogue on the Indo-Pacific.

End text.




Secretary Blinken’s Call with Romanian Foreign Minister Odobescu
09/12/2024

Secretary Blinken’s Call with Romanian Foreign Minister Odobescu
09/12/2024 04:26 PM EDT



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Secretary Blinken’s Call with Romanian Foreign Minister Odobescu


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September 12, 2024



The below is attributable to Spokesperson Matthew Miller:


Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke with Romanian Foreign Minister Luminita Odobescu today regarding Romania’s donation of a PATRIOT strategic air defense system to Ukraine. Secretary Blinken thanked Minister Odobescu for fulfilling Romania’s commitment and for its continued leadership in the defense of regional security. He underscored the United States’ continued support for Ukraine and its freedom from Russia’s aggression.



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The Week at State: September 6 - 12, 2024
09/13/2024








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September 6-12

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Here's what happened at State this past week. ⤵️✈️ Secretary Blinken traveled to the United Kingdom, Ukraine, and Poland.
🇻🇪 The U.S. denounced Nicolás Maduro’s post-election repression in Venezuela.
🇪🇺 Deputy Secretary Campbell met with European allies to discuss trade, China, and the Indo-Pacific.


Secretary Blinken Visits the United Kingdom, Poland, and Ukraine

Secretary Blinken traveled to the United Kingdom to open the U.S.-UK Strategic Dialogue and reaffirm our special relationship. The Secretary also met with senior government officials in London to discuss several critical issues, including the Middle East, the Indo-Pacific, and our collective efforts to support Ukraine.

On Wednesday, the Secretary traveled to Ukraine with UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy where they met with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and senior government officials. There, they discussed continued support for Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s aggression and how the country can thrive militarily, economically, and democratically.

In Ukraine, Secretary Blinken announced more than $700 million in new funding that will:Help repair Ukraine’s energy and electric grid.
Provide humanitarian support for millions of people in Ukraine and those displaced throughout the region.
Remove land mines and unexploded ordnance that Russia left behind in Ukraine.

“We want Ukraine to win,” Secretary Blinken said at a news conference in Kyiv. “And we’re fully committed to keep marshaling the support that it needs for its brave defenders to do just that.”

On Thursday, the Secretary went to Poland to meet with top Polish government officials and discuss:Deepening our defense and energy cooperation.
Our support for Ukraine as NATO Allies.








U.S. Condemns Maduro’s Attempts to Stay in Power

The U.S. called on Nicolás Maduro to stop the repression and immediately release all those unjustly detained in Venezuela following the election of Edmundo González Urrutia to the presidency.

“Venezuelans voted for change. Maduro’s post-election repression has killed or jailed thousands, and winning candidate Edmundo González Urrutia remains the best hope for democracy,” Secretary Blinken said on X/Twitter. “We must not let Maduro and his representatives cling to power by force. The will of the people must be respected.”


Deputy Secretary Discusses Trade, China with European Allies

Deputy Secretary Kurt Campbell traveled to Belgium, the United Kingdom, Lithuania, and Iceland for meetings with European partners.

He led the U.S. delegation in the seventh U.S.-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth round of the U.S.-EU High-Level Consultations on the Indo-Pacific.

“U.S. and EU partners remain deeply concerned about China’s exports of dual use items to Russia, which Moscow is using to wage its illegal war against Ukraine,” the Deputy Secretary said on X/Twitter.


Secretary Blinken Meets Students in the Dominican Republic

During a trip to the Dominican Republic last week, Secretary Blinken met with students at El Dominco's English Immersion Program, where they are learning English with the help of the Department’s language resources.

“English can be a social and economic ladder for many Dominicans, and we are dedicated to helping them achieve their aspirations,” the Secretary said on X/Twitter.


News You May Have MissedMarking the 23rd anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks. As Secretary Blinken said on X/Twitter, “we honor the memories of the nearly 3,000 lives lost in the September 11 terrorist attacks. Their bravery and courage remind us of the resilience, sacrifice, and enduring strength that defines our nation and drives our ongoing fight against terrorism.”
Special Advisor Sara Minkara joined the presidential delegation at the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games Closing Ceremony in Paris.
The application period for paid Summer 2025 State Department internships opens in October.
The NFL completed its first regular season game in South America when São Paulo hosted a game between the Green Bay Packers and the Philadelphia Eagles.
The U.S. congratulates Algeria on the conclusion of its presidential elections and values the U.S.-Algerian partnership.
The Department honored 19 colleges and universities as Fulbright HBCU Institutional Leaders for their engagement with the program during the 2023-2024 academic year.






🔎 Looking AheadSeptember 15: Hispanic Heritage Month begins
September 15: International Day of Democracy
September 20: World Cleanup Day
September 20-21: UN Summit of the Future Action Days
September 22-23: UN Summit of the Future
September 23: International Day of Sign Languages
September 24: UNGA79 General Debate begins
September 27: World Tourism Day
👉 Note to Our Readers

We welcome your feedback on this newsletter. Send us your thoughts to EmailTeam@state.gov. 📩












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Deputy Secretary Kurt Campbell’s Visit to Reykjavik, Iceland
09/13/2024


Deputy Secretary Kurt Campbell’s Visit to Reykjavik, Iceland
09/13/2024 02:42 PM EDT



Office of the Spokesperson
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Deputy Secretary Kurt Campbell’s Visit to Reykjavik, Iceland


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September 13, 2024



Deputy Secretary Kurt Campbell visited Reykjavík today for meetings with Icelandic Foreign Minister Þórdís Kolbrún Reykfjörð Gylfadóttir and members of the Icelandic parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee. Deputy Secretary Campbell and Foreign Minister Gylfadóttir also co-chaired a bilateral dialogue on the Indo-Pacific region.


In Deputy Secretary Campbell’s engagements with Foreign Minister Gylfadóttir and Icelandic parliamentarians, they discussed Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine as well as other shared U.S.-Iceland priorities such as our work together in NATO; economic security; protection of critical infrastructure; deepening our bilateral economic and trade relationship; clean energy production; scientific cooperation; and ensuring the Arctic region is peaceful, stable, prosperous, and cooperative.


During their Indo-Pacific dialogue, the United States and Iceland discussed opportunities and challenges in the region. Noting their shared commitment to advancing a free and open Indo-Pacific, they re-affirmed their support for the rules-based international order, to include the importance of upholding international law and freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. They explored ways to strengthen relationships with countries across the Indo-Pacific region, to include on security matters, in part through deepening ties between NATO Allies and NATO’s Indo-Pacific partners. Deputy Secretary Campbell and Foreign Minister Gylfadóttir also discussed their concerns regarding the PRC’s continued support to the Russian defense industrial base.



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Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Deputy Secretary of State Iceland Indo-Pacific North Atlantic Treaty Organization Office of the Spokesperson Official International Travel


Digital Innovations for Female Entrepreneurs in ASEAN Meeting
09/13/2024


Digital Innovations for Female Entrepreneurs in ASEAN Meeting
09/13/2024 02:44 PM EDT



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Digital Innovations for Female Entrepreneurs in ASEAN Meeting


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September 13, 2024



The U.S. Department of State hosted the Digital Innovations for Female Entrepreneurs in ASEAN Meeting (DIFEM) in Vientiane, Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) on September 11-12, 2024, as a part of the U.S.-ASEAN Connect Digital Economy Series. The DIFEM event supports Lao PDR’s ASEAN chair year efforts to meet 2024 priority economic deliverables by making progress addressing financial gaps among micro, small, and medium size enterprises (MSMES) and supporting the adoption of the Roadmap on Digital Trade Standards in ASEAN. This two-day event convened 75 digital economy entrepreneurs from MSMEs in ASEAN to engage with private sector technology companies, government officials, and other MSMEs to explore the future of business optimization and commercial collaboration.


Leading private sector subject matter experts facilitated workshops on funding opportunities for startups, as well as generative AI and digital tools for participants to optimize business efficiency and expand their market. Participants had the opportunity to have one on one consultations with experts through a series of design sprint activities, allowing them individualized time to brainstorm business challenges with industry experts. DIFEM also highlighted the value and importance of centering women entrepreneurs through the Making Digital Space for Women in Fintech as well as Mentorship and Collaborative Leadership Interviews with women leaders in the public and private sector, including U.S. Ambassador to Lao PDR, Heather Variava.



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Association of Southeast Asian Nations Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Laos Office of the Spokesperson Women’s Economic Empowerment


Alerting the World to RT’s Global Covert Activities
09/13/2024


Alerting the World to RT’s Global Covert Activities
09/13/2024 02:56 PM EDT



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Alerting the World to RT’s Global Covert Activities


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September 13, 2024



Today, the United States is designating three entities and two individuals for their connection to Russia’s destabilizing actions abroad. According to new information, much of which originates from employees of Russian state-funded RT (formerly “Russia Today”), we now know that RT moved beyond being simply a media outlet and has been an entity with cyber capabilities. It is also engaged in information operations, covert influence, and military procurement. These operations are targeting countries around the world, including in Europe, Africa, and North and South America.


The United States supports the free flow of information. We are not taking action against these entities and individuals for the content of their reporting, or even the disinformation they create and spread publicly. We are taking action against them for their covert influence activities. Covert influence activities are not journalism. The United States will always stand for freedom of expression, including for those with whom we disagree. We encourage dissent, open debate, and free discourse. But we will not stand for attempts by state actors to carry out covert activities with the goal of hijacking that discourse. Consistent with General License 25F, these targets may continue to engage in journalism and media operations not prohibited by U.S. sanctions.


In June, together with the governments of the UK and Canada, the State Department’s Global Engagement Center exposed the Russian government’s efforts to engage in subversive activity and electoral interference targeting Moldova. As we previously described, some of these covert efforts include RT personnel’s involvement in providing direct support to U.S.-designated fugitive Moldovan oligarch ILAN SHOR (SHOR) for several years with Russian government assent. Leveraging its expanded covert capabilities, RT will almost certainly coordinate with traditional Russian intelligence services to try to manipulate the outcome of the October 2024 Moldovan presidential election in Moscow’s favor.


RT and its employees, including Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan, have directly coordinated with the Kremlin to support Russian government efforts to influence the October 2024 Moldovan election. Specifically, in coordination with the Kremlin, Simonyan leverages the state-funded platforms for which she serves in leadership positions – namely RT, Sputnik, and their parent company FEDERAL STATE UNITARY ENTERPRISE INTERNATIONAL INFORMATION AGENCY ROSSIYA SEGODNYA (ROSSIYA SEGODNYA) – to attempt to foment unrest in Moldova, likely with the specific aim of causing protests to turn violent. RT is aware of and prepared to assist Russia’s plans to incite protests should the election not result in a Russia-preferred candidate winning the presidency.


The Department is designating the following entities pursuant to section 1(a)(vii) of E.O. 14024 for being owned or controlled by or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, the Government of the Russian Federation:
ROSSIYA SEGODNYA is a Russian state-owned and state-funded broadcast agency headquartered in Moscow. Individuals affiliated with ROSSIYA SEGODNYA coordinated with the Kremlin to attempt to foment unrest in Moldova, likely with the specific aim of causing protests to turn violent.
AUTONOMOUS NON PROFIT ORGANIZATION TV-NOVOSTI (TV-NOVOSTI) is a federally funded organization associated with ROSSIYA SEGODNYA and controls the RT media channel. Elements within TV-NOVOSTI and RT, working with the Russian Government, have planned to interfere in the upcoming Moldovan presidential election.


TV-NOVOSTI is also being designated pursuant to section 1(a)(ii)(B) of E.O. 14024 for being responsible for or complicit in, or having directly or indirectly engaged or attempted to engage in, interference in a United States or other foreign government elections for or on behalf of, or for the benefit of, directly or indirectly, the Government of the Russian Federation.


Pursuant to section 1(A)(iii)(C) of E.O. 14024, 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 ROSSIYA SEGODNYA:
DIMTRY KONSTANTINOVICH KISELEV (KISELEV) has been the Director General of ROSSIYA SEGODNYA since 2013.


These designations follow those of our allies and partners who have previously imposed sanctions on ROSSIYA SEGODNYA and TV-NOVOSTI respectively.
Targeting a Scheme to Undermine Moldova’s Electoral Processes


In response to Russia’s continued efforts to undermine Moldovan democracy and interfere in Moldova’s electoral processes, the Department is imposing additional sanctions on a critical avenue of Russia’s malign influence in Moldova.


The Department is designating the following entity and individual pursuant to section 1(a)(i) of E.O. 14024 for operating or having operated in the financial services sector of the Russian Federation economy:
AVTONOMNAYA NEKOMMERCHESKAYA ORGANIZATSIYA SODEYSTVIYA RAZVITIYU MEZHDUNARODNOVO SOTRUDNICHESTVA EVRAZIYA (ANO EVRAZIYA)
NELLI ALEKSEYEVNA PARUTENKO (PARUTENKO)


ANO EVRAZIYA and PARUTENKO are responsible for a scheme supporting the malign influence efforts of SHOR. PARUTENKO is the General Director of ANO EVRAZIYA and the former treasurer of the U.S.-designated SHOR PARTY. ANO EVRAZIYA, with PARUTENKO at the helm, executed a scheme to move money via U.S.-designated PROMSVYAZBANK PUBLIC JOINT STOCK COMPANY (PROMSVYAZBANK) into Moldova to buy votes to influence the upcoming Moldovan elections.