WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will visit Ukraine, Poland, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia from July 1 to 5, the State Department said, seeking to promote stability in the volatile South Caucasus region.
In Kiev, Clinton will meet Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who has reached out to Russia since taking office on Feb. 25, and then attend a meeting of the Community of Democracies in Krakow, an intergovernmental group that promotes democratic norms.
After that, Clinton will visit Armenia and Azerbaijan, long at odds over Azerbaijan's breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Announcing Clinton's trip, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Friday that the United States had "invested a great deal of energy" to try to improve relations with Armenia and Azerbaijan and said the visit showed U.S. commitment to try to resolve their disputes.
Clinton ends her trip in Georgia in a gesture of support for the country. Critics have accused President Barack Obama's administration of improving ties with Russia at the expense of Georgia — a charge that U.S. officials deny.
"The secretary's trip will be a tangible manifestation of our ongoing commitment to Georgia's territorial integrity," Crowley told reporters.
In a five-day war in August 2008, Russia crushed a Georgian attempt to retake its breakaway region of South Ossetia. Russia recognized South Ossetia and another rebel region, Abkhazia, as independent after the war.
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