Volodymyr Ogryzko: “Zaluzhny’s appointment as ambassador was not delayed, but accelerated”
5 July 2024 11:39
ЕКСКЛЮЗИВ
On 4 July, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, a former commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and now a diplomat, visited the ambassador’s residence in London and officially took up his duties as Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK.
The appointment of Zaluzhnyi to the diplomatic post has caused a lot of discussion. Why did it take Zaluzhnyi so long to get to the UK? How effective will the former military man be in the diplomatic field? These questions were answered by diplomat and former Foreign Minister Volodymyr Ohryzko.
He stressed that an ambassador needs to be trained to be effective. Even experienced diplomats undergo extensive training before being appointed, and it is quite complex:
“They prepare, study documents, study the history of relations, study the problems that have been, are or may be in these relations. They work on the language. It’s a bunch of things that just need to be done in time. They prepare for six months to a year. This means that they study all the issues that are the subject of their work very deeply,”
– says the diplomat.
Therefore, according to Ogryzko, the appointment of Zaluzhnyi as ambassador to the UK did not take long at all, but rather the opposite. As you know, the President dismissed Zaluzhnyi from the post of Commander-in-Chief on 8 February – less than five months have passed since then.
“Zaluzhnyi underwent very serious training, but it was accelerated because, unfortunately, we don’t have much time. But he passed what was required, at least in such accelerated formats,”
– ogryzko said.
According to the former minister, Zaluzhny’s appointment could be particularly effective given Ukraine’s current priorities:
“Today we have two key tasks for the outside world: getting weapons and money. At least the first part of it, I think, will be most successful.”
In addition, the diplomat pays special attention to Zaluzhnyi’s potential in the UK:
“I think he will be in great demand in the UK, because the UK is one of the leaders in helping Ukraine in the defence sector. He doesn’t need to find any arguments that are hardly known to anyone but a military officer, especially at this level.”
Earlier, Kommersant Ukrainian reported that Zaluzhnyi could not travel to London because he did not have a British visa. It is still not known what exactly prevented him from obtaining a visa, as sources from claimed that there were no reasonable grounds for delaying the visa.
As you know, on 8 February, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi from the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He was replaced by Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The media reported that Zaluzhnyi had undergone a military qualification examination in the winter, where he was declared unfit to serve in the army, and in February he wrote a letter of resignation from military service.
Later, it became known that Zaluzhnyi could take up the post of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the United Kingdom. on 7 March, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the “launch of the appointment procedure” for the ambassador, and recently it became known that Zaluzhnyi had received an agriman from the UK.
At the same time, Zaluzhnyi does not rule out the possibility of running for the presidency of Ukraine in the future.
Zaluzhnyi has no diplomatic experience and has spent his entire life in the military. But in 2020, he completed a master’s degree in international relations at the Ostroh Academy.
The previous British ambassador, Vadym Prystaiko, was dismissed by President Zelenskyy in July 2023.
