Pavlo Klimkin: Trump's Cabinet understands what Russia actually is

The U.S. Presidential Administration is well aware of what Russia actually is. Such conviction was expressed by Pavlo Klimkin, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine during the debates within the 10th Kyiv Security Forum, organized by the Arseniy Yatsenyuk Foundation Open Ukraine.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister underlined that any discussions with Russia can only be carried out from a position of strength. "Secondly, today's Russia can not be trusted fundamentally. And any cases with Russia whether they are situational or not should be conducted solely on the basis of these two points of view", he stressed.

According to Pavlo Klimkin, this position is substantiated by statements of many American officials. "I had an opportunity to talk with the Secretary of State, the new National Security Adviser, with a number of people from the new U.S. Administration, and I believe that it was a very consistent signal. And I believe that they understand with what kind of Russia they deal with", the diplomat noted.

He did not assess how unified the vision of global processes within Donald Trump’s Cabinet is, but he stressed that the attitude towards Ukraine is clearly defined. "At least we see powerful and related actions regarding us", Pavlo Klimkin said.

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Kyiv Security Forum was launched by the Arseniy Yatsenyuk Foundation Open Ukraine in 2007 is an annual international event to high-level discussions on the current issues in the Black Sea region and wider Europe. The Forum aims at increasing security cooperation between the EU and the Black Sea region, raising awareness about regional developments among key regional players, promoting the role of independent and non-governmental actors in setting the security agenda in Europe.