By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 21 --
Here's how
fast things
have moved in
diplomacy on
Ukraine: today
Presidents
Obama and
Putin had a
phone
conversation
which a Senior
US State
Department
Official
called
"positive" and
at the US'
initiative.
The official
said that Yanukovych
has gone on a
trip to
Kharkiv in his
eastern base
in the country,
"for some kind
of meeting
that's taking
place out
there," and
recounted a
rumor that the
deposed
interior
minister has
fled to
Belarus.
US State
Department
official
William Burns
will be
heading to
Ukraine; Vice
President Joe
Biden has
spoken nine
times with Yanukovych:
twice in
November, once
in December,
three times in
January and on
February 4, 18
and 20. Even
Defense
Secretary
Chuck Hagel
finally got
through to his
Ukraine's
counterpart,
Lebedev.
Amid the self-congratulation,
the United
Nations was
once again on
the margins.
The UN has
made much of
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's talk
with Yanukovych
at the Sochi
Olympics, and
another phone
call today.
But tellingly,
the Senior US
State Department
Official while
citing a "good
offices" role
for "the
international
community" did
not mention
the UN once,
in opening
remarks nor in
response to
the eight
questions
taken. (Two
were from the
New York
Times, the
second of
which referred
to Putin's
call with
"President Bush.")
An overly long
question from
Le Figaro was
cut off.
Back
on February 19
when
Lithuania's
foreign
minister Linas
Linkevieius
came to the UN
Security
Council
stakeout, 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. This
is the UN.
Moments
later
at the UN's
February 19
noon briefing,
outgoing UN
spokesperson
Martin Nesirky
was asked
about a
perceived
double
standards in
responses to
Bosnia and
Ukraine. (The
question was
echoed on
February 20,
comparing Ukraine
with Bahrain).
Nesirky 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 on
February 19
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.
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