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Zelensky having hard time choosing new Ukrainian ambassador to US — Politico

According to former Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Ivanna Klimpush-Tsintsadze, candidates who could potentially fill the role are wary of taking on the job

BRUSSELS, August 14. /TASS/. Vladimir Zelensky is having trouble finding someone to head the Ukrainian embassy in the United States, Politico quoted sources as saying.

"Of course, there are people who want the job, but there’s no one who really measures up to it. Zelensky is having a hard time filling the position," Politico quoted a Ukrainian diplomatic source as saying.

The sources said that Zelensky accelerated the government shakeup, hoping to appoint former Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko to replace former envoy Olga Stefanishina, but he didn't count on Sviridenko rejecting his offer.

According to former Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Ivanna Klimpush-Tsintsadze, candidates who could potentially fill the role are wary of taking on the job.

Klimpush-Tsintsadze explained that the new ambassador should be part of Zelensky's inner circle, where there are no serious contenders.

On August 7, Verkhovna Rada deputy Dmitry Razumkov said that Washington had rejected Rustem Umerov's candidacy for the post of Ukrainian ambassador because of his ties to Timur Mindich, against whom a criminal case is currently being opened. Law enforcement agencies are also investigating the former ambassador of Ukraine to the United States, who is accused of illegal enrichment. According to the investigators, Stefanishina was negotiating the purchase of a $550,000 house near Kiev, while the official income would not have afforded her such an acquisition.

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