Kuchma administration says recall of envoy not related to election results (01/16/00)

Kuchma administration says recall of envoy not related to election results

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Although information in the U.S. press has suggested that the recall of Ukraine's Ambassador to the United States Anton Buteiko is in some part due to dissatisfaction with the results of voting by Ukrainian citizens living in the United States during the presidential elections, the administration of President Leonid Kuchma has unequivocally stated this was not the case.

"I assure you that the recall of Mr. Buteiko is in no way tied to the results of the presidential elections," the president's spokesman, Oleksander Martynenko, told The Weekly on January 12.

The reason behind the decision to replace Dr. Buteiko, who had served exactly a year in his position as ambassador to Washington, has been questioned not only by members of the Ukrainian community in the United States, but by at least one reporter of the Washington Post.

Post reporter Nora Boustany, commenting on December 17, 1999, in the newspaper's "Diplomatic Dispatches" column, suggested that President Kuchma was "disappointed" by first-round voting results in the diplomatic centers in New York, Washington and Chicago, and that the "political fallout was roiling Ukrainian diplomatic ranks."

Many of the Ukrainian citizens living in the United States are diplomats or members of their families and workers associated with the two consulates in Chicago and New York, the Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York or the Embassy in Washington. Generally speaking, they serve by decision of the president.

In addition to Ambassador Buteiko, the Ukrainian government recalled both consuls general. The recall extended to the diplomatic communities found in other countries and included the ambassador to Canada.

The president's spokesman said that Mr. Buteiko's term in Washington, and those of the other diplomats, was ended in connection with administrative reforms that are finally under way in the government. He said an effort is being made to raise the quality and the qualifications of people who hold high positions in all spheres of government.

"The reality is such that a person who has worked a year in one position may be needed elsewhere," said Mr. Martynenko. However, he did acknowledge that a year was a short term for an ambassador.

Internal guidelines of the Foreign Affairs Ministry state that an ambassador should generally hold office for three years, which can be lengthened or shortened depending on other factors. Dr. Yuri Shcherbak, who preceded Mr. Buteiko as ambassador to the United States, worked in Washington for four years.

Speculation surrounding the recall of Ambassador Buteiko has been fed to some extent by a presidential decision days after the first round of presidential voting to dismiss three oblast chairpersons in regions that had expressed less than enthusiastic support for the re-election of President Kuchma. At that time Mr. Martynenko had said that the poor support for Mr. Kuchma was a reflection of the oblast leaders' ineffective effort in carrying out their executive duties.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry, which is responsible for the country's diplomatic corps. said it would not comment on rumors regarding the reasons for Dr. Buteiko's departure, although a spokesman there indicated that the president was responsible for the decision.

Ambassador Buteiko, in an interview with The Weekly prior to his departure for Kyiv on January 2, said he had received no explanation for his shortened stay in Washington. "The letter I received notified me that it was decided that I return to Ukraine, expressed appreciation for my efforts in expanding our economic, political, military and humanitarian relations with the United States, and set a date by which I must return," explained the outgoing ambassador.

Ambassador Buteiko had downplayed any suggestion that a link exists between the election results in the United States and his recall. He said the president was supported by a plurality of Ukrainian voters living in the United States in the first round and more than 70 percent in the run-off.

"Therefore, it is very difficult for me to conclude that this recall is somehow connected with the election results," he said. "Only those who made the decision know the real reason."

President Kuchma has yet to announce the appointment of a successor to Ambassador Buteiko. On January 11 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would neither confirm nor deny speculation that Kostiantyn Hryschenko, ambassador to Belgium and special presidential emissary to NATO, would be appointed the new ambassador to the United States.

Neither the presidential administration nor the Foreign Affairs Ministry has announced what position Dr. Buteiko will now hold.

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