The US State Department has apparently found a replacement for Victoria 'Cookies' Nuland to coordinate Washington's Ukraine policy. Former CIA analyst, prominent neocon, and McCain Institute for International Leadership executive director Kurt Volker has been named the US Special Envoy to Ukraine to negotiate an end to that country's civil war. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson confirmed Volker's appointment as US Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations on Friday, with the diplomat expected to spearhead US efforts to move forward on the implementation of the Minsk agreements – the ceasefire and peace plan signed by Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany in early 2015 in the Belarusian capital to try to bring the conflict in eastern Ukraine to an end.
Vladimir Putin and Rex Tillerson © Sputnik/ Mikhail Klimentyev Tillerson: US Special Representative for Ukraine Volker Appointed Upon Putin Request Tillerson added that the special representative on Ukraine was appointed following a request by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Volker, he said, "will draw on his decades of experience in the US Diplomatic Corps, both as a representative to NATO and also his time as a permanent political appointment."
But according to US and Russian observers, Volker's appointment casts doubt on whether Washington is really committed resolving the Ukraine crisis. Speaking to Sputnik, Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity executive director Daniel McAdams recalled that Volker's current position is head of the McCain Institute, a neo-conservative Washington-based think tank founded by fanatically anti-Russian Senator John McCain.
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