KYIV – U.S. President Barack Obama in his State of the Union (SOTU) address to the U.S. Congress on January 12 chose questionable words relating to Ukraine, saying it, like Syria, is being propped up by Russia.
Speaking about threats faced by the U.S. and the world, Mr. Obama said: “Even as their economy severely contracts, Russia is pouring resources in to prop up Ukraine and Syria – client states they saw slipping away from their orbit.” According to various news media reports, apparently the word “client” was a departure from the president’s prepared text, which referred to “states,” not “client states.”
The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America reacted with a statement released on January 13, noting, “In his final State of the Union address, President Obama got it wrong when it came to Ukraine. … When it came time to mention Ukraine, a long-time strategic partner of the United States, President Obama once again demonstrated a shocking ignorance of foreign policy hotspots in his biggest address to the nation.”
The UCCA said it “is outraged by the description of Ukraine used in the State of the Union address. To be clear, Russia is not propping up Ukraine; the Russian Federation is destabilizing Ukraine. Nor did Ukraine ‘slip away from Russia’s orbit’; the people of Ukraine made up their own minds with regards to national policy, including their open and democratic decision to demand basic human rights, journalistic and economic freedoms and closer integration with Europe during the Revolution of Dignity.”
For observers and experts on foreign relations, Mr. Obama’s choice of words was a puzzle, as Voice of America noted.
Below are some of the tweets on the issue.
• Rep. Peter Roskam (PeterRoskam): Calling our friend and ally #Ukraine a Russian “client state” shows an alarming lack of understanding of geopolitical realities. #LastSOTU
• Casey Michel (cjcmichel): Maybe this is why Obama vetoed prominent Cabinet support – Kerry, Biden, Carter, etc. – For helping arm Ukraine.
• Christopher Miller (ChristopherJM): In #SOTU, Obama says “#Russia is pouring resources in to prop up #Ukraine.” Misspoke? B/c Moscow is def trying to destabilize Ukraine.
• Ambassador Steven Pifer (steven_pifer): POTUS: #Russia “is pouring resources in to prop up #Ukraine.” Odd line. More like Moscow pouring resources in to destabilize Ukraine. #SOTU
• Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times (NickKristof): “Russia is pouring resources to prop up Ukraine”? Hello? More like pouring resources to destabilize Ukraine.
David J. Kramer of The McCain Institute for International Leadership wrote: “…does President Obama really think Ukraine is a ‘client state’ of Russia? That would be news to the vast majority of Ukrainians, nearly 10,000 of whom have sacrificed their lives to fend off Russian aggression in the past two years. And what money is Russia pumping into Ukraine to prop it up? Absolutely none. Instead, Russia has invested in destabilizing its neighbor as much as possible, to make it unappealing to the West. The president owes Ukrainians an apology.”
In an apparent reaction to such criticism, a senior U.S. administration official told RFE/RL on January 13 that Mr. Obama “was referring in his remarks to Russia’s previous long-term efforts to bolster the regime of former President Yanukovych as a way to prevent Ukraine from pursuing further integration with Europe.” Viktor Yanukovych fled from Ukraine to Russia nearly two years ago, in February 2014.
Later in his address, President Obama referred to Ukraine in an additional sentence. He said: “When we help Ukraine defend its democracy, or Colombia resolve a decades-long war, that strengthens the international order we depend on.”
Officials in Ukraine were quick to stress that Obama’s wording should not be taken as a sign that U.S. policy on Ukraine has shifted, RFE/RL reported.
“It is important to make the right emphasis in assessing this comment,” Svitlana Zalishchuk, a member of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada’s Foreign Affairs Committee, told RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service. “This is an error on the expression level, a failed impromptu. It shouldn’t be considered as the position of the U.S. president on Ukraine.”
Ms. Zalishchuk noted that the president mentioned Ukraine twice in the speech, saying in the second reference that U.S. support for Ukraine and other countries transitioning to democracy helped make the world more stable.
Ostap Semerak, first vice-chairman of the parliamentary Committee for European Integration, also emphasized Mr. Obama’s statement of support for Ukraine and his criticism of Moscow.
“Obama says [the United States] is helping Ukraine defend democracy,” Mr. Semerak said. “And that this strengthens the international order that was established after World War II. When Obama mentions this order, he talks about Russia and its aggressive policies. Ukraine is viewed as trying to maintain the system of peace that was formed after World War II and as opposed to Russia’s bid to establish a new world order based on aggression.”
Sources: Ukrinform, UCCA, Twitter, Facebook, RFE/RL.