It was not a great day for the EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas at the May 28 informal meeting in Cyprus of foreign ministers from various EU countries. Perhaps upset that Washington had not signed on to the EU drive earlier in the week, condemning Russia for its warning that embassy officials should depart Kiev, Kallas declared that Washington lacked the courage to stay in Kiev. As quoted by European Pravda news site, she stated: “Also, what we heard from Ukraine yesterday was that all the embassies stayed except one. So that also takes courage from those embassies. But yes, all the Europeans stayed. America left.”
The U.S. Embassy in Kiev then posted a swift response: “There are no changes to our operations and reports otherwise are false.”
Rather than Kallas acknowledging or explaining, the official transcript of Kallas’ comments was simply altered to pretend she never said any such thing that “America left.” However, to be fair, there was an added note that the transcript had been “updated with a correction with regard to the diplomatic presence in Kiev.” Separately, a non-explanation was provided by Kallas’ spokesperson Anitta Hipper, who told NBC News that “this was a misunderstanding. See the correction posted.”
On the agenda otherwise, there were various calls by EU foreign ministers to at least agree upon someone to open discussions with Moscow. Austrian Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger said that “this is very much what Ukraine expects: that the EU should now get ready.” Finland’s Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen said her country’s President Alexander Stubb could be a good option, while Luxembourg’s top diplomat, Xavier Bettel, said he would float the name of ex-EU chief Jean-Claude Juncker.
