NATO Supports Kiev’s Putschist Regime, Trump Signals It

During a joint news conference in Brussels with Ukraine’s illegitimate prime minister Volodymr Groysman, NATO Deputy Secretary-General Rose Gottemoeller said all alliance member states “express strong support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

“NATO st(ands) by Ukraine. This will not change.” Gottemoeller blasted (nonexistent) “Russia(n) aggressive actions,” adding:

“NATO does not, and will not, recognize the illegal annexation of Crimea, and we condemn Russia’s continuing destabilization of eastern Ukraine.”

Separately, in a letter to Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, Trump said “(y)our support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, as well as your efforts to increase energy diversification (meaning less dependency on Russian gas), advance our shared goal to enhance European and regional security” – indicating support for Kiev’s putschist regime short of Gottenmoeller’s hateful anti-Russia Big Lies.

Trump so far said little on Ukraine – other than expressing a willingness with Moscow, Kiev, and “all other parties to help them restore peace along the border” – not a clear pronouncement of US policy, though encouraging by not accusing Russia of aggression it never committed or intends.

Nor did he mention Crimea, official Russian territory, mistakenly transferred to Ukraine in 1954 by Nikita Krushchev. Crimeans overwhelmingly voted to correct the historic error. Putin accommodated them, a justifiable action.

Nearly two weeks ago, Kiev resumed naked aggression on Donbass. Large-scale troop deployments and heavy weapons near its border suggest a likely upcoming major offensive.

Trump said his respect for Putin as Russia’s leader won’t affect his foreign policy.

Both leaders may meet later this year in neutral territory. Putin said Slovenia would be a good location in response to its President Borut Pahor offering the country’s capital Ljubljana as a venue. Trump’s wife Melania emigrated to America from Slovenia.

In 2001, GW Bush and Putin met there, the US president afterwards saying he looked Putin in the eye and got “a sense of his soul.”

It didn’t help future bilateral relations, especially under Obama. What Trump intends remains unclear.