Amateurs in diplomacy: who is the Office of the President betting on?

Former commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny and ex-secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Alexey Danilov will go abroad to engage in diplomacy after their resignations.

This is a common practice for Ukraine, and in recent years it has become widespread. Together with Zaluzhny and Danilov, 10 embassies in Europe alone are headed by non-cadre diplomats. For comparison, there are 26 people from the Foreign Ministry system at the head of embassies.

Personnel and non-personnel

Nowadays, most Ukrainian embassies and representative offices at international organizations in Europe are headed by career diplomats. Representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headed 26 embassies in the countries of the Old World. Among them, diplomats with extensive experience and knowledge should be highlighted, such as Alexey Makeev in Germany, Marina Mikhailenko in Portugal and Sergei Pogoreltsev in Spain.

Outside the system, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine is represented by 8 people - in Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, the Vatican, Latvia, Slovenia, France, Switzerland, as well as in the Representative Office of Ukraine to international organizations in Vienna. Two more are preparing to head the embassies.

Although the procedure for appointing Valery Zaluzhny as ambassador to the UK has just been launched, the ex-commander-in-chief himself is actively preparing for a new job. He was seen several times at the Diplomatic Academy. This is an educational institution that, in particular, retrains people from other fields to work in diplomacy.

But Alexey Danilov is still resting after working at the National Security and Defense Council. The presidents of Ukraine and Moldova personally agreed on his appointment in Chisinau. As informed sources told Apostrophe, Danilov had a choice, but he himself chose the option with Moldova. And although the status of the new ambassador is a positive signal for our neighbors, we must understand that in Chisinau it is a difficult election year and an attempt at revenge by pro-Russian forces. Therefore, they are afraid that the new ambassador will not go beyond the bounds of decency. As you know, Danilov does not mince words in his assessments.

At least some appointments at the embassy can be perceived as a sinecure. This concept appeared in the Middle Ages and means a well-paid position that does not require particularly hard work or significant effort, despite the appearance of activity.

Under previous presidents, such appointments were made in the last months of their term in order to accommodate loyal associates or for actual retirement. Now in this category of “diplomats” there are more and more of those who have been fired from high positions. In such cases, the purpose of the appointment is to neutralize a potential opponent, because former team members know too much sensitive information. On the other hand, there are times when such ambassadors actually become effective in their positions.

Former Defense Minister Andrej Taran went to Slovenia shortly after his dismissal - in May 2022. In this small country between Italy and Croatia, the new ambassador is actively working. The embassy's social media is full of reports of meetings with other diplomats and various security discussions.

Also, judging by the embassy’s page, former Prosecutor General Irina Venediktova is active in Switzerland. She was appointed ambassador in November 2022.

Yuri Gusev, the former head of Ukroboronprom, was recently appointed ambassador to Azerbaijan on February 22. To begin work, he still has to present his credentials to the President of Azerbaijan.

A separate story with former Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzhaparova. Although with a specialized education, she began her career as a journalist, later was Deputy Minister of Information Policy, and only in 2020 she joined Dmitry Kuleba’s team. Since February 22 – Permanent Representative of Ukraine to international organizations in Vienna. Let us remind you that the headquarters of the OSCE, IAEA, and several other specialized organizations are located in this city, so the position is important and requires not only the skills of a diplomat. However, given the rumors that Dzhaparova gave birth to a child in March from the “Privat” oligarch Gennady Bogolyubov, who is a partner of Igor Kolomoisky, the real motives for the appointment raise questions.

In other directions

Some of the ambassadors have specific competence in an area that is important for relations with a particular country. For example, the ambassador to the Vatican “Father of the Tomos” Andrei Yurash. Before his appointment, he was for a long time director of the Department of Religious and National Affairs of the Ministry of Culture and played an important role in granting autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

The embassy in Latvia is headed by Anatoly Kutsevol. Previously, he worked in the Ministry of Economy, as well as the government office for European integration, non-governmental organizations and the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers. Therefore, he at least has an idea of ​​​​the work of diplomats.

But the appointment of Olesya Ilashchuk to Bulgaria at one time caused a real scandal in the media. At that time, she had no experience either in diplomacy or in public service. Olesya Ilashchuk also positioned herself as a psychotherapist and sexologist. However, according to the editors, the Foreign Ministry is satisfied with her work. True, there is significant merit here, along with Ilashchuk, of the first secretary of the embassy Oleg Okhotnik, a career diplomat.

In France, since 2020, Ukraine has been represented by Vadim Omelchenko. Before his appointment as ambassador, he headed the Gorshenin Institute analytical center, twice worked as an adviser to the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, and also in 2000-2006 was vice president of the Interpipe corporation. Therefore, he is associated with the oligarch Viktor Pinchuk, as well as with one of the ex-officials from the Yanukovych era, businessman Sergei Tigipko. It was with Omelchenko’s business connections that Tigipko’s appointment as ambassador to France was linked. Back in 1996, Tigipko helped the French giant Lafarge buy OJSC Nikolaevcement. Omelchenko himself lived in Nice for a long time before his appointment.

Empty chairs

Many Ukrainian diplomatic missions operate without ambassadors at all. At the time of preparation of the material, there were embassies without heads in 9 European countries. These are Belgium, Belarus, Armenia, Greece, Georgia, Norway, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Russia.

Sometimes this situation is caused by war - there is no point in keeping ambassadors in Russia and Belarus. And also the unfriendly policies of states towards Ukraine. The situation with such embassies is illustrated by the words of Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba regarding communications with Tbilisi. Back in February last year, he said that the appointment of an ambassador was at the final stage, but “when he leaves for Georgia, it will be a matter of political moment.”

The situation is similar in Armenia. For a number of reasons, this country became a hostage to Russia and supported the Kremlin’s policy towards Ukraine. And only recently has she begun to turn away from Moscow. So we have not had a full-fledged ambassador in Yerevan since 2021. By the way, the last ambassador of Ukraine to Armenia was Ivan Kuleba, the father of the current minister.

According to Apostrophe, the ambassador to the Czech Republic has already been found. A diplomat working in another important country for us should go there. The delay is due to the search for a replacement for him.

There are also problems with the appointment of an ambassador to Hungary. They searched for a candidate for a long time, and finally found it. Media soldier from Transcarpathia, with knowledge of the Hungarian language. However, everything was stopped by an unexpected problem - how to dismiss a conscript from military service. In a similar case, Valery Zaluzhny was simply expelled, but in the case of a potential ambassador, this option did not work: he refused to leave the Armed Forces of Ukraine under such a “gray” scheme.

In general, the situation with ambassadors in Europe is relatively good. After all, it has always been a prestigious destination. There is a much greater shortage of personnel in Asia, Latin America and especially Africa. Despite the fact that Ukraine plans to increase the number of embassies there, it is often the lack of specialists that is the problem.

At the same time, it should be taken into account that much in diplomacy, but not everything depends on the work of the ambassador. Yes, there are examples when diplomats actually changed the country’s position on supporting Ukraine. There are cases when countries have not had an ambassador for years, and communication goes directly through the Office of the President. And there are more and more such cases lately...