July 26, 2018 (The Washington Post) President
Donald Trump’s top national security aides sought to fend off accusations the
president is too soft on Russia by declaring Wednesday that the U.S. will never
recognize the annexation of Crimea and by postponing a second proposed summit
between Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
As Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo prepared to face questions about last week’s Trump-Putin
meeting from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the White House said Trump
had opted against trying to meet with Putin this fall, as had been announced,
and would instead wait until 2019. National security adviser John Bolton cited
special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the
2016 election as the reason for the delay.
“The President
believes that the next bilateral meeting with President Putin should take place
after the Russia witch hunt is over, so we’ve agreed that it will be after the
first of the year,” Bolton said. The White House said last week that Trump had
directed Bolton to invite Putin to Washington for a meeting in the fall. This
came amid the backlash over Trump’s performance at a news conference with Putin
following their Helsinki summit, and many members of Congress had objected to
them meeting again in the fall.
In the meantime, Pompeo issued a statement titled the “Crimea
Declaration” in which he said the U.S. will continue to insist that Ukraine’s
territorial integrity be restored. He said the U.S. would hold to its
long-standing principle of refusing to recognize Kremlin claims of sovereignty
over territory seized by force in violation of international law. And he called
for Russia to respect principles it claims to respect and “end its occupation
of Crimea.”
Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo arrives to testify before the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, July 25, 2018, during a
hearing on diplomacy and national security. (Susan Walsh/Associated Press)
“In concert
with allies, partners, and the international community, the United States
rejects Russia’s attempted annexation of Crimea and pledges to maintain this
policy until Ukraine’s territorial integrity is restored,” Pompeo said in the
declaration, which was released by the State Department shortly before he was
to testify.
Pompeo is
expected to face tough questioning from committee members about Trump’s summit
with Putin. Trump has suggested that U.S. opposition to Russia’s annexation of
Crimea could be reconsidered.
In the declaration, Pompeo took Russia to task for it actions in
Ukraine, particularly the 2014 annexation of Crimea. Russia has defended its
move, saying Crimean voters approved the annexation in a referendum. The U.S.
and its European allies have said the referendum was illegal as it was held
without the consent of the government in Kiev and was conducted in a highly
flawed manner.
“Through its
actions, Russia has acted in a manner unworthy of a great nation and has chosen
to isolate itself from the international community,” Pompeo said in the
statement.
Even before the
statement was released, Pompeo was taking a tough line on Russia and defending
the Trump-Putin meeting as he prepared for his Senate testimony.
In an
interview transcript released ahead of the Crimea statement, Pompeo said Trump
and Putin “didn’t find much place to agree” on Ukraine when they met in Finland
last week. He said Trump made clear to Putin that the so-called Minsk Accords
to settle the Ukraine conflict is the right path forward.
He also reiterated U.S. support for an investigation that held Russia
responsible for downing a Malaysian airliner over east Ukraine in 2014. Pompeo
said that what the Russians did was “deeply immoral” and that those responsible
for the MH17 disaster should be held accountable.
Pompeo made
the comments in a Tuesday interview with the Australian Broadcasting
Corporation in California, where he and Defense Secretary James Mattis
co-hosted meetings this week with their Australian counterparts. The interview
was a likely preview of his Senate testimony, which comes as lawmakers are
seeking answers on what the two leaders may have agreed to in Helsinki. The
White House and State Department have been vague when pressed for specifics.
In the
interview, Pompeo acknowledged that he was not in the room when Trump and Putin
met for nearly two hours in Helsinki. But he said he had a “good understanding”
of what took place based on his presence at a larger meeting between the two
sides as well as conversations with Trump and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey
Lavrov.
