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10/11/2022 07:54 PM EDT
Ned Price, Department Spokesperson
Washington, D.C.
2:39 p.m. EDT
MR PRICE: Hello.
QUESTION: Hello.
MR PRICE: Good afternoon. Happy Tuesday. Very sorry for the delay today. It may be Tuesday, but it feels like a Monday. The good news is it is Jen McKewan’s birthday, so wish a happy birthday to Jennifer.
QUESTION: Happy Birthday. (Applause.)
MR PRICE: Let the transcript reflect the applause. (Laughter.)
MR PRICE: We have a couple items at the top, and then we’ll turn to your questions.
[] Yesterday and today’s horrific strikes against Ukraine again demonstrate the lows to which President Putin and his enablers will sink. These missiles hit playgrounds, universities, apartment buildings, and city streets during rush hour traffic. Kremlin spokespeople claim the attacks destroyed their intended targets. These are their words: they hit their intended targets. Try wrapping your minds around that for just a moment: playgrounds, schools, apartment buildings, city streets, intended targets.
They look to have been designed to destroy power grids, heating, and electrical infrastructure leaving Ukraine in the cold and the dark as winter approaches. We have always said this is a brutal war of aggression, and these strikes seem to suggest that brutality – and brutality alone – is the point. The Kremlin’s attacks were brutal and absolutely unjustified, but they are also signs of weakness and desperation.
As we’ve said, there is one aggressor in this war: it is Russia. Only Russia is escalating this war in search of profit and ambition, leaving death, destruction, atrocities, and countless trampled futures in its wake. There is one person who can stop this war now and withdraw Russia’s forces, and that of course is Vladimir Putin.
As we come up to another important United Nations vote to condemn Russia’s attempts to annex parts of Ukraine, the international community has a responsibility to make clear that President Putin’s actions are completely unacceptable. Ukraine, like every other sovereign country around the world, has the right to choose its own future and live peacefully inside its own internationally recognized borders.
And for the rest of the world, there can be no such things as neutrality for countries that subscribe to the principles of the UN Charter. This war is about Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, but in some ways the stakes are even larger. The core principles of the UN Charter are at stake.
[] Next, as you’ve heard from the President and as you soon will hear from the Secretary, today the Governments of Israel and Lebanon have announced consensus on a historic deal to end their maritime boundary dispute and establish a permanent maritime boundary between the two countries. This is a remarkable diplomatic achievement.
This monumental breakthrough in Middle East diplomacy promises to usher in a new era of regional cooperation while also promoting prosperity, security, and stability through unleashing vital energy resources to the world.
As we thank the leaders of Israel and Lebanon for their willingness to negotiate, and for U.S. Presidential Coordinator Hochstein’s leadership in bringing the parties together, we urge a quick finalization and implementation of the agreement to the benefit of the region and the world.
Today’s announcement is a testament to the President’s vision for the Middle East: one that is more secure, more integrated, and prosperous – an outcome achieved through diplomacy and cooperation.
It is also reflective of the transformative power of American diplomacy. Through active engagement, we were able to help bring about an outcome manifestly in the interest of Israel, Lebanon, the countries of the region, and those well beyond.
[] And finally, today, the United States recognizes the 10th anniversary for the International Day of the Girl Child. Suffice to say, ten years into recognizing this day, we are not where we should be or could be. Today, we recognize girls’ tremendous achievements and unique challenges they face.
Empowering girls is a priority for the United States, and that means we must prioritize their education, their future leadership, and the prevention and response to the disproportionate gender?based violence they face, including female genital mutilation and cutting, and child, early, and forced marriage.
The United Nations Children Fund reports up to 10 million additional girls will be at risk of child marriage and 2 million additional girls will be at risk of female genital mutilation due to the impacts of COVID?19. Last year, we issued the first ever U.S. National Strategy on Gender Equity and Equality to advance the rights and empowerments of women and girls in all their diversity. This year, we’ll release an action?oriented update to the U.S. Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Gender-Based Violence Globally. It will include an emphasis on girls, the unique risks they face, and their role as agents of change in preventing and responding to gender?based violence.
We also remain committed to the rights and empowerment of girls as evidenced through – as evident through our annual contribution to UNICEF and the UNFPA Joint Programme to End Female Genital Mutilation and Cutting through our ongoing core funding to UN Women and the Office of the UN Representative of the Secretary General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, including an additional $400,000 for the SRSG’s office that was – that the Deputy Secretary was pleased to announce just a few weeks ago during UNGA, and through support for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, the DREAMS Partnership, which support programs focused on economic – on economic strengthening, gender?based violence prevention, post?violence care, and sexual and reproductive health services.
Today, Deputy Secretary Sherman along with the Secretary’s Office of Global Woman’s Issues will host a small reception with Too Young to Wed, an organization whose mission, like ours, is designed to empower girls and put an end to gender-based violence.
With that, I’m happy to take your questions.
QUESTION: Great, thank you and welcome back.
MR PRICE: Thank you. It’s good to be here.
[]QUESTION: I’m sure we’ll return to Israel-Lebanon later in the briefing, but if that is – that deal is testament to the President’s vision for the Middle East, I’m wondering how the whole situation with Saudi Arabia right now fits into that vision. Because certainly calls from the Hill and the White House saying that it’s ready to recalibrate or looking at recalibrating the relationship don’t particularly bode well or necessarily bode well for that. So how – I know that they’re two completely different things, but the vision for the Middle East is a broader – is a broader thing. So what does it say about it (inaudible)?
MR PRICE: It is, and it says it’s a work in progress. When it comes to Saudi Arabia, we’ve had an occasion over the past several days especially to speak to our relationship with Saudi Arabia, but it’s really something that we’ve spoken to since the earliest days of this administration. You remember when this administration came into office we spoke of the need to recalibrate our relationship with Saudi Arabia in a way that serves our interests, those direct national interests, the interests we have in the region, the interests we in some instances share with the Saudis and other regional partners.
The President has been clear all along and actually going back to the time before he was elected president that we need a different sort of relationship with Saudi Arabia. I think the events of the last few days just put that in fairly stark relief. The decision last week on the part of OPEC to align itself and to align its energy policy with Russia’s war aims and against the interests of the American people, it underscores what we have said all along. It underscores what the President has said for years now.
To the proposals that we’ve heard from the Hill, from other corners, we are reviewing where we are. We’ll be watching very closely, talking to partners and stakeholders over the course of the next weeks and months. We’ll consult with allies. We’ll continue to consult with Congress. And the decisions on what that relationship should look like, how it might need to change, those are decisions that we’ll reach in a deliberative, consultative fashion. But just not going to get ahead of where we are now.
QUESTION: Well, based on the analysis so far, and presumably there has been some since it’s not like this OPEC decision was yesterday – it’s been several days now – based on the preliminary analysis at least, is there any way to recalibrate this relationship without it benefitting Iran?
MR PRICE: As I said, Matt, there are interests that we have in the region. That is the reason why America has been engaged in the region. That is the reason, the principal reason, why this administration has been so engaged in the region. There are security challenges, some of which emanate from Iran. Certainly, we won’t take our eye off the threat that Iran poses not only to the region but in some ways beyond. You have seen us, separate and apart from any single bilateral relationship we have with the region, respond and take action, in some cases multilaterally, in some cases unilaterally, against the malign actions and malign influence that Iran has perpetrated, that Iran has attempted to export throughout the region.
We are not going to cast aside any of the important tools that we need to wield to ensure that Iran does not pose a threat to American people, to American interests, and to our broader interests in the region. That certainly won’t change.
QUESTION: Okay. Well, that then suggests that the calls coming from some people in the Hill to cut off or suspend arms sales to Saudis are just a nonstarter for the administration.
MR PRICE: Matt, we – our north star, our guiding principle, will be to see to it that we have a relationship that serves our interests. This is not a bilateral relationship that has always served our interests. Since we came into office, we have sought to recalibrate it, to make changes to the relationship. And we’ve spoken to some of those changes that – some of which we took in the earliest days and weeks of the administration – but we are going to continue to consult with stakeholders, to consult with Congress, to consult with partners around the world, about what more we can and should do to see to it that this relationship is optimized in terms of how it can serve our interests.
QUESTION: Can I just follow up really quick on Matt’s question? Now, you said that OPEC lined up behind Putin – in essence, that’s what you said – and against the interests of the American people. Isn’t that really a little bit – I mean, it’s not the refinery’s fault, it is the reduction of OPEC production that is really putting Americans into some sort of a hardship in the gas stations out there?
MR PRICE: I didn’t hear the first part of your question.
QUESTION: Is that – okay. The first part of my question: You are saying that the decision of OPEC to reduce its production is what’s causing pain for the American people. And it’s not, let’s say, refineries that are inoperable, it’s not domestic issues, it’s not supply, chain supply, whatever it is. Is that what you’re saying?
MR PRICE: Our position, well before the decision that was announced last week and still to this day, is that energy supply needs to meet energy demand. That is the simplest rule of economics. It applies today, just as it has applied previously. But it is especially important today because of where we are in terms of the global economic recovery, a recovery that in some corners of the world is facing headwinds, facing head – continued headwinds from COVID, facing renewed headwinds from President Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Now, of course, we’re not a member of OPEC, but OPEC had an opportunity to take a step to see to it that supply better met demand. They chose not to do that. They chose to take a step that would not serve our interests, does not serve the longer-term interests of countries in the region, but it certainly serves the shorter-term interests of countries like Russia, a country that stands to gain, at least in the near term, from elevated oil prices.
But as we said last week, this is – this was a misguided decision. It was a deeply disappointing decision. And over the longer term, it is a decision that won’t work to the benefit of OPEC; it won’t work to the benefit of OPEC’s individual member countries. In fact, this will lead countries around the world who are not members of the cartel to take steps to become even more resilient, to become even more energy independent, to explore steps to lessen the grip that the OPEC cartel has on global energy prices. This was, to that end, a shortsighted decision that over the longer term won’t serve anyone’s interests.
QUESTION: Was – in retrospect, was the President’s trip in July or his visit to the GCC meeting in July, was it a mistake perhaps?
MR PRICE: It wasn’t a mistake, because – Said, as we’ve said all along, it was not about merely one interest. It was about a multiplicity of interests. The President’s visit to Jeddah was in the context of a GCC summit, GCC+3. There are a number of interests that we have with the GCC; there are a number of interests, shared interests, that we have with the Saudis. All of those – or at least many of those, I should say – were explored in the context of that GCC+3 engagement.
Now, what was a mistake, as we’ve said before, what was disappointing for us, what was shortsighted, was the decision that OPEC announced last week.
Humeyra.
QUESTION: Can I just move to a lateral? Russian foreign minister —
MR PRICE: Anything else on —
QUESTION: Can we stay —
QUESTION: Yeah, on —
MR PRICE: Let me take a couple final questions here. Leon.
QUESTION: Yeah, yeah. Can you say here now for sure that the administration would oppose any sort of legislation calling for cutting the arms or deals to Saudi Arabia? Are you in a position to say that? And then just a follow-up to that, has there been – there have been some reports that certain high-level meetings between the United States and the Saudis have been canceled. Is that correct? Can you confirm that?
MR PRICE: I’m just not going to weigh in on specific legislative proposals today. What I will say, what I already have said, is that we will engage very closely with Congress. There are members of Congress who have ideas about how we can change this relationship, how we can fashion this relationship into one that better serves America’s interests. We want to hear those ideas; we want to explore those ideas; we want to pressure-test those ideas. We’ll continue to consult with Congress; we’ll consult with our partners around the world. This is a process that will take place over the course of weeks and months, and it will be deliberate. It will be deliberative, and it will be consultative, as it should be.
When it comes to our engagement with the Saudis, I don’t have any meetings to confirm, I don’t have any meetings to speak to. I think you may be referring to reports that we have canceled certain engagements. I would expect that the multilateral, midlevel engagements you are referring to will be rescheduled at some point. And as you know, our travel plans and circumstances often change. We have to be responsive to that. They’ll be adjusted as we determine what’s in our national interest, as our engagement in the region needs to be. The President, as we said before, will review our bilateral relationship with the Saudis; he’ll review that with Congress. We’ll review it with countries around the world and take steps that we believe are in our interest.
Kylie.
QUESTION: Specific meetings aside, would you say that the U.S.-Saudi diplomatic relationship is unchanged today versus where it was before this OPEC oil decision was made?
MR PRICE: The decision that the OPEC member states, including Saudi Arabia, announced of course have an impact on our relationships. Of course it has an impact on our bilateral relationships. We’re going to take into account what we heard last week, what we’ve seen over the first 20 months or so of this administration, and contour and shape a relationship that, again, we think best serves our interests.
QUESTION: And then just to follow up on that, Assistant Secretary Barbara Leaf is heading to the region; she’s actually in the region right now. Is she specifically not visiting Saudi Arabia because of the OPEC decision?
MR PRICE: She is specifically visiting the countries in the Gulf that we highlighted in that media note because she has important business to do there. I wouldn’t read anything into it more than that.
Humeyra.
QUESTION: On Russian foreign minister —
QUESTION: Hold on. Sorry. (Inaudible.) So are you – in response to Leon’s question, are you confirming that yes, there have been – at least one meeting has been canceled?
MR PRICE: No, I’m not confirming that meetings have been canceled.
QUESTION: The one that the report is talking about is a GCC meeting —
MR PRICE: It is a —
QUESTION: — having to do with – what was the name of the country that I asked about the first time? That would – that any recalibration you could take wouldn’t go to the benefit of Iran?
MR PRICE: And, again —
QUESTION: This is a meeting about Iranian missiles, at least the one that’s reportedly been canceled.
MR PRICE: And again, there have not —
QUESTION: And now you guys aren’t going to go?
MR PRICE: There have not been any cancelations. I assume the meeting you’re referring to – you can – it is a meeting that will be rescheduled. As you know, we often have to change our schedules given circumstances. And it is a meeting that I imagine will be rescheduled at the appropriate time.
QUESTION: Well, what circumstance other than the OPEC decision would you say —
MR PRICE: Matt, our principals are on the road constantly.
QUESTION: I don’t think this was a principal-level meeting.
MR PRICE: Mid-level officials are on the road all the time, and their travel plans change all the time. We will engage, as I said, when and how it is – when it is in our interests, and we will continue to do that.
QUESTION: And just to be clear —
MR PRICE: Yeah.
QUESTION: — the circumstances that caused you to reschedule this meeting have nothing to do with the OPEC decision?
MR PRICE: Again, I’m not speaking to the circumstances behind this particular engagement. It is a meeting that I imagine will be rescheduled at the appropriate time.
Nazira.
[]QUESTION: Thank you. (Inaudible) last week Mr. Javed Qamar Bajwa, chief of staff of Pakistan, that officially visit with the high official of the United State. Could you please share with me that – what topic he discussed with U.S. authority, specifically about Afghanistan?
MR PRICE: The Deputy Secretary Wendy Sherman did have an opportunity to meet with the chief of the army staff Mr. Bajwa. We value our longstanding cooperation with Pakistan. There are a number of areas where our interests are aligned. Of course, the stability and the future of Afghanistan, of the Afghan people, the security challenges that the region and potentially beyond face there always are on the agenda when we have high-level engagements with our Pakistani counterparts. We meet with and speak with them regularly on a range of issues. But as is standard practice, we don’t delve into the details of those engagements always.
Humeyra.
[]QUESTION: What did you make of Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov’s comments about that Moscow is open to talks with the West on Ukraine, but has yet to receive any serious proposal to negotiate? What do you make of that? What do you make of the timing?
MR PRICE: Well, you went where I was going. I think the timing is notable, and the timing is notable because this statement came within hours of a barrage of Russian missiles that targeted the capital city in Ukraine, that targeted other Ukrainian towns and cities, and that, as I said at the top of this briefing, struck playgrounds and schools and apartment buildings, roads, bridges, heating infrastructure. When you assess those comments, you have to take that context into account. And I think when you do that context into account it tells you everything that you need to know about the Russian position and the Russian posturing. We see this as posturing. We do not see this as a constructive, legitimate offer to engage in the dialogue and diplomacy that is absolutely necessary to see an end to this brutal war of aggression against the people and the state, the Government of Ukraine.
In the G7 call today that President Zelenskyy joined, the G7 leaders, as you saw in the readout, again welcomed President Zelenskyy’s very clear statements that this is a war that must end through dialogue and diplomacy. The United States stands ready to support Ukraine in the first instance because, as we’ve consistently said, nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine. We will be there to support Ukraine when that negotiating table emerges. Until it does, it is our primary task to provide Ukraine with the assistance that it needs in terms of security assistance, economic assistance, humanitarian assistance, and we’ll continue to do that.
QUESTION: So you don’t take it seriously and you said, like, it’s not constructive. What would a constructive proposal look like? Do you have, like, the precondition of a ceasefire before any talks that U.S. or West can engage —
MR PRICE: Well, again, we are not going to be prescriptive for the very reason that this is ultimately going to be a negotiation and dialogue and diplomacy between Ukraine and Russia. But I can tell you what gives us great pause or very little confidence that this is legitimate on the part of the Russian Federation: It’s the bombed-out playgrounds, it’s the bombed schools, it’s the dead Ukrainian civilians who were killed in what appeared to have been, in some cases, indiscriminate strikes within hours of this proposal.
If the Russians want to signal that they’re serious about dialogue and diplomacy, perhaps – and again, without being prescriptive, but perhaps a good first step would be to stop the kind of brutal assault followed by what appear to be nothing more than empty words.
Alex.
QUESTION: Ned, thanks so much. Just the flip side of this story: You just painted a very grave picture of Russian bombs are targeting playgrounds, schools, hospitals, apartment buildings. But then you also stopped short at calling it brutal and brutality alone. Let me give you a quote from the Secretary yesterday. He said, “Russian bombs hit children’s playgrounds and public parks in Kyiv; wave after wave of missiles struck Kyiv’s city streets.” And then he mentioned “without military purposes throughout Ukraine.” It sounds like the Secretary was painting a different picture. It’s about an act of terror, isn’t it?
MR PRICE: It is – let me say a couple things on this. We know that Russia’s forces – we have come to the assessment that Russia’s forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine. I am always going to be careful in speaking to specific acts from the podium because these are assessments based on facts, based on international humanitarian law. And I can’t and won’t be in a position to determine from here, within hours, whether a single missile or bomb constituted a war crime, a crime against humanity, an atrocity of some sort.
We know that the Russians have perpetrated a campaign that, in many cases at least, has intentionally targeted civilians. That is the very definition of a war crime. That is why we have been clear, as have allies and partners around the world, that Russia’s forces have engaged in war crimes.
You’ve heard from Beth Van Schaack, our Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice. She has a team; she oversees a team here at the department that is reviewing evidence of atrocities, that is helping to preserve that evidence, that is sharing that evidence, and that, at least in the first instance, is focused to a great degree on supporting the efforts of accountability that the Office of the Prosecutor General in Ukraine is overseeing. So we are keeping very close watch at what Russia does. We know that it has conducted war crimes, and unfortunately, it has given us no reason in recent weeks or days that it intends to stop anytime soon.
QUESTION: Ned.
MR PRICE: Yes. Anything else on Russia-Ukraine before I move on?
QUESTION: Could I at least (inaudible)? What about the bridge? Is that – do you think that is like a civilian facility that may have been targeted by the Ukrainians?
MR PRICE: I just don’t – I don’t have anything to add when it comes to – as I said, about what are very clearly Russian operations. I don’t have anything to add about the Kerch bridge. But again, without speaking to any particular incident, our Ukrainian partners have every right to defend their territory, to defend their sovereignty, to defend their independence, and ultimately, to defend their freedom.
Shannon.
QUESTION: Ned, on —
QUESTION: Can you get us up to date on the efforts —
MR PRICE: Let me come back to you. But I’ll go to Shannon who hasn’t had a question.
QUESTION: So you’ve said repeatedly that the U.S. strategy for supporting Ukraine evolves as the work continues on. I’m just wondering if you could say if this latest spate of attacks has caused the administration to re-evaluate what its strategy should be going forward. For instance, we saw Germany moved to quickly send air defense systems to Ukraine. Will the U.S. follow suit and fulfill some of those requests that President Zelenskyy’s made?
MR PRICE: We have provided our Ukrainian partners, oftentimes at the request of those very Ukrainian partners, with a massive amount of the most sophisticated air defense systems that we have available, and in some cases, we’ve helped to facilitate the transfer of sophisticated air defense systems in the possessions of – in the possession of our partners. We’ve transferred more than 1,400 Stinger anti?air systems to Ukraine. We’ve also transferred air surveillance and multi?mission radars. As I alluded to a moment ago, we have enabled our partners to transfer air defense systems of their own, including you may recall Slovakia transferred an S-300 system in April. We announced a significant package under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. We’ve placed orders under that authority for eight new NASAMS that we’re working to manufacture and to deliver as quickly as possible. We also announced a USAI package in September, the most recent one. It included orders for more radars and counter drone capabilities.
So from the earliest phases of Russia’s war against Ukraine, we have prioritized what our Ukrainian partners need to defend themselves from these sorts of attacks. You’ve seen the open source reports, the public reporting that Ukraine’s air defense systems were effective in some of these cases. Of course, we want to continue to do everything we can to build up that capacity even further, because even one Ukrainian death from this sort of Russian attack is something that is the cause of – cause for great concern, cause for great regret.
QUESTION: Ned, on this, was the UAE president’s visit to Moscow coordinated with Washington? And do you expect any results?
MR PRICE: I would refer you to the UAE for details about this trip. What I can say broadly is that we have been clear that it is President Putin, as I said at the top of this briefing, that is directly responsible for the Russian Government’s unprovoked and unlawful invasion and war in Ukraine. We do encourage the UAE as a nonpermanent member of the UN Security Council to continue to help build a strong, international response to support Ukraine’s sovereignty and support its territorial integrity.
We do appreciate the position that the UAE has taken, including its vote as one of the 141 UN member states who voted in favor of the General Assembly resolution condemning Russia’s war against Ukraine in March and its recent vote in the Security Council to condemn Russia’s attempts to annex parts of Ukraine. And we hope that the UAE will speak with and add to the strong chorus – unified chorus – of voices against Russia’s illegal annexation attempts in the UN General Assembly this week. But beyond that, I would refer you to the Emiratis to speak to it.
Kylie.
QUESTION: Can you just bring us up to date on efforts out of this building to get UN member countries to vote in support of that resolution we’re expecting later this week at the UN General Assembly?
MR PRICE: Well, you have heard from us at every stage of this war the importance of the international community speaking with one voice. We made that point repeatedly in the aftermath of February 24th. We made it repeatedly in the leadup to the UN General Assembly vote in March, and we’re making it now in the leadup to the General Assembly vote that we expect to take place this week.
We – our contention is that the international community has a responsibility to make clear that President Putin’s actions are completely unacceptable. We believe the time has long passed for neutrality; there is no such thing as neutrality in a situation like this. The time has long passed for abstentions. The time has long passed for placating words or equivocations under claims, again, of neutrality. This is about Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine, but it is also about the principles that are at the very core of the UN Charter, the very core of the UN system, at the very core of the international system for some eight decades now. And one of those principles is that Ukraine like any other country around the world has a right to exist, to live peacefully within its own internationally recognized borders.
We’ve had a number of conversations with countries around the world in the most senior-level travel from this building, including when the Secretary has traveled recently. Other senior officials from this building have been on the road. To give you one more example, Secretary Blinken and Under Secretary for Political Affairs Toria Nuland today convened virtually more than 165 participants representing more than 100 countries of the D.C. diplomatic corps. During this call with members of the diplomatic corps, they underscored the importance of holding Russia accountable for its sham referenda and illegal annexation of Ukrainian territory. They called for all UN member states to repudiate those actions this week in the General Assembly and to reiterate strong global support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations.
Again, this is about collectively saying no to a direct violation of the UN Charter, to saying to an attempt to steal land through the threat of force and to steal land through the use of force. The reverberations of what happens in the UN and ultimately what happens in the course of this conflict will be felt far beyond Ukraine for a very long time.
John.
QUESTION: Well, wait a second. Just on that call, did anyone else other than the Secretary and Toria speak? Or were they really just kind of telling all 165 other countries how you think they should vote?
MR PRICE: This was a consultation, Matt. I think you —
QUESTION: Oh, so it was like the verbal equivalent of verbal demarche.
MR PRICE: Our style – and you have – you have —
QUESTION: I’m not – no, I’m not —
MR PRICE: No, no, no, but I know. It’s an important point.
QUESTION: I just want to know if anyone else spoke.
MR PRICE: You have traveled with us enough to know that our style is not to lecture. You have traveled with us enough to know —
QUESTION: Well, it sounds like this was, right?
MR PRICE: It was not. It was not.
QUESTION: Okay.
MR PRICE: And I would —
QUESTION: But no one else spoke that you’re aware of?
MR PRICE: I won’t speak for the participants, but this was an opportunity for them to hear from the Secretary and Under Secretary Nuland and for those taking part to share perspectives on this – important perspective on this.
QUESTION: Are you able to say if anybody actually objected, if anybody raised any concerns or anything like that? Because we understand that there were some participants who actually did speak.