Analysis

Ukraine’s president asks Rada to appoint new foreign minister

Deputy chief of staff Ruslan Riaboshapka to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has submmitted a parliamentary motion to appoint Vadym Prystaiko to the post of foreign minister.

Working as the deputy head of the presidential administration since May, Mr Prystaiko has been serving as deputy foreign minister since 2014. Previously he had been Ukraine’s ambassador to Canada and the head of the country’s mission to NATO.

The deputy chief of staff added that President Zelensky had appointed Vladyslav Bukharev to head Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service and announced a competition to fill a seat at the European Court of Human Rights.

On June 11, the Ukrainian press reported that the president had signed a motion for a parliamentary vote to dismiss Ukrainian prosecutor-general Yuriy Lutsenko, as well as a presidential decree to dismiss fifteen regional governors.

On June 6, the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, voted against the dismissal of senior government officials, including prime minister Volodymyr Groysman and former foreign minister Pavlo Klimkin, who resigned following the new president’s inauguration.