On
Ukraine,
US Says Russia
Not
Transparent,
Lithuania
Calls for More
Coordination
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 19 --
When
Lithuania's
foreign
minister Linas
Linkevieius
came to the UN
Security
Council
stakeout late
on the morning
of
February 19,
about to head
to Ukraine,
that country
seemed to be
the
one to ask him
about. Inner
City Press
asked
Linkevieius
about his
visit to
Washington; he
replied among
other things
that there is
a
need for "more
coordination."
Video
here.
Later
on February 19
a US Senior
State
Department
Official told
the press
that "Russia
has not been
transparent
about what
they are doing
in Ukraine,"
citing that
Russia for
example does
not provide
read-outs of
its contacts
in Ukraine.
The US' own
high level
contacts have
gotten more
difficult:
"they are not
picking up
the phone,"
the official
said, adding
that three
European Union
foreign
ministers are
on their way.
Of the
four questions
Linkevieius
took at his UN
stakeout, one
was on
the UN's North
Korea report,
another on
Venezuela. A
Russian
reporter
waiting at the
stakeout with
his hand
raised was not
given a
question. Ah,
transparency.
Moments
later
at the UN noon
briefing,
outgoing UN
spokesperson
Martin
Nesirky was
asked about a
perceived
double
standards in
responses to
Bosnia and
Ukraine. He
said every
situation is
different --
of course
-- and also
said the UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon had
met for 90
minutes in
Sochi with
President
Yanukovych.
Ironically
the
US Senior
State
Department
Official was
asked about
Yanukovych
becoming more
hardline after
his visit to
Sochi. From
Foggy Bottom
to
Turtle Bay,
the view is
different --
in the case of
the UN, often
marginal and
self-serving.
For example,
Ban Ki-moon
gave no
read-out of
his beginning
of the year
call with the
president of
his native
South Korea.
Is
Jeffrey
Feltman going
to "get"
Ban Ki-moon to
send Robert
Serry, or
someone else,
to Ukraine
again?
Or as
Linkevicius
relied, will
there be "more
coordination"?
Watch this
site.
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