Month: February 2023

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken will travel to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and India February 28-March 3, 2023.  On February 28, he will visit Astana, Kazakhstan, where he will meet with senior Kazakh officials to deepen our bilateral cooperation.  He then will participate in a C5+1 Ministerial with representatives of each of the five Central Asian...

On behalf of the United States of America, I congratulate the people of Estonia as you celebrate your independence on February 24. For more than 100 years, the close partnership and alliance between the United States and Estonia has been grounded in our commitment to democratic values, determination to uphold the sovereignty and territorial integrity...

One year ago today, President Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine following months of deceit about why Russia had amassed huge numbers of soldiers on Ukraine’s border.  It was then that Russia’s forces illegally crossed into Ukraine’s sovereign territory to wage a war that has needlessly killed tens of thousands of people and harmed millions more....

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE SUBJECT:      Presidential Waiver of Statutory Requirements              Pursuant to Section 303 of the Defense Production              Act of 1950, as amended, on Department of              Defense Supply Chains Resilience By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including...

The United States will continue to take actions against Russia until it ends its brutal war against Ukraine. Today, the Department of State is taking actions to increase the costs on President Putin’s regime. All targets are being designated pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 14024, which authorizes sanctions with respect to specified harmful foreign activities...

One year ago today, Russia launched its brutal and unprovoked full-scale war against Ukraine. We remain committed to supporting the people of Ukraine and are redoubling our efforts to promote accountability for the Kremlin’s war. Our economic sanctions, export controls, and tariffs announced this week, in coordination with the G7, demonstrate that we will continue...

Over 16 million households now saving $500 million per month, thanks to the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) Vice President announces over $175 million for Minority Serving institutions to connect more young Americans with affordable, high-speed internet  High-speed internet has become an essential tool to access education, healthcare, and work. Still, too many are left without high-speed...

Today, former Secretaries of Defense Leon Panetta and Chuck Hagel warned that brinksmanship on the debt ceiling would have serious consequences for national security, noting: “The consequence of debt-ceiling brinksmanship is a dangerous self-inflected wound that tells both our friends and our enemies that we cannot be trusted. Such brinksmanship weakens our national security.” The...

Today, the United States hosted the UN Special Representative of the Secretary General for Libya, Abdoulaye Bathily, and senior officials from Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Qatar, Türkiye, the UAE, and the UK, to discuss the Libyan people’s demand for presidential and parliamentary elections.  Ahead of his briefing to the UN Security Council, Special Representative Bathily...

We welcome the meeting held today in Aqaba, Jordan, between senior officials of Israel, the Palestinian Authority (PA), Jordan, Egypt, and the United States. This was the first meeting of its kind in years, and resulted in the Aqaba Communiqué, with commitments by the Government of Israel and the PA to de-escalate and prevent further...