A tape of a four-minute telephone conversation between Victoria Nuland, U.S. assistant secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, and Geoffrey Pyatt, U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, shocked the world after it was uploaded to YouTube.

In that Jan. 25 conversation, Nuland used the expletive F word referring to the EU as the "F—EU" That caught the media's attention. It highlighted the crudity and arrogance of the American diplomat. But that was not the essence of that phone conversation. What really mattered was the United States' brazen interference in Ukraine's internal affairs.

According to Sergei Glazyev, the Kremlin's top advisor on Ukraine, Washington is spending $20 million a week on helping the opposition overthrow Victor Yanukovich, a Russian ally.

Ukraine is in crisis. It has been eleven weeks after Yanukovich sparked protests by halting talks on building closer ties with Europe and accepting a $15 billion loan from Russia. His standoff with the opposition is pushing the country to the brink of a civil conflagration. To ease the situation, after the resignation of Premier Azarov, the embattled president has offered the premiership to opposition leader Arseny Yatsenyuk, and deputy premiership to former heavyweight boxing champion Vitaly Klitschkos.

In the phone conversation, Nuland clearly favored Yatsenyuk, but she said "I don't think Klitch should go into the government. I don't think it's a good idea." Both Yatsenyuk and Klitschkos turned down Yanukovich's offer."

Nuland and Pyatt are so confident that they can hold the opposition together and topple Yanukovich. Nuland expressed a preference for how Ukraine's government should be formed and was apparently confident that the United States has a major influence over it. Their conversation shows that Washington is trying to mold a situation according to U.S. interests.

This is not the first time that Washington has blatantly meddled in Ukrainian affairs. Back in 2004, it was the United States that engineered the so-called "Orange revolution," that put Yushchenko, the West's favorite, into power. But in 2010, Yanukovich won the election convincingly and succeeded Yushchenko.

The revelation of the phone conversation has laid bare the differences between the EU and the United States in how to deal with the Ukraine. Washington has strategic considerations uppermost in its diplomacy and, as revealed in Nuland's talk, dismisses European efforts in Ukraine as weak and inadequate in answer to the challenge posed by Russia. Her phone conversation seriously displeased Germany.

The Germans were already reeling from revelations that NSA listened in on phone conversations of Chancellor Angela Merkel. Then came Nuland's comment, adding insult to injury.

Merkel issued an unusually sharp statement through her press attaché Christiane Wirtz, calling the gaffe "absolutely unacceptable."

EU officials remained publicly silent. But Jorge Leichtfried, leader of the Austrian Social Democratic delegation in the European Parliament told the Austrian press agency APA, "Victoria Nuland must step down after these remarks, otherwise there has to be a suspension of negotiations about the EU-U.S. free-trade agreement."

But the real rivalry is, of course, between the United States and Russia. Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, told reporters, "The video was first noted and tweeted by the Russian government. I think it says something about Russia's role." But he could not accuse Moscow for taping the call.

The entire incident is indicative of the contest between Washington and Moscow for influence over Ukraine, a strategically important country with a population of 45 million, a country torn by historic and cultural ties to Moscow with a yearning to join the rest of Europe.

The author is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/zhaojinglun.htm

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