- Moderator
- #1
What the hell is Guilliani up to?
Giuliani cancels paid appearance at Kremlin-backed summit in Armenia
The two-day conference is sponsored by Russia and the Moscow-based Eurasian Economic Union, a trade alliance launched by Putin in 2014 as a counterweight to the European Union.
According to an agenda for the event posted online, Giuliani was set to participate in a panel led by Sergey Glazyev, a longtime Putin adviser who has been under U.S. sanctions since Russia's invasion of Ukraine five years ago.
....The agenda for the Eurasian conference showed Giuliani was the only American scheduled to speak at the gathering.
In an interview Friday before canceling his plans, Giuliani angrily rejected questions about whether it would be appropriate for him to attend the event at which he also appeared last year.
"I will try to not knowingly talk to a Russian until this is all over," he retorted.
The former New York mayor confirmed in the interview that he intended to accept payment for his appearance but declined to say how much he would receive or which group or person was going to pay him.
...The conference is a regular summit of the Eurasian Economic Union, an economic trading union whose members are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia.
It is the brainchild of Putin and was created in response to democratic upheavals taking place at the time in former Soviet countries. Putin has aimed to use the group to establish Russia as a bulwark against Europe and a center of gravity in the former Soviet region, describing the EEU as "a new supranational union that could become one of the poles of the modern world."
In 2012, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the group part of an effort to "re-Sovietize the region."
National security experts said Giuliani's presence at the event could have bolstered the E.U. rival.
David Kramer, a former State Department official responsible for Russia and Ukraine during the George W. Bush administration, called it "terrible judgment" for Giuliani to have agreed to attend, saying his participation would have lent "credibility to an organization Putin set up as an alternative to the European Union."
Michael McFaul, who served as U.S. ambassador to Russia in the Obama administration, said he was surprised Giuliani would agree to attend the Eurasian conference, particularly since the organization was a flash point in Russian-Ukrainian tensions. He noted it was created by Putin at a time when Ukraine was considering joining the European Union.
"I can't remember anything like this," McFaul said. He said Giuliani, as a private citizen, has a right to speak to any organization but called the conference an "odd" choice.
An agenda of the two-day summit says it is focused on transit in the region. The agenda, which was posted online in English, states clearly that Putin is set to take part in the official closing ceremony on Tuesday with Rouhani and leaders of the EEU's other member countries.
Giuliani cancels paid appearance at Kremlin-backed summit in Armenia
The two-day conference is sponsored by Russia and the Moscow-based Eurasian Economic Union, a trade alliance launched by Putin in 2014 as a counterweight to the European Union.
According to an agenda for the event posted online, Giuliani was set to participate in a panel led by Sergey Glazyev, a longtime Putin adviser who has been under U.S. sanctions since Russia's invasion of Ukraine five years ago.
....The agenda for the Eurasian conference showed Giuliani was the only American scheduled to speak at the gathering.
In an interview Friday before canceling his plans, Giuliani angrily rejected questions about whether it would be appropriate for him to attend the event at which he also appeared last year.
"I will try to not knowingly talk to a Russian until this is all over," he retorted.
The former New York mayor confirmed in the interview that he intended to accept payment for his appearance but declined to say how much he would receive or which group or person was going to pay him.
...The conference is a regular summit of the Eurasian Economic Union, an economic trading union whose members are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia.
It is the brainchild of Putin and was created in response to democratic upheavals taking place at the time in former Soviet countries. Putin has aimed to use the group to establish Russia as a bulwark against Europe and a center of gravity in the former Soviet region, describing the EEU as "a new supranational union that could become one of the poles of the modern world."
In 2012, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the group part of an effort to "re-Sovietize the region."
National security experts said Giuliani's presence at the event could have bolstered the E.U. rival.
David Kramer, a former State Department official responsible for Russia and Ukraine during the George W. Bush administration, called it "terrible judgment" for Giuliani to have agreed to attend, saying his participation would have lent "credibility to an organization Putin set up as an alternative to the European Union."
Michael McFaul, who served as U.S. ambassador to Russia in the Obama administration, said he was surprised Giuliani would agree to attend the Eurasian conference, particularly since the organization was a flash point in Russian-Ukrainian tensions. He noted it was created by Putin at a time when Ukraine was considering joining the European Union.
"I can't remember anything like this," McFaul said. He said Giuliani, as a private citizen, has a right to speak to any organization but called the conference an "odd" choice.
An agenda of the two-day summit says it is focused on transit in the region. The agenda, which was posted online in English, states clearly that Putin is set to take part in the official closing ceremony on Tuesday with Rouhani and leaders of the EEU's other member countries.
