Victoria Nuland discusses Ukraine with US ambassador to Kiev Geoffrey Pyatt

A Kremlin official accused Washington of meddling in the former Soviet republic, while the Obama administration blamed Moscow for spreading an intercepted private conversation between two American diplomats.

The posting of the audiotape represented a striking turn in the situation. It was put anonymously on YouTube on Tuesday under a Russian headline, “Puppets of Maidan,” a reference to the square in Kiev occupied by protesters, and then posted on Twitter on Thursday by a Russian government official who called it “controversial.”

"Fuck the EU! - Exactly!" - Victoria Nuland & Geoffrey Pyatt

"F**k the EU," Victoria Nuland, an assistant secretary of state, allegedly said in a recent phone call with US ambassador to Kiev Geoffrey Pyatt, as the two were discussing a deal to end the crisis in Ukraine. 

The tape captured a four-minute telephone call on Jan. 25 between Victoria Nuland, the assistant secretary of state for European affairs, and Geoffrey Pyatt, the ambassador to Ukraine, trading their views of the crisis, their assessments of various opposition leaders and their frustrations with their European counterparts they see as passive. At one point, Ms. Nuland used an expletive to describe what should happen to the European Union, a comment for which she apologized Thursday.

The two were discussing Mr. Yanukovych’s offer to bring two opposition leaders, Arseniy P. Yatsenyuk and Vitali Klitschko, into the government as prime minister and deputy prime minister. The Americans clearly favored Mr. Yatsenyuk, a former economics minister, and Ms. Nuland said Mr. Klitschko, a former world heavyweight boxing champion, should not go into government. “I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Ms. Nuland said.

Mr. Pyatt expressed hope for a deal to form a new government but warned that Moscow would try to undo their negotiations. “If it does gain altitude, the Russians will be working behind the scenes to torpedo it,” he said.

A link to the secret recording was sent out in a Twitter message on Thursday by Dmitry Losukov, an aide to Russia’s deputy prime minister, just as Ms. Nuland was in Kiev meeting with Mr. Yanukovych and opposition leaders. The White House pointed to that as an indication of Russian involvement, although it said it was not accusing Moscow of taping the call. “I think it says something about Russia’s role,” said Jay Carney, the White House press secretary.