The State Department’s top official for Europe apologized today after being caught making a crude and dismissive remark about the European Union, one of America’s top allies.
A leaked phone call posted on YouTube caught Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland saying “f–k the EU” while speaking with U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt.
Nuland used the expletive while complaining that the European Union hasn’t done enough to get Ukraine to break an agreement with Russia and instead sign on to a trade agreement with Europe.
Dmitry Loskutov, an aid to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, tweeted, “Sort of controversial judgment from Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland speaking about the EU.”
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said today that Nuland has apologized for the remark.
Psaki would not say to whom Nuland apologized.
The four-minute conversation was about a Jan. 25 offer by Ukranian President Viktor Yanukovich to two opposition leaders, who want him to sign the EU deal, to become prime minister and deputy prime minister.
Nuland said she wanted one of the two leaders to join the government, but that another was too inexperienced and should stay outside officialdom.
Asked if Nuland’s expletives reflected a wider frustration within the State Department towards the EU, Psaki said she had a certain comfort level with expletives.