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11/15/2022 07:19 PM EST
Vedant Patel, Principal Deputy Spokesperson
Washington, DC
3:03 p.m. EST
MR PATEL: Apologies. How is everyone doing?
QUESTION: There’s a little button you could have —
[]MR PATEL: Yeah, no, no, I know. I know. Just this is great. I actually don’t have anything off the top today so I’m happy, Matt, for you to kick us off.
QUESTION: Okay. Thanks. All right. So let’s just start with the breaking news, right? Poland, these missiles – what do you know? I realize that the Pentagon and the NSC have already said that you’re looking for information, but what can you tell us? Has the Secretary been involved in any calls? Anyone else?
MR PATEL: So I don’t have any calls from the Secretary to read out and would echo what our colleagues at the White House have said on this as well, which is that we have seen these reports out of Poland and are working with the Polish Government and our NATO partners to gather more information. We can’t confirm the reports or any of the details at this time, but I can assure we will determine what happened and what appropriate next steps would be. But I don’t have anything additional to offer at this point.
QUESTION: Okay. I guess that pretty much is going to end this line of questioning, at least from me because I don’t think you’re going to say anything else. So I’ll pass it on to someone else.
MR PATEL: All right.
Humeyra.
QUESTION: Vedant, just the President basically multiple times said every inch of NATO territory will be defended. Are you able to recommit to that from the podium today regardless of what this is?
MR PATEL: Look, I don’t want to speculate about hypotheticals as this just happened within the past hour. And as I said, we have seen these reports out of Poland, and we’re working with the Polish Government and our allies and partners to gather more information and assess exactly what will happen. We’re going to do that. We will determine what will happen and determine appropriate next steps, but I just don’t want to speculate about any hypotheticals just yet.
Shannon.
QUESTION: Asking a more broad strokes question then, generally, will the U.S. look into the intent? How important is that in determining response if a strike is accidental versus if something is deemed to be intentional when consulting with NATO Allies?
MR PATEL: Of course that is something that would be of importance. And as I said, we will determine what happened and we will determine appropriate next steps. But like I said, this just happened within the past hour, and so we are still taking the important time to figure out the exact facts.
Kylie.
QUESTION: Logistics – on logistics. When it comes to triggering Article 5 of NATO, I know you don’t want to get too far ahead of where things stand now, but because this department knows really well how that process would work, could you just lay out a little bit of how you guys would go about that process and what it would look like for folks as we’re in this moment of trying to figure out what’s next?
MR PATEL: I certainly appreciate that question, but I do want to be very careful of not getting ahead of hypotheticals. I am happy to see if we have a specific sort of sequencing to share with you, but again, I want to be very, very careful about not getting ahead of hypotheticals here as we continue to take time to determine what happened.
Alex.
QUESTION: Vedant, has the department reached out to Polish officials? Do you have any communication with Poland?
MR PATEL: Like I said, I don’t have any – like I said to Matt, I don’t have any calls to read out at this point. But of course Poland is an important ally and partner, and like I said, we are working with them to determine what happened and assess next steps as well.
QUESTION: In a broader context, what is your confidence level that Putin is not targeting NATO, given his latest statements?
MR PATEL: I’m just not going to try and speculate or try and get in the mind of President Putin or his intentions. What we do know is that this war has been one that is unjust. It’s been brutal. It has affected millions of lives, not just in Ukraine but across the world as well. And as you guys saw, in response to President Zelenskyy’s speech at the G20, what President Putin did was he met Ukraine with another round of cruel attacks that killed civilians and destroyed infrastructure.
So what we’re going to do is we’re going to continue to stand with the government and the people of Ukraine who have stayed strong in the face of Russia’s brutal and needless onslaught for months, and we will continue to support Ukraine.
Camilla.
QUESTION: When you say you’re working with – obviously with the Polish Government and allies and partners, can you confirm that this department is speaking to Ukrainian officials and trying to get more insight from them as to what this might have been and whether or not they have responded at all?
MR PATEL: Camilla, we’re talking to a range of partners. But like I said, this just transpired so I don’t have specific calls or line item actions to read out for you. But again, I want to assure that we will get to the bottom of what has happened. We’ll determine what’s happened and determine appropriate next steps.
Leon.
QUESTION: Yeah. Before Article 5 is Article 4, which is on emergency consultations. Would the United States be ready to call for emergency consultations on this issue?
MR PATEL: Look, Leon, we of course are ready to stand with our NATO allies and partners, but I want to again be very clear that we do not want to get ahead of hypotheticals. We do not know what has happened yet. We have seen the reports out of Poland. They of course are incredibly concerning, and we’re working with our partners in the Polish Government and our NATO partners to get more information and to assess what has happened. And we will make that determination and we will determine appropriate next steps as well.
QUESTION: And just to follow up, certain media are quoting U.S. intelligence officials on their story. So I’m assuming that you are in contact with those officials.
MR PATEL: Leon, what I can say from this podium in front of you all on camera and on the record is that we’ve seen these reports and that we are working with the Polish Government and other partners to asses and get more information. We cannot confirm the reports of what has happened or the details, but we are working through that process to determine what happened and determine appropriate next steps.
In the back.
QUESTION: Marcin Wrona, TVN Warner Bros. Discovery from Poland. So you repeated a few times that you are working with the Polish Government on this issue. Who are you talking with, at what level if you don’t want to give any specific names? And also, if this is confirmed, should this trigger an immediate increase of the numbers of U.S. boots on the ground in Poland, maybe sending additional Patriot batteries fortifying eastern flank?
MR PATEL: I’m starting to sound like a broken record here, but again, I do not want to get ahead of hypotheticals or get into a tit-for-tat of potential actions. What I can say is that we will determine what happened and we will determine what appropriate next steps to take. We are engaging directly with our partners in the Polish Government. I don’t have specifics to offer in terms of who and at what level. But like I said, Poland is an important partner, an important NATO Ally, and so we are continuing to work through this process and engage on this.
QUESTION: Okay, follow-up. Will Secretary Blinken want to talk to Minister Rau? Is a contact at this level possible?
MR PATEL: I don’t have any calls to preview, or read out yet for that matter, so we – I’m just not going to get ahead of that process.
In the back.
QUESTION: So not getting into hypotheticals, but President Biden did say and Secretary Blinken also has repeatedly said that U.S. is going to defend every inch of NATO territory, so can you just repeat it today as in principle? And do you have any reaction to just the overall attack, the barrage from Russia today? It’s been reported that it’s the largest one so far, the largest missile attack. Do you have any reaction to that?
MR PATEL: Yeah, I think I spoke to this a little bit in responding to Alex’s question. But first, to your first question, of course we stand by NATO and our NATO Allies and partners. This administration views NATO as one of the most important transatlantic defensive alliances out there. But again, I am not going to get ahead of hypotheticals as we continue to work through this process and determine what’s happened and determine appropriate next steps.
On the barrage of strikes that we saw take place in Kyiv, as I said, while President Zelenskyy spoke at the G20 about a path to a just peace and for ending this war, what we saw was Russia unleash a barrage of attacks that have killed civilians and destroyed critical infrastructure. And it is no surprise that after the Ukrainian liberation of Kherson that Russia has gone down the path of attempting yet again to plunge Ukrainian civilians into darkness.
But what the United States is going to do is going to continue to stand by the government, and the people of Ukraine and our commitment to our Ukrainian partners is unwavering.
Anything else on this?
QUESTION: One more question on this.
MR PATEL: Sure.
QUESTION: I know you don’t want to get ahead of this, but Russia is already trying to spin the situation here with the defense minister putting out a short statement saying that the reports of Russian missiles landing in Poland are, quote, “a deliberate provocation aimed to escalate the situation.” Do you have a response to what they’re saying about this right now?
MR PATEL: Well, the United States is certainly not trying to escalate or incite the situation at all. And like I said, we have seen these same reports that you all have, and we are working with the Polish Government to gather more information. And we are not at a point where we can confirm some of these reports that we are seeing, and that’s why I’m telling you that we will determine what exactly has transpired and we will determine appropriate next steps as well.
Let’s go over there.
QUESTION: I’d like to —
MR PATEL: Still on the region, or are we moving away?
QUESTION: On China.
MR PATEL: Go ahead.
QUESTION: On Ukraine and —
MR PATEL: Let me do one more, and then I’ll come back to you. And then we’re going to work through them, Alex.
QUESTION: Thanks so much.
MR PATEL: Yeah.
QUESTION: In response to Putin’s terrorist attacks you just mentioned – over one hundred missiles have been – struck Kyiv and around – is it time for the department to revisit its decision on Russia’s SST designation? And if not – if not now – then when?
MR PATEL: Alex, we have spoken about this quite, quite regularly, and our answer continues to be the same. And that is that we have – we have a number of tools in our tool belt to hold the Russian Federation accountable and to support our Ukrainian partners. We have done that through sanctions and export controls on Russia. We have done that through security assistance and humanitarian assistance to our Ukrainian partners. And we continue to assess that a specific state sponsor of terror designation would largely be a redundancy to the many lines of efforts that the United States has already undertaken.
Additionally, as I said to you about this a couple of weeks ago, we have – it’s been raised to us that a number of humanitarian organizations operating in the region – it would make their work more difficult if a specific state sponsor of terror of designation were to take place.
But I will remind you that we have continued to do everything possible to support our Ukrainian partners, including additional drawdowns earlier this month, as well as USAI packages. And we’ve continued to take steps to support our Ukrainian partners and to bolster their efforts to defend their sovereignty and defend their territorial integrity. I will also add that our sanctions and export controls are having a direct impact on the Russian economy and the Russian Federation. And so we will continue pursuing these lines of efforts as well.
QUESTION: And let’s not forget Moldova as well.
MR PATEL: I’m going to work the room, Alex.
QUESTION: Moldova also got impacted today.
MR PATEL: I’m going to work the room. We’ve got a lot of questions. Go ahead.
[]QUESTION: Thank you. Could you confirm that Secretary Blinken is going to visit China early next year? And what is going to be his mission?
MR PATEL: So in the follow-up of President Biden’s bilateral meeting with President Xi, it was determined that Secretary Blinken will travel to China at some point. And currently we are working diligently with our counterparts in the PRC to schedule a visit, which is tentatively planned for early next year. But I’m not at a point to offer any additional specifics on that.
QUESTION: And in terms of – on the talks between the United States and China, which have been suspended, do you have a timeframe? When are they going to resume, especially the climate talk? Has it started already?
MR PATEL: I don’t have a specific timeframe for you. I will note that Special Envoy Kerry has been engaging directly with his counterparts in Sharm El Sheikh at the COP27 conference. But to take a little bit of a step back, both – President Biden underscored that the United States and China must work together to address some of these transnational challenges, including addressing climate change, addressing health security, addressing global food security, and global macroeconomic stability. I don’t have a specific timeline to offer, but this was a key point of the bilateral talk.
QUESTION: And lastly, President Biden told President Xi in detail that the “one China” policy hasn’t changed. Does it mean Taiwan is part of China, and is this the message you are going to convey to Taiwan after the summit?
MR PATEL: Well, President Biden was quite clear in his remarks and in his press conference that our “one China” policy has not changed and that we oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo and have a commitment to maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. Our position remains the same. We have this longstanding “one China” policy which is governed by the Taiwan Relations Act, the three Joint Communiqués, and the Six Assurances.
Gitte.
QUESTION: Thank you, Vedant.
MR PATEL: Still on Asia or shifting away?
QUESTION: No.
MR PATEL: Okay.
QUESTION: Shifting away – Iran.
MR PATEL: Okay. Go ahead.
[]QUESTION: Special Envoy Rob Malley is – was in Paris today meeting with his counterparts from France, Britain, and Germany. Do you have a readout of the meeting?
MR PATEL: I don’t have any specifics to offer, but what I can say is that I can confirm that Special Envoy Malley is in Paris meeting with E3 partners, discussing a wide range of issues, but don’t have any other specifics to offer.
QUESTION: So it’s not just a one-day trip or – do you know?
MR PATEL: I don’t have additional specifics to his travel, but I can confirm that he is in Paris meeting with his – with our E3 partners.
QUESTION: Also it’s about two weeks now since Vice President Kamala Harris announced that the U.S. will support expulsion of Iran from the UN Commission on the Status of Women. Has there been any movement on that front?
MR PATEL: So – let me see if I – I believed – I thought I had an update for you on this. Let me check back on this, Gitte, for you specifically, about a timeline. I thought I had an update, but I can’t find it. We’ll circle back afterwards.
QUESTION: Thank you.
MR PATEL: Go ahead.
QUESTION: Staying on Iran —
MR PATEL: Yeah.