Washington, December 5 - U.S. Department of State spokesperson Marie Harf has said she didn't not agree with a statement made by Russian President Vladimir Putin that the West is pursuing the policy of deterrence with respect to Russia.
“I would clearly not agree with that statement. This isn’t about the West. This is about the people of Ukraine, including Crimea, getting to pick who represents them and getting to pick their future, not having Russia pick it for them,” she said at a briefing on Dec. 4.
On Dec. 4, Putin said in his address to the Federal Assembly: “The policy of deterrence was not invented yesterday…. Every time somebody decides that Russia is too strong and independent these instruments are used immediately.”
According to Harf, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said earlier that in the Ukrainian question “there is a diplomatic off-ramp here for Russia.”
“If Russia takes steps to live up to its obligations, to pull its folks out of eastern Ukraine, to implement Minsk fully and stop stonewalling on parts of it, then there’s a path forward here,” she said.
She said that “the [U.S.] President and the Secretary have spoken at length about this issue, about the fact that we don’t want this kind of relationship with Russia, but the relationship we have today is a direct result of Russian activity, of Russian incursions into eastern Ukraine – moving tanks, moving people, moving weapons.”
“So the relationship we have today is because Russia has chosen to go down a certain path,” Harf said.
However, she stated that the U.S. was ready to continue cooperation with Russia on a number of problems.
“We disagree on, I think, some fundamental principles here that we will consistently stand up for, but there are areas where we can work together. And I’m not going to get in a back-and-forth, I think, with President Putin over an address he gave. What we’re focused on is working together when we can and making clear when we’re unhappy,” she said.
