The US did “not enough” in 2014 to stop the war in Ukraine and restore peace, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said during the international Black Sea Security Forum.
“I’m sorry that more wasn’t done in 2014, that more wasn’t done in 2022, that we lost deterrence. And now our task is to bring things back to stability. I was involved in the Minsk talks, we sat at that table (negotiations – ed.) many times, and there was no ‘hammer’, there was no leverage,” the former US Secretary of State said.
Pompeo emphasised that there were “other times” then and Russian aggression was “not as massive”, but “if you look at the documents discussed during the Minsk talks, I’m sure – they are almost identical to what is being talked about now”.
“And this should remind all of us: when Putin (Russian President Vladimir Putin – ed.) puts aside weapons for a moment – you can’t go back to Russian gas. When he puts his weapons away – you can’t live the way you used to live,” Pompeo emphasised.