This week (Fri. Feb. 16 & Sat Feb. 17) Vice President Kamala Harris represented the United Staes of America for her third time, at the Munich Security Conference (MSC). Just before she was to deliver her remarks, news broke that Aleksey Navalny had died in a Russian gulag in Siberia.
Before I begin today, we’ve all just received reports that Aleksey Navalny has died in Russia. This is, of course, terrible news, which we are working to confirm.
My prayers are with his family, including his wife, Yulia, who is with us today.
And if confirmed, this would be a further sign of Putin’s brutality. Whatever story they tell, let us be clear: Russia is responsible.
And we will have more to say on this later.
As President Biden and I have made clear over the past three years, we are committed to pursue global engagement, to uphold international rules and norms, to defend democratic values at home and abroad, and to work with our allies and partners in pursuit of shared goals.
However, there are some in the United States who disagree. They suggest it is in the best interest of the American people to isolate ourselves from the world, to flout common understandings among nations, to embrace dictators and adopt their repressive tactics, and abandon commitments to our allies in favor of unilateral action.
At 21 minutes, VP Harris is interviewed by Ambassador Christoph Heusgen, Chairman of the MSC. She answers questions about Israel-Palestine and the Global South. I highly recommend watching the interview, in addition to VP Harris’ remarks.
After her speech on Friday, VP Harris also met with President Isaac Herzog of Israel, Prime Minister Al-Sudani of Iraq, Prime Minister Robert Golob of Slovenia and Members of Congress.
Saturday, VP Harris met with Chancellor Olaf Scholtz of Germany and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine.
After their meeting, VP Harris and President Zelenskyy held joint press conference.
As always, VP Kamala Harris, is ready and she’s “got it”.
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