New Charter, providing lethal weapons, and russian gas—results of meeting of US Secretary of State with Ukrainian delegation

Author

Olga Krotovska

On November 10, Washington hosted a meeting of the Ukraine-US Strategic Partnership Commission. Following its result, the United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the head of the Ukrainian delegation—Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba signed a new 10-year Charter, discussed issues of Russian aggression and energy security. publishes the highlights.

Strategic Partnership Charter

The new Charter was signed by the parties to replace the previous one of 2008.

"The document cements American policy for years to come and completely removes all concerns. US support for Ukraine will remain absolutely unshakable for at least the next ten years."

Dmytro Kuleba

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine

Dmytro Kuleba

Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine

The main principles of the new Charter include:

the United States support of Ukraine in its opposition to aggression from Russia, non-recognition of the Ukrainian Crimea annexation and the occupation of Donetsk and Luhansk regions,
enhanced cooperation on defense and energy security issues,
support of the Ukrainian aspirations for membership in NATO and the European Union,
positive assessment of important reforms in Ukraine,
support of the economic transformation of Ukraine.

Security sector

Following the results of the meeting, the US Secretary of State said that the United States would continue to support Ukraine in its opposition to the Russian aggression.

"On security assistance, we will work with Congress to ensure the continued supply of the systems that Ukraine needs, including lethal defense weapons," he said.

Blinken also noted that the United States was closely monitoring the concentration of the Russian forces near the Ukrainian border and stated that such actions by Moscow were of great concern to the United States.

Energy security

Blinken informed that Washington continues to explore the possibility of "ensuring the security of energy supplies to Ukraine, including providing new funding."

The US Secretary of State stressed that Washington would continue to adhere to its previous position and would take the promised measures if Russia began to use gas as a weapon against Ukraine.

However, during a briefing on the results of the meeting, Blinken noted that he did not believe that the Russian side had already started resorting to this and had not "crossed the border" yet. According to him, the "red line" is a complete halt of gas transit by Moscow through Ukrainian territory.

"Russia has already used gas as a weapon before, and now we are keeping eyes on possible signs that it plans to do it again... As soon as Russia uses gas as a weapon, we, as well as Germany, will be ready to take decisive steps," he stated.

Kuleba did not agree with Blinken's words. The Head of the Ukrainian MFA stressed that "Russia is already using gas as a weapon." He stressed that the United States and European partners should give the Kremlin a clear signal that such actions are unacceptable.

Context. According to a five-year transit contract between Moscow and Kyiv, starting from 2019, Gazprom guarantees the transportation of 65 billion cubic meters of gas in the first year and 40 billion for the next four years on an equal schedule of deliveries on the "pump or pay" basis.

Accordingly, in 2021, the daily volume of gas pumped is about 109 million cubic meters.

After launching gas supplies to Hungary through the TurkStream on October 1, Gazprom's gas pumping through Ukraine dropped to 89 million cubic meters per day in October.