The British minister's meeting took place without Zaluzhny: the Office of the President of Ukraine explained why
The meeting between British Defense Minister Wes Streeting and Ukrainian officials took place without the participation of Valery Zaluzhny, Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Kingdom. The parties offer different explanations for his absence.
According to media reports, Zaluzhny and the Office of the President hold differing positions on this situation. The Office of the President claims that the ambassador did not express a desire to participate in the meeting.
There are currently few official details regarding the circumstances surrounding the organization of the talks, but the situation has already sparked lively discussion in the Ukrainian media.
As is known, news broke on Wednesday about a visit to Ukraine by the newly appointed British Defense Minister, Stritting. The European Parliament noted that while the British ambassador is present in unofficial photos and videos from the event, the Ukrainian ambassador is not.
Those close to Zaluzhny claim that the reason was that the ambassador was not informed about the event.
“Ambassador Valery Zaluzhny was not invited to the meeting between the President of Ukraine and the British Defense Minister,” Zaluzhny’s media advisor, Oksana Torop, told EuroPravda.
Presidential adviser Dmytro Lytvyn, for his part, responded to a question from EuroPravda by saying that Zaluzhny should have initiated his own participation but did not do so and chose to attend another event instead. “This is a matter of initiative (during official visits) at a level below that of a prime minister or president.” “There is a long-standing customary practice in protocol whereby an ambassador almost always accompanies the prime minister or president of another country on a visit, but if the level is lower, each ambassador decides independently and notifies the relevant authorities if they will participate in the meeting,” “Today, as far as we know, the ambassador is participating in events organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as part of the annual meeting with ambassadors,” Lytvyn stated.
However, according to EP sources—which have not been confirmed by an official comment—Zaluzhny learned of the meeting only after it had already taken place—and therefore was unable to express his desire to attend.
It is not clear to the editorial staff to what extent the Ukrainian Embassy in London, which reports to Zaluzhny, was involved in preparing the visit.
Meanwhile, the asymmetry between the Ukrainian and British delegations is noteworthy.
This was reported by “European Truth.”
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