Prior to assuming her current role as Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, Karen Donfried was president of the German Marshall Fund of the U.S., a prominent “Euro-Atlantic,” NATO-expansion organization. Prior to that she was Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for European Affairs on the National Security Council during the Barack Obama administration and National Intelligence Officer for Europe on the National Intelligence Council. She previously worked in the State Department from 2003-2005.
NATO to consider options for responding to Russia’s military activity near Ukraine’s border
Next week, NATO countries will consider options for responding to the Russia’s “large and unusual” troop buildup near Ukraine’s border. This was stated on Friday by the chief diplomat of the US State Department’s top diplomat for European affairs Karen Donfried…
“As you can appreciate, all options are on the table and there’s a toolkit that includes a whole range of options,” Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs told reporters in a telephone briefing.
According to her, the NATO alliance will decide on the next move following consultations next week. Donfried added that a “large and unusual” build-up of Russian troops will be the main topic of the agenda of the NATO and OSCE summits in early December.
Next week, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will visit Latvia and Sweden to attend meetings of representatives of NATO countries and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
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Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen Donfried on the Secretary’s Upcoming Travel to Latvia and Sweden
November 26, 2021
[On] Monday the Secretary will first travel to Riga, Latvia, and he will meet there with Latvia’s president, Latvia’s prime minister, as well as the foreign minister. This will give the Secretary the chance to strengthen our bilateral ties and also discuss our commitment to European and Baltic security. A key focus will be how we can work together in responding to challenges like Belarus and Russia, and other topics such as economic cooperation and Holocaust issues.
***
While in Riga, the Secretary will participate in the NATO foreign ministerial, where he will reiterate the United States’s steadfast commitment to NATO and to our solemn Article 5 commitment. I expect ministers will discuss the important opportunities and challenges the alliance faces, in particular, Russia’s large and unusual troop movements near Ukraine. We’ll also work to update NATO’s Strategic Concept by next summer’s summit….
Secretary Blinken will engage with Secretary-General Stoltenberg to underscore the importance of strengthening transatlantic unity and working together with allies to address the range of challenges in today’s threat environment – from support for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.
***
The Secretary will raise specific concerns once again highlighting Russia’s ongoing aggression in eastern Ukraine and occupation of both Ukrainian and Georgian sovereign territory, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and events both in and emanating from Belarus.
***
We saw Russia illegally annex part of Ukraine’s sovereign territory when it occupied Crimea, and since that, we have seen ongoing violence in eastern Ukraine. So whenever we see something out of the ordinary, we are concerned, and this is why we’ve been talking with allies and partners over recent weeks and why we want to continue this conversation at NATO.
And to your question about NATO could do, this will be the topic of conversation when the Secretary is together with his NATO Allies next week. And I don’t want to prejudge what’ll come out of those conversations, but I know that we see this as an important opportunity for the alliance to show its cohesion and unity at this particular moment.
***
We are in touch with the Ukrainian Government to discuss this further, and we’re working to obtain additional information. So that’s where we are right now. We are just engaging with our Ukrainian partners on this. And I think you’re aware that there will be a meeting on both Ukraine and Georgia next week during the NATO foreign ministerial, and that will give us another opportunity also to engage with our Ukrainian partners on this.
***
So I think that there are various ways to deter Russia, but in a NATO context, the ability of NATO to show allied cohesion when we perceive threats in the European and Euro-Atlantic neighborhood is a fundamental strength the United States has. The fact that we have countries that are allies that share fundamental values with us, share a similar threat perception and come together to meet those threats is something that we all know President Biden and the administration value deeply.
***
[The] question about how do we bolster NATO’s borders – as you know, we have been doing this for seven years now. Enhanced forward presence is a key part of that. There are many other elements of it as well. And I do think this is a conversation we continually have at NATO, which is: Does our – is our force posture aligned with the threats that we perceive? And I’m going to put a plug in here for NATO’s Strategic Concept, which is a slightly longer-term project. But we will be having a serious conversation about that strategic concept when foreign ministers meet next week in the run-up to NATO’s summit next June in Madrid. And it’s really about posturing the alliance for the 21st century and making sure that we are deployed in a way that meets today’s challenges….
[Regarding a] question about permanent troops on NATO’s eastern flank. As you know, the way we talk about our force posture on NATO’s eastern flank is we talk about a persistent presence, and that is where we are today. There is a global force posture review underway, and I will refer you to the Pentagon for that.
***
…I had the opportunity to participate in the Bucharest Nine ministerial a few weeks ago, and that was a really wonderful opportunity for me representing the Secretary and the administration to hear directly from our eastern flank allies about their perception of the threat. And I will say I think those eastern flank allies very much appreciate enhanced forward presence that NATO has deployed, and I do think we will continue to revisit and evaluate how we are postured on NATO’s eastern borders.
***
What we’re doing now is monitoring the region closely, consult with our allies and partners on how do we deter Russian action. I mean, ideally that is what we want to be doing right now, is we would not want to see any Russian military incursion into Ukraine. And this is also why we continue to repeat a mantra that I will repeat right now – I haven’t done it in response to the previous question, but I think it’s really important that the United States continue to say that we support Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders, extending to its territorial waters. That commitment is unwavering, and that is a commitment that I believe every NATO Ally shares.
Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Karen Donfried on the Secretary’s Upcoming Travel to Latvia and Sweden
November 26, 2021
[On] Monday the Secretary will first travel to Riga, Latvia, and he will meet there with Latvia’s president, Latvia’s prime minister, as well as the foreign minister. This will give the Secretary the chance to strengthen our bilateral ties and also discuss our commitment to European and Baltic security. A key focus will be how we can work together in responding to challenges like Belarus and Russia, and other topics such as economic cooperation and Holocaust issues.
000
While in Riga, the Secretary will participate in the NATO foreign ministerial, where he will reiterate the United States’s steadfast commitment to NATO and to our solemn Article 5 commitment. I expect ministers will discuss the important opportunities and challenges the alliance faces, in particular, Russia’s large and unusual troop movements near Ukraine. We’ll also work to update NATO’s Strategic Concept by next summer’s summit….
Secretary Blinken will engage with Secretary-General Stoltenberg to underscore the importance of strengthening transatlantic unity and working together with allies to address the range of challenges in today’s threat environment – from support for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.
000
The Secretary will raise specific concerns once again highlighting Russia’s ongoing aggression in eastern Ukraine and occupation of both Ukrainian and Georgian sovereign territory, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and events both in and emanating from Belarus.
000
We saw Russia illegally annex part of Ukraine’s sovereign territory when it occupied Crimea, and since that, we have seen ongoing violence in eastern Ukraine. So whenever we see something out of the ordinary, we are concerned, and this is why we’ve been talking with allies and partners over recent weeks and why we want to continue this conversation at NATO.
And to your question about NATO could do, this will be the topic of conversation when the Secretary is together with his NATO Allies next week. And I don’t want to prejudge what’ll come out of those conversations, but I know that we see this as an important opportunity for the alliance to show its cohesion and unity at this particular moment.
000
We are in touch with the Ukrainian Government to discuss this further, and we’re working to obtain additional information. So that’s where we are right now. We are just engaging with our Ukrainian partners on this. And I think you’re aware that there will be a meeting on both Ukraine and Georgia next week during the NATO foreign ministerial, and that will give us another opportunity also to engage with our Ukrainian partners on this.
000
So I think that there are various ways to deter Russia, but in a NATO context, the ability of NATO to show allied cohesion when we perceive threats in the European and Euro-Atlantic neighborhood is a fundamental strength the United States has. The fact that we have countries that are allies that share fundamental values with us, share a similar threat perception and come together to meet those threats is something that we all know President Biden and the administration value deeply.
000
[The] question about how do we bolster NATO’s borders – as you know, we have been doing this for seven years now. Enhanced forward presence is a key part of that. There are many other elements of it as well. And I do think this is a conversation we continually have at NATO, which is: Does our – is our force posture aligned with the threats that we perceive? And I’m going to put a plug in here for NATO’s Strategic Concept, which is a slightly longer-term project. But we will be having a serious conversation about that strategic concept when foreign ministers meet next week in the run-up to NATO’s summit next June in Madrid. And it’s really about posturing the alliance for the 21st century and making sure that we are deployed in a way that meets today’s challenges….
[Regarding a] question about permanent troops on NATO’s eastern flank. As you know, the way we talk about our force posture on NATO’s eastern flank is we talk about a persistent presence, and that is where we are today. There is a global force posture review underway, and I will refer you to the Pentagon for that.
000
…I had the opportunity to participate in the Bucharest Nine ministerial a few weeks ago, and that was a really wonderful opportunity for me representing the Secretary and the administration to hear directly from our eastern flank allies about their perception of the threat. And I will say I think those eastern flank allies very much appreciate enhanced forward presence that NATO has deployed, and I do think we will continue to revisit and evaluate how we are postured on NATO’s eastern borders.
000
What we’re doing now is monitoring the region closely, consult with our allies and partners on how do we deter Russian action. I mean, ideally that is what we want to be doing right now, is we would not want to see any Russian military incursion into Ukraine. And this is also why we continue to repeat a mantra that I will repeat right now – I haven’t done it in response to the previous question, but I think it’s really important that the United States continue to say that we support Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders, extending to its territorial waters. That commitment is unwavering, and that is a commitment that I believe every NATO Ally shares.
Anti-bellum 