U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland has declined to comment on an audio recording of her telephone conversation with U.S. Ambassador in Kyiv Geoffrey Pyatt, which was released on YouTube.
She said at a press conference in Kyiv on Friday that she would not comment, as this was a private, diplomatic conversation.
Speaking about the impact of this conversation on U.S. relations with Russia, Nuland said that the two countries have a very deep and complex relationship and that they had been working on various issues.
In particular, she said, the United States and Russia are working a lot on issues related to Iran, Syria, and arms control.
She said that the United States was in talks with Russia regarding the situation in Ukraine and that all sides – Americans, Russians, and all of Ukraine’s neighbors – were interested in a stable, peaceful and democratic Ukraine. She also said that the United States was working on this, and expressed hope that Russia was working in this direction too.
