Ukraine has become Putin's biggest failure - U.S. official

Christopher Robinson, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, said this in an interview with Austrian newspaper Wiener Zeitung.

"Without the implementation of the Minsk Agreements there will be no improvement in relations. Ukraine was Putin's biggest failure. If it was his intention to prevent Ukraine from coming to the pro-western orbit, then with his aggression against Kyiv he achieved exactly the opposite result – Kyiv set a clear pro-western course. Ukraine made a decision in favor of Europe and against Russia," the U.S. diplomat said, when asked about Ukraine's role in relations between the United States and Russia.

He added that the best way to thwart Russia's goals in Ukraine is to jointly help Ukraine achieve economic and political success.

Robinson added that, on the whole, the list of Putin's failures is "very long." It includes, in particular, the failed attempt of a coup in Montenegro, an ineffective attempt to undermine negotiations between North Macedonia and Greece, he said.

According to Robinson, the Russian president is "against our system, against our values, against the European architecture of collective systems of cooperation."

Separately, the U.S. diplomat also commented on the construction by Russia of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which, he said, will increase Europe's dependence on Russian energy resources and slow down Europe's transition to alternative energy.

"Increasing Europe's dependence on Russia's energy supply is not a good idea. Russia is not a reliable partner. Moreover, Nord Stream 2 will slow down Europe's movement towards alternative energy. In short, Nord Stream is not in the European interest. This project should not be viewed through the economic prism, but from the geopolitical perspective," Robinson said.

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