Philip H. Gordon: “We have concerns about the direction Ukraine has been heading on the democracy front.”

Our strong view, like that of pretty much every country in the world, with a very tiny number of exceptions, is to recognize Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The Ukraine is a big and important country in Europe and when we talk about our desire to see democracy and prosperity spread throughout Europe, Ukraine is a critical piece of that.

The United States has repeatedly condemned the actions taken on December 19 and the continuing suppression of political and human rights in Belarus.

Ukraine has taken some steps in that direction, but on the question of democracy, there has been some backsliding as well and a failure to appropriately reform the electoral code.