“We cannot accept the inciting of a new war and celebrate the conquest of Ukrainian territories, and watch as the Russian army flexes its muscles during a parade in Moscow. This nascent Russian aggression and post-Soviet imperialism is the biggest threat to today’s Europe.”
– Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, speaking in an interview with the Polish press agency.
“…I was privileged to brief all of our NATO colleagues on the meetings held yesterday in Sochi with President [Vladimir] Putin and Foreign Minister [Sergey] Lavrov. I think there was strong agreement among all of the NATO members that this is a critical moment for action by Russia, by the separatists, to live up to the Minsk agreement. And that it is critical to be able to get the OSCE into areas of conflict, it is important to end the conflict in those areas, particularly Shyrokyne. They need to try to come to an agreement on a ceasefire. We need to see the full implementation of Minsk, and I think everybody here is united in the notion that our preference is not to have sanctions, but the sanctions will be there in an effort to try to secure the peace that everybody wants in Ukraine.
“There’s unanimity among all of the members here in the urgency of the Minsk agreement being fully implemented, and that means that the reforms, the election process, the working groups, this is an enormous moment of opportunity for the conflict there to find a path of certainty and resolution. And we hope very, very much that President Putin, Russia, the separatists will come together to work with the government of Ukraine in order to fully implement it and make progress. …”
– U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, in a statement to the press at the NATO Ministerial meeting in Antalya, Turkey, on May 13.
“As we commemorate this moment [the 70th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day], we cannot overlook that Russia is testing the values and institutions of the post-war world. In eastern Ukraine, they’re doing more than violating the borders of one country. They are threatening the principles on which the trans-Atlantic partnership was founded and upon which the international order we seek to build depends. Among those principles, that the borders and territorial integrity of a sovereign state cannot be changed by force; that it is the inherent right of citizens in a democracy to determine their country’s future; that linguistic nationalism, something we thought was confined to history, must not be allowed to be resurrected; and that all members of the international community are bound by common rules and should face costs if they don’t live up to the solemn commitments that they make. These principles emerged as key lessons of World War II and formed the foundation of the transatlantic community in the hope that never again would the horrors of war return to Europe.”
– U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken speaking on May 8 in a telephonic press briefing with European journalists.