The US State Department held a press briefing on July 24, 2023 with Matthew Miller, spokesperson holding the forte.   The Q-As on India and Af-Pak region have been tweaked to appear upfront. 

Some excerpts

MR MILLER:  Good afternoon, everyone.  Happy Monday.  No one is as happy about Monday as I am, I guess.  Let me start with a few comments.

Following its callous suspension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, Russia is now subjecting the citizens of Odesa to their most intense series of barrages since the start of this war.  Excuse me – missile and drone strikes that began last week after Russia withdrew have killed – withdrew from the Black Sea Grain Initiative have killed and injured scores of civilians, devastated UNESCO-listed heritage sites, including the historic Orthodox Transfiguration Cathedral, and destroyed port infrastructure and grain stockpiles that could have fed hundreds of thousands around the world.

Over the weekend, we saw appalling images of burning churches and flattened residential buildings.  Today, Russia attacked grain warehouses on the Danube River, now a vital export route for grain since Russia has effectively blocked Black Sea ports.

The United States strongly condemns Russia’s escalatory attacks.  The consequences for the rest of the world of Russia’s attacks on Ukraine have never been more clear.  These vicious strikes further illustrate Russia’s willingness to use food as a weapon in its illegal war against Ukraine.  The Kremlin wants to deprive Ukraine’s economy of a major source of income, without regard for needy people across the globe who will feel the consequences and be forced to pay higher prices for food.

The United States and our allies and partners will not waver in our support for Ukraine as it defends itself, and fights to reclaim its sovereign territory.  We will continue to support Ukrainians as they work to recover and rebuild, as you saw from the nearly one billion dollars in assistance announced during Administrator Power’s travel to Odesa and Kyiv last week.

While we seek to help Ukraine rebuild and find alternate ways to continue its grain exports to the world, the Kremlin remains determined to cause destruction.  Until Russia withdraws its forces and demonstrates that it has an interest in peace, it is our shared responsibility to demand that the Kremlin cease its attacks on Ukraine and its people, to help Ukraine defend its territory and protect its people, and to hold Russia account for – to account for the suffering it chooses to inflict on so many.

QUESTION:  Thank you, Matt.  CENTCOM chief, General Michael Kurilla, just had a meeting with Pakistani army chief, and the press release says that the U.S. recognize continued efforts on stability in the region.  So, I just have three questions more on – related to this.  Was the trip planned or did it just happen?  Second, is that Pakistan is not getting any – has Pakistan gotten any payment since Afghan withdrawal for any defense-related cooperation?  And lastly, did the CENTCOM chief go to smoothen out things with regard to Mr. Donald Lu?

Please don’t start with Donald Lu.  Let’s start with the first —

MR MILLER:  Yeah, I wondered if you would get there.  You always – you always do.  (Laughter.)  I would refer you with respect to all three of those questions to my colleagues at the Pentagon.  That obviously involves a trip by a senior U.S. military official.  They have a daily briefing over there —and I would encourage you to ask those questions to them.

QUESTION:  I’m asking you because you are part in the story that Matthew Miller had earlier last week mentioned that – urged the Afghan authorities to not use their land for a security use.  So, I was just wondering, is the State Department aware of the trip, or no?

MR MILLER:  We’re aware of the trip, but for any detailed comment I would refer you to the Pentagon.

QUESTION:  Okay.  Just last question, then.

MR MILLER:  Yeah.

QUESTION:  I know we both are sick of the same thing, but it’s just both of our job that says that, you know?  So today the former foreign minister of Pakistan, while speaking to media after a month of detention and back and forth, he also came out and he said the cipher was reality, the U.S. officials was giving a demarche.  So now you have a former prime minister – a former prime minister, the military chiefs were sit in.  So, is the responsibility going on President Biden wanting to change the regime in Pakistan, or the Secretary?  I mean, one – somebody has to take at least —

MR MILLER:  I feel like I need to bring just a sign that I can hold up in response to this question to say that that allegation is not true.  I don’t know how many times I can say it.  I will say, as I’ve said before, that the United States does not have a position on one political candidate or party versus another in Pakistan or in any other country.

QUESTION:  Okay, on two – on Bangladesh, if I may.  Country-wide massive protests going on in Bangladesh.  Regime is attacking on opposition peaceful rallies where tens of thousands people demanding ruling prime minister resignation.  Internet shut down in opposition rallies, including cell phone checking, arrests and filing thousands cases against opposition leaders and workers.  Even deceased opposition leaders are not spared by the current regime.  So, will U.S. employ the visa restriction those who are undermining democratic process and human rights in Bangladesh?

MR MILLER:  So, as a policy, we don’t preview visa restrictions any more than we preview any other sanctions actions, as I’ve said in response to questions about other sanction authorities previously in this briefing.

But as Secretary Blinken made clear when he issued the policy on May 24th, these visa restrictions would apply to anyone who undermines the democratic election process in Bangladesh.  Actions that constitute undermining the democratic election process include vote rigging, voter intimidation, the use of violence to prevent people from exercising their rights to freedom of association and peaceful assembly, and the use of measures designed to prevent political parties, voters, civil society, or the media from disseminating their views.

QUESTION:  Yeah.  In Bangladesh, human rights defenders are being subject to threats, harassment, and prosecution from state and nonstate actors.  According to recent reports of the Centre for Governance Studies, 86 percent human rights defender – defenders face various obstructions, obstacles.  Finance control is another weapon in government hands as their regulatory body NGO Affairs Bureau is under prime minister’s office.  So many international aid recipients’ organizations have been affected.  Right workers are not getting their pay checks, as I heard from the ground.  Do you think it is concerning for the U.S. as the largest development partner of Bangladesh?

MR MILLER:   I would say that we, as a general rule, support everyone’s ability to freely exercise their role in a democratic society.  We oppose any restrictions on human rights, and I don’t have any further specific comment than that.

QUESTION:  …..in 2018 the Canadian federal court dismissed the asylum petition of an activist associated with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, BNP, branding it as a terrorist organization.  It’s also worth noting that the political observer in Bangladesh say that the BNP has a history of engaging in political violence, particularly in the national election in 2014.  At that time, the BNP demanded an election under a caretaker government, which was earlier ruled unconstitutional by the supreme court of Bangladesh.  As Bangladesh approaching its next national election, the ruling party has accused the BNP of attempting to initiate violence against – by advocating for the reinstatement of the unconstitutional election (inaudible) government.  What are your observations?

MR MILLER:  My observations are that, number one, we do not take a position with respect to any political party in Bangladesh or in other countries, but that we believe that Bangladesh and all countries throughout the world should have free and fair elections.

 Go ahead with a follow-up, yeah.

QUESTION:  In Bangladesh, media expert believe that the United States uses human rights issues as a tool of exert pressure on specific countries to further its own interest.  They also argued that the U.S. often turns a blind eye to human rights violation in countries like India, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and other parts of the world.  What is your perspective on this matter?

MR MILLER:  I mean, I would note some tension in between the two questions.  I would say that we raise human rights concerns when we have human rights concerns, when we see human rights violations, and we raise those concerns not – with respect to countries with which we have strong partnerships, and with countries where the partnerships are much more, shall we say, challenging.

QUESTION:   I just want to start to see if we can clear up what’s going on with Private Travis in North Korea.  Has there been any contact between either the U.S. or the UN command and North Korea about his situation?

MR MILLER:  Let me take them maybe in reverse order of the way you asked them.  I saw the reports about contact between the UN command and North Korea.  It is my understanding that there have been no new communications since last week – communications that happened in the early days.  I think the reports may have resulted from a misinterpretation of the UN Command’s original statement, but I will leave it to them to discuss the details of that.  But I’m not aware of any new communications other than those that happened in the very early hours or early days after he went across the border.

QUESTION:  Oh, okay.  And just on that – and those were all one way, right?  Those were from the UN Command or the U.S. to the North Koreans?  There – in other words, there has been —

MR MILLER:  For the —

QUESTION:  You’re not aware of any response to anyone?

MR MILLER:  On the UN side, the – my understanding is that the North Koreans acknowledged they received the message.  I’ll let you decide whether that constitutes an actual response or not.  They acknowledged that they received the message.  On our side, as I said last week, we have a number of channels through which we’re able to send messages to them.  We’ve delivered the messages to North Korea, but we have as yet not received a response.

QUESTION:  Okay.  And is that just the civilian side or is that also your understanding of the military?

MR MILLER:  My understanding is both sides, we haven’t received any response.

QUESTION:  All right.

MR MILLER:  Janne, go ahead.

QUESTION:  Thank you.  I’ll follow up North Korean issues.  Between UN Command and then – and North Korea conversations, can you tell what the North Korea demanded from the U.S. in return to repatriations Private King?

MR MILLER:  We have not had any substantive communications with North Korea.  We have made outreach to North Korea to let them know that we wanted to ascertain the whereabouts of Private King, we wanted information about his safety, but we have not received any response from them at all.

QUESTION:  Will the U.S. pay North Korea for King’s return back home?

MR MILLER:  I don’t have any updates.  I think it would be irresponsible for me to speculate about what might happen down the road, when we have not yet even learned of his whereabouts, of his status, of his safety – or heard really any substantive response from the North Korean side.

QUESTION:  One more quick question.  So last weekend, North Korea fired cruise missile capable of carrying a tactical nuclear warhead.  Also, another ballistic missile fire was this morning.  How to respond to North Korea’s series of provocations on the 70th anniversary of armistice?

MR MILLER:  We would once again urge the DPRK to refrain from escalatory actions.  We remain committed to diplomacy and reiterate our interest in dialogue with North Korea without preconditions.   But as is the case in our communications with respect to Private King, we have made our position clear, and have not received any kind of substantive response from North Korea.

QUESTION:  Thank you.

MR MILLER:  Nike.

QUESTION:  Thank you.  Can we stay in North Korea?  Earlier today, North Korea has fired a ballistic missile into the sea of its east coast.  Do you have anything on that?

MR MILLER:  Yeah.  We’ve seen the reports.  I will say that, once again, as we said with respect to previous ballistic missile launches by North Korea, those launches are in violation of multiple UN Security council resolutions, and we condemn them, and would urge North Korea to refrain from such escalatory actions.

QUESTION:  Can you provide more detail on the upcoming U.S.-Japan-South Korea leaders summit next month?

MR MILLER:  I do not have any announcements in that regard.

QUESTION:  Deputy Secretary Sherman spoke to her counterparts on the trilateral partnership.  And then in your – in a readout that you – excuse me – you issued earlier today, you said that those officials welcome the upcoming summit.  Is it going to be held next month, August 18, in Camp David?

MR MILLER:  I’m just not in a position to make any announcements around details at this point.

QUESTION:  Matt, you said the UN take care of these issues – I mean, North Korea’s missile violations.  But UN doesn’t do anything since from long time.  They’ll just give up because of China and Russia have veto – use veto actions.  So how did you expect UN Security Council take care of these issues?

MR MILLER:  You are right about the makeup of the UN Security Council.  All I will say is that we will continue to work with our partners in the region, as we have with South Korea and Japan.  We will continue to urge the DPRK to refrain from escalatory action.  We would certainly welcome China participating as a positive force in this regard.  We’ve not seen that for some time.  We would welcome a change of heart on their mind.  And in the meantime, we will continue to make our policy clear and urge the DPRK to refrain from escalatory actions.

QUESTION:  Matt, is —

MR MILLER:  Ah —

QUESTION:  Sorry, one more on North Korea –

MR MILLER:  People aren’t raising their hands anymore for – (laughter) – just – go ahead.  Last one, then I’m going to move on.

QUESTION:  Is it – yeah – is it still the U.S. estimation that North Korea will conduct its seventh nuclear test soon?  And how concerned is the United States?

MR MILLER:  We would obviously be concerned with any nuclear test, but I don’t want to make any assessments from here.

Alex, go ahead.  Welcome back, Alex.

QUESTION:  Thanks.  Thanks so much.  (Inaudible) I deserve multiple questions.

MR MILLER:  You ask multiple questions whether I – whether you deserve them or not, so I don’t know if there’s much I can do about it.  (Laughter.)

QUESTION:  Thanks so much.  Your readout of the Secretary’s call to Romanian colleague did not mention overnight Russia strike near Romania, which has happened to be the first one near NATO territory since the war began.  What is your level of concern?  And what steps are you guys going to take to boost up the Romanian – the security in the region?

MR MILLER:  Well, I will say that since the outset of this conflict, we have made one clear – we have made clear one principle with respect to our NATO partners, and we will continue to reiterate, and that is that we will defend every inch of NATO territory.  The Secretary made that clear in his call with the Romanian foreign minister today.  The President has made that clear on a number of occasions, and it continues to be one of our fundamental bedrock principles.

QUESTION:  Thank you.  I want to shift to something else we discussed two (inaudible) ago (inaudible) with you, which is about Russia – American companies operating in Russia.  You did come up with sanctions last week, but you’re still lacking with business advisory to American companies.  There are more than – well, I quote the President, 600 companies left, but that goes – contradicts against what we have heard from this podium in February that a thousand companies have left.  There are competing reports indicating that most of them have changed their promises and stayed there.  They profited about 40 million in Russia, and pay taxes, A.K.A. supported Putin’s brutal war efforts.  What steps are you guys going to take to prevent this from happening?

MR MILLER:  I won’t preview any steps that we may or may not take down the road.  That’s true all – with respect to all of our sanctions, actions or enforcement actions.  But we – I will make clear, as we have, that we would oppose any company – any individual that helps the Russian Federation profit off of this war or takes actions that would benefit the Russian Government’s prosecution of this war.  We have imposed a number of sanctions in that regard.  We continue to impose new sanctions, as you said, as recently as last week, and we will continue to look for ways to tighten the enforcement of those sanctions.

QUESTION:  Well, Matt, today marks 17 months of this brutal war.  You have no problem that there are still American companies are operating in Russia, earning money, and funding Putin’s war efforts?

MR MILLER:  I don’t have anything to add other than what I just said.

QUESTION:  (Inaudible) try and please come back to me later; I want to be respectful of my colleagues.

QUESTION:  (Off-mike.)

MR MILLER:  Yeah, go ahead.

QUESTION:  (Inaudible) staying on Russia and Ukraine, I wanted just to come back to the call, the Secretary’s call with the Romanian – his Romanian counterpart.  Did they kind of agree or just have any specific discussions about this – these attacks on the Danube?  This is not just on the issue of Article V, as you said, but this is obviously very close to the border, and as you said, is potentially interrupting grain export routes from Ukraine.  S, is there, like, a specific message that the Secretary and the Romanian counterpart agreed and that you want to sort of convey to the Russians?

MR MILLER:  They did discuss the issue as well as the broader – excuse me, getting “broader” and “black” together – the broader Black Sea Grain Initiative, and the Secretary made clear that he would welcome Romania’s support, as they would welcome the support of all of our allies and partners in the region in finding ways to restart the Black Sea Grain Initiative.  As you know, President Erdogan said on Friday that he’d look to have further discussions with President Putin to urge him to rejoin the Black Sea Grain Initiative.  We obviously would be hopeful that there would be some success out of those discussions.

But we’re also mindful of the series of events since last week when Russia pulled out of the initiative that I outlined in my opening comments – four or five days of repeated attacks on Odesa; Russia staging – or, I should say, Russia holding a practice assault on a mock ship in the Black Sea last week; we’ve had information to suggest that they may be preparing a false flag operation – we believe they may be preparing a false flag operation; their threatening of ships operating in international waters; and then just today, this attack on the Danube.

So, we will continue to consult with our partners in the region on how we might find alternative ways to get grain out of Ukraine but recognizing that there is no perfect solution that would allow Ukraine to ship the same amount of grain as it did under the Black Sea Grain Initiative without the reopening of those sea lanes.  There just simply isn’t a way to get enough grain out through the Danube ports or over land or any other means.

QUESTION:  All right.  So, a separate – sorry.

QUESTION:  Well, I just – are you suggesting that these attacks on the Danube were a false flag operation?

MR MILLER:  No, no.  That’s not what I – no, no.  No.  I was going through we believe there may be a false flag operation.  But that’s not what this was.  This was an attack.

QUESTION:  All right.  Have you seen – has there been any?

MR MILLER:  No.  No.  There have been attacks by Russians.  I’m discussing attacks.

QUESTION:  All right.  Are you aware of there being any false flag attacks?

MR MILLER:  No.  No, we are – what we – have information that leads us to believe Russia may conduct a false flag attack that they blame on the Ukrainians.

QUESTION:  Yeah, I know.  But I had a long exchange with your predecessor about – about this.

MR MILLER:  I remember – I remember that well.

QUESTION:  Have you seen any evidence that they have done?

MR MILLER:  They have not.  We’re concerned they may in the future.

QUESTION:  Okay. Well, you seem to be concerned about a lot of things.

MR MILLER:  We are.  I – we —

QUESTION:  Can you see – can you explain why you’re concerned that there might be such a – I’m not saying there won’t be.  I’m just wanting to know why.

MR MILLER:  We have – we have information that leads us to believe they may.

QUESTION:  What kind of information?

MR MILLER:   And I’m not at liberty to say any more than that.  I am unable to get further into that information for reasons I think you understand.  We have declassified certain intelligence and made it public.  I will say, I understand – I understand, and I really don’t want to relitigate things from a year ago.

QUESTION:  No, I don’t want to – I don’t want to do that either.

MR MILLER:  But I will say our —

QUESTION:  But you – but you keep saying this.  I mean, this is by my count at least the fourth or fifth time since this whole thing began – or even before it began, that you guys say that the Russians are going to do these false flag attacks.

MR MILLER:  We did see false flag attacks in the opening —

QUESTION:  And there are —

MR MILLER:  There were some in the opening days of the war, going back a year – that we predicted and that did come true.  I think our track record of declassifying information about what Russia might do has been pretty good.

QUESTION:  Well, I’m not trying to defend Russia or anything.  I’m just trying to figure out what?– why it is you guys keep coming out and saying this stuff, and then it doesn’t even happen.

MR MILLER:  Because we’ve – I think a number of – first of all, a number of things that we have said would happen Russia in fact did do. If you go back and look at the Secretary’s remarks to the —

QUESTION:  Well, yes, but the invasion of Ukraine was not a false flag attack, and it’s been (inaudible) —

MR MILLER:  No.  But there were – again, we’re —

QUESTION:  No one —

MR MILLER:  We are relitigating – well, it’s not ancient history.  It’s a year ago.

QUESTION:  No, we’re not.  We’re not.  I mean, it was – but it’s not a false flag attack.

QUESTION:  I think it was an attack on a vehicle in Donetsk.

MR MILLER:  Donetsk, yeah.  That’s what I was referring – there were false flag attacks that we predicted that did happen in the opening days of the war.

Yeah.

QUESTION:  Sorry, just on the other aspect of Russia that I wanted to ask about, and there’s some reporting by Politico about the Chinese providing some drones, I think, and some ballistic armor, lots of materiel.  But I’m wondering whether – to the Russians, as you guys have been warning against.  But I guess you’ve seen that.  Does that amount to what you’ve been warning them not to do?

MR MILLER:  A few things about that.  Number one, we have focused our sanctions on lethal assistance.  We do continue to monitor whether there are additional sanctions that we ought to impose as whether – as well as whether there are companies that are violating our sanctions.  I’m not going to comment with respect to the specific report in Politico because the only information I have is what’s contained in the article – which isn’t to say I doubt it, but we would obviously have to conduct our own assessment before making any kind of determination about whether an activity was a sanctions violation or whether we need to impose additional sanctions in response to some activity that we’ve seen.

I will say one of the things that we made clear, that Secretary Blinken made clear to Chinese Government officials when we were in Beijing, was that, one, we were monitoring the issue closely, and would very much oppose any action on the government side – the Chinese Government transferring lethal assistance to Russia; and that, number two, on the private sector side, it was an issue where we had also – where we also had serious concerns.  We had seen companies providing assistance to Russia in the past, and had sanctioned those companies; and that we would continue to monitor it closely and take actions against private Chinese companies when we saw such sanctionable activity.

QUESTION:  And from the government perspective, it’s still the case that you haven’t seen anything that sort of steps that – oversteps that line?

MR MILLER:  That’s correct.  That’s correct.

Go ahead.

QUESTION:  Okay, one question.  Last Friday Minister Safeen Dizayee, head of department of foreign relations of the Kurdistan region, was here.  He met some people at the State Department but they didn’t meet with Secretary Blinken, and we haven’t seen any Kurdish leaders in Washington for a long time.  Could you speak about your current relations with the Kurdistan region, and have you put the Kurds into the back seat in your foreign policy?

MR MILLER:  Absolutely not.  It continues to be an issue on which we are very much engaged.  We’ve had a number of conversations both with Kurdish leaders and with other leaders in the region about it, and it is something we will continue to stay focused on.

Go ahead.

QUESTION:  On Israel, just to get your reaction quickly to the Knesset’s vote today.  And secondly, also in Israel but slightly different, why – could you explain why, under the U.S. waiver MOU with Israel, that Gazan Americans have been excluded?

MR MILLER:  Let me take that one – let me take that one first.  I will say that it is our understanding and our expectation that the Visa Waiver Program will apply to all Americans, including Americans in Gaza.  We believe that Israel is going to update its policies, that the regulations that they rolled out next – last month – or last week, I should say – will be updated in the coming weeks.  And it is our expectation that it will apply to all Americans.  Now, there may be slightly different procedures for Americans who live in Gaza, because of the different security situation that exists there.  But we expect the program to apply to all Americans and we’ll be monitoring Israel’s compliance with that quite closely.

With respect to the vote in the Knesset today, as we’ve said before, as a lifelong friend of Israel, President Biden has publicly and privately expressed his views that major changes in a democracy should be – if they’re going to be enduring, must have as broad a consensus as possible.  It was unfortunate that the vote today took place with the slimmest possible majority.  We understand talks are ongoing, and likely to continue over the coming weeks and months to forge a broader compromise, even with the Knesset in recess.  And we will continue to support the efforts of President Herzog and other Israeli leaders as they seek to build a broader consensus through political dialogue.

QUESTION:  Israel follow-up?

 QUESTION:  Well, while the State Department has indeed called on the Palestinian Authority to stop payments for murder of Jews in accordance with the Taylor Force Act, why will the State Department not demand that the Palestinian Authority repeal – repeal the law?  And further – further here, why will – they will not demand that the Palestinian Authority repeal the law that mandates a salary for life for anyone who murders a Jew, and not make them repeal this law a condition for renewed U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority?  And I have a follow-up.

MR MILLER:  I will say that we have made very clear that we oppose escalatory actions, that we oppose violence against anyone, whether they be Israeli or Palestinian, and that Israel has a right to defend itself.

QUESTION:  Okay.  The Jerusalem Post reports on July 15th of this year that Palestinian Authority President Ma-Mohammed Abbas is seeking to form a unity government with Hamas.  Being that Hamas is a genocidal terrorist organization, what is your elaborated response to the Palestinian Arab leadership that wants to embrace Hamas?

MR MILLER:  We have made quite clear our feelings about Hamas as a designated terrorist organization.  I don’t think I need to elaborate on that any further.

Go ahead.

QUESTION:  Thank you, Matt.  On Cambodian election, you said Sunday it’s neither free nor fair, and you announced visa restriction on Cambodia.  So, who will be the under this visa restriction?  The Cambodian current regime leadership?

MR MILLER:  We do not make those designations public.  We make public that we have designated officials, but we do not make the names public as a matter of policy.

MR MILLER:  Yeah, go ahead.

QUESTION:  Yeah, just to follow up on the Cambodia statement that you put out yesterday, you said that there’s a pause on certain foreign assistance programs.  Can you specify which programs or at least what kind of areas they’re in?

MR MILLER:  They are – I can’t detail the specific programs.  We have communicated that directly to the Cambodian Government.  But I can say it – the amount totals $18 million in this fiscal year, and that the restrictions will extend into future fiscal years as well.  It’s a serious amount of money both this year and in coming fiscal years.

QUESTION:  Another follow-up.  ….since you’ve sort of said these elections were neither free or fair, Prime Minister Hun Sen has said his son Hun Manet is likely to take power in coming days – or coming weeks, I think.  Do you have a specific response to that potential development?

MR MILLER:  Only that we were troubled that the elections themselves were neither free or fair, as we’ve said; that Cambodian authorities engaged in a pattern of threats and harassment against the political opposition throughout the electoral process, denied the Cambodian people a voice and choice in determining their future of the country.  And I don’t have anything further than that.

QUESTION:  It’s a little bit backward looking, but Hun Manet is actually a West Point grad under a DOD/State Department program that brings in cadets to West Point.  I wonder if there’s any way that you – any – the fact that he might become the leader of a country through clearly undemocratic means would prompt you to review that program that allows – to – allowing the son of a prime minister to come and study at the elite military institution in this country.  Is that something that you would want to try and avoid happening in the future?

MR MILLER:  I’m not aware of any reviews of the program that we will be undertaking.

Yeah, go ahead.

QUESTION:  Thanks, Matt.  I wanted to ask about reporting that the United States is weighing a possible deal with China on fentanyl, and that the administration is considering lifting sanctions on a police forensics institute around human rights abuses in exchange for Beijing’s cooperation combating the fentanyl crisis.  I was wondering if you could speak to that and what the administration – if not this, what else they’re doing on fentanyl.

MR MILLER:  We have not had any such discussions with Beijing.  In fact, we have made quite clear to the Chinese Government that we do not believe that the sanctions that are in place prevent the defense minister from meeting with our Secretary of Defense.  And we have made it clear that we think it is irresponsible to continue to not conduct military-to-military cooperation.  It’s a position that we – not just the State Department has made clear, but of course the Defense Department and the White House have made clear as well.

On fentanyl, the Secretary made clear both in his trip to Beijing and in his recent meeting with Wang Yi that we should establish a working group.  Chinese officials did give us some positive signals that they would move in that direction.  It’s yet to be finalized, but we do believe we should formalize a working group between our two countries to work on stopping the flow of precursor chemicals from China to Mexico, where they’re then turned into fentanyl that has killed millions and millions of Americans – and continues to kill Americans to this day.

QUESTION:  So just to clarify, the lifting of the human rights abuses-related sanctions related to fentanyl cooperation – that’s not something that’s been on the table?

MR MILLER:  It’s not something we’ve discussed with the Chinese Government, no.

QUESTION:  And then just another question on Israel, and the reaction to the judicial changes.  What, if any, kind of consequences in reaction to this – the U.S. has been outspoken against it.  Could this result in potential negative repercussions between the U.S. and Israel over this?

MR MILLER:  I would say that we have a longstanding friendship with the Government of Israel that really transcends any one issue.  And it is because of our friendship with the Government of Israel and our friendship with the people of Israel that the President and other members of this administration felt the responsibility to speak out about this measure and express our concern.

So, we will continue to engage with the Government of Israel about the other pending legislation in the coming weeks.  But rather than think about this in terms of consequences to our relationship, we think of our relationship as one in which we have areas where we disagree and we cooperate, and areas where we do not hesitate to express concerns.

QUESTION:  Are you concerned about the backsliding of democracy that this could indicate as the relationship between two democratic countries?

MR MILLER:  I will just say that it is unfortunate – we believe it is unfortunate that the vote took place today with the slimmest possible majority.  As the President made clear, we believe changes of this magnitude ought to be made with really the broadest consensus possible, and that did not happen here.

Go ahead, Guita.  Guita.

QUESTION:  Thank you.  I have multiple questions on Iran – (laughter) – I’m warning you.

MR MILLER:  Duly warned.

QUESTION:  So, yeah, all right.  Iran seems to be happy with the waivers that the U.S. has issued for Iraq to pay its debt to that country.  Today, your Iranian counterpart named Oman and Qatar as the third-party country that – where the money is going to be sent under last week’s waiver.  Can you confirm that, that it’s going to Oman?

MR MILLER:  I can confirm that Oman has indicated a willingness to receive a portion of those – these funds, and we expect that to happen.  We believe that is an important step.  As we’ve said for some time, we thought it was important to get this money out of Iraq, because it is a source of leverage that Iran uses against its neighbor.  So, this money will be held in a fund or an account in Iraq, but will then still be subject to the same restrictions that were in place —

QUESTION:  You mean Oman?

MR MILLER:  Oman, excuse me – in Oman, but will still be subject to the same restrictions as when the money was held in accounts in Iraq, meaning that the money can only be used for non-sanctionable activities such as humanitarian assistance, and that all the transactions need to be approved by the United States Treasury Department in advance.

QUESTION:  Okay.  On the prisoner exchange issue, again, your Iranian counterpart blamed the U.S. for elongation of this process.  What has been and is the main obstacle in getting this process finalized, getting the detainees back home?

MR MILLER:  I’m not going to speak to the details of this process, as I have never been willing to do, just because we think it’s important to keep those details private.  It’s obviously a very sensitive matter with respect to these detainees.  But I will say there is certainly nothing more than we would – that we – there’s nothing that we would like more than to get those detainees home as soon as possible.  We are working as expeditiously as we can to make that happen.  We want to happen – it to happen more quickly, not less quickly, and beyond that I wouldn’t want to talk about any of the underlying details.

QUESTION:  And the last one today, there’s this e-commerce company in Iran called Digikala.  It was shut down yesterday because some pictures of women without the mandatory scarf or head covering was released online.  Any comments?  And the case has – the company’s been referred to the judicial system.

MR MILLER:  Yeah.  We’ve seen the reports that Iranian authorities have closed the offices of Digikala over photographs of employees purportedly not wearing a mandatory hijab.  We believe the targeting of Digikala sends a clear message to the young people of Iran:  The regime will stop at nothing to control the women and girls of Iran.  The regime is even willing to suffocate its own local startup companies to that end.  Behavior such as that has an incredibly negative effect on the outlook for Iran’s aspiring entrepreneurs, and it is no wonder that so many young people in Iran are calling for change or leaving the country.

Yeah.  Go ahead.

QUESTION:   How concerned is the U.S. with Lukashenka’s comments about Wagner forces wanting to invade Poland?

MR MILLER:  I will say it is another in a series of irresponsible comments by Lukashenka.  And the only thing I will reiterate, as I said about another matter earlier in this briefing, the United States will defend every inch of NATO territory.

QUESTION:  Can I follow on that?

MR MILLER:  Yeah, yeah.

QUESTION:  Because not just Lukashenka made comments about Poland, but also Putin, who warned that an attack on Belarus from Poland somehow would be an attack on Russia.  And, also, he made some comments about how Poland’s western lands are a gift from Stalin.  So, do you see this as some kind of orchestrated thing, the – how do you see those comments?  Should we be worried?

MR MILLER:  I don’t know how much you should read into them.  I would say that there is only one country in the region that has demonstrated the – not only the intent but the willingness to invade its neighbors, and that’s Russia, not Poland, not any other country in the region.  And so, I would just reiterate that our alliance with Poland is strong.  Poland is a NATO member, of course, and we will defend, if necessary, every inch of NATO territory.

QUESTION:  On Ukraine?

MR MILLER:  Yeah.

QUESTION:  So, yesterday Secretary of State said Russia has already lost war in Ukraine.  And Kyiv has already retaken about 50 percent of the territory seized by Russia.  He also maintain that Ukraine counteroffensive is still in its relatively early days.  But on the same day, Russian president asserted that Ukraine’s counteroffensive failed.  How successful do you think Ukraine’s counteroffensive has been so far, in terms of regaining territory from the Russian forces?

MR MILLER:  Let me step back and say, without respect to this counteroffensive, that’s right, Ukraine has already regained – it depends – if you look at the – if you include Crimea, it’s somewhere – Ukraine has regained somewhere around 45 percent of its territory.  If you look at the post-2014, not including Crimea, it’s somewhere around 61 percent of its territory since the launch of the full-scale invasion.  So, Ukraine has already been incredibly successful in regaining territory that Russia had temporarily occupied.  With respect to the counteroffensive, I am not going to provide commentary about it from this podium.  As I’ve said in the past, we will leave that to the Ukrainian military.

I will reiterate, from our perspective, that Ukraine has everything it needs to conduct this counteroffensive.  We have supplied them with an enormous amount of military equipment, as have our allies and partners both in Europe and around the world, and we will continue to do so.  You can expect further announcements of military assistance in the coming days.  We will continue to stand strong with NATO, as it conducts this counteroffensive.

Go ahead.

QUESTION:  Quickly – I’d like to go to North Korea quickly.  How long would you like to wait if there is no response from North Korea on Private King?

MR MILLER:  I don’t – what do you mean how long would we have to wait?

QUESTION:  Are you going to wait indefinitely?

MR MILLER:  We would like – we would obviously love to get a response as soon as possible.

QUESTION:  Are you – do you have any other options except to wait to hear for North Korea?

MR MILLER:  I don’t want to say anything other than that we will continue to make our position clear to North Korea.  We do have a variety of channels through which we can send them messages.  I’m not going to talk about all those details because they’re sensitive in a case like this.  But we are concerned about his safety, his well-being.  We want him to be returned as soon as possible, so we will continue to work this case.

QUESTION:  And this week is going to be the 70th anniversary of Korean armistice.  How are you going to mark this anniversary?  Are you going to take this opportunity to send North Korea any message?

MR MILLER:  I won’t – I don’t want to comment on what we might do in the coming days.

MR MILLER:   All right, Alex, go ahead.  And then Michel – I’ll come to Michel next, and we’ll finish up.

QUESTION:  Thank you.  On human rights, on Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan arrested another opposition leader yesterday, Qubad Ibadoglu.  They came up with some trumped up charges against him.  But what we do know is that he was a vocal critic of the government – economic policy and corruption – and was singled out by the president while he was teaching here in New Jersey.  Do you have any comment on that?  Have you heard about the case?

MR MILLER:  Yeah.  We are closely following the arrest of Qubad Ibadoglu.  The United States remains strongly committed to advancing respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.  We urge the – we urge Azerbaijan to protect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of its citizens, including Qubad Ibadoglu, consistent with Azerbaijan’s own constitution and international obligations and commitments.

QUESTION:  Thank you.  And one more on Georgia, if you don’t mind.  A group of former U.S. ambassadors, five ambassadors to Georgia, issued a statement last week urging the Georgian Government to allow the President Saakashvili to obtain life-saving medical treatment.  Do you support those calls?

MR MILLER:  I will just say we are monitoring Mr. Saakashvili’s case closely.  We are very concerned about his health.  As we’ve said publicly and privately to the Georgian Government many times, it is the government’s responsibility to provide the medical care he needs to ensure his human rights are respected.  And we will continue to monitor this case very closely.

QUESTION:  Thanks.

MR MILLER:  All right, Michel, this will be the last one.

QUESTION:  Thank you.  Do you have any updates on the passports backlog?  Do you have any figures on the applications?  And what’s your reaction to the critics at the Capitol that the State Department is not doing enough in this regard?

MR MILLER:  I will say we are working on this.  We saw a record number of passport applications this year.  We have surged resources to try and bring down the backlog.  We are seeing some positive indications that that will happen.  It was of course going to take some time to resolve.  We had, as I said, an extensive number of applications.  It is a high priority for everyone in this administration – or in this department, from the senior leadership on down.  And we remain determined to get those wait times down, as soon as we possibly can.

QUESTION:  And do you have any numbers on the applications?

MR MILLER:  I don’t, but I’ll be happy to follow up with you.

QUESTION:  Thank you.

MR MILLER:  Thanks, everyone.

(The briefing was concluded at 2:07 p.m.)