Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland expressed a verbally aggressive disregard for the European Union during a conversation that was anonymously leaked on YouTube Tuesday.
Nuland was in the middle of a conversation with Geoffrey Pyatt, the U.S. ambassador to the Ukraine, that was anonymously recorded, with early speculation leaning toward Russia. As a former spokeswoman for the State Department, Nuland’s voice is easily recognizable, and the department has not denied the allegation.
During the call, Nuland criticizes the E.U.’s response to the Ukrainian protests that have left at least four people dead after the ex-Soviet state turned down an E.U. association agreement for a Russian offer.
Nuland tells Pyatt she’s in favor of a United Nations plan to send an envoy to deal with the crisis.
“So that would be great I think to help glue this thing and to have the U.N. glue it. And, you know, fuck the E.U.,” Nuland said.
“Oh exactly, and I think we’ve got to do something to make it stick together, because you can be sure that if it does start to gain altitude the Russians will be working behind the scenes to torpedo it,” Pyatt responds.
“I’m not going to comment on the content of, you know, private diplomatic conversations,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said during Thursday’s daily press briefing. “You know, I would say, since the video was first noted and tweeted out by the Russian government, I think it says something about Russia’s role. But the content of the conversation is not something I’m going to comment on.”