Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has appointed Vadym Prystaiko as the new ambassador to the United Kingdom, according to a presidential decree published on July 20.
Prystaiko’s official title is ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Natalia Halibarenko was Prystaiko’s predecessor from August 2015 until July 2020. Prystaiko is going to take up his duties within one month.
Before the appointment, Prystaiko worked as deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration in the government of Prime Minister Denys Shmygal in March–June 2020.
Before that, he held the post of minister of foreign affairs in August–March 2020 under the government of ex-Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk. Additionally, he worked as the head of Ukraine’s mission to NATO from September 2017 to August 2019.
Prystaiko had already served as the ambassador of Ukraine to Canada from November 2012 to October 2014.
His new appointment didn’t come out of the blue: The Servant of the People faction had already discussed Prystaiko’s candidacy for the ambassador to the U.K. at a parliament session in June.
“On the one hand, this is a loss for the Cabinet of Ministers, but we are forced to go for it, considering the transformations in the European Union,” Yevhenia Kravchuk, deputy head of the Servant of the People fraction, wrote on Facebook before the Prystaiko’s appointment in June.
“Ukraine needs a strong ambassador to Britain who can establish effective communication with the government to ensure the support of our country in carrying out reforms and defending sovereignty.”
Prystaiko supports Ukrainians who go to the U.K. and other European Union member states for seasonal work. In fact, he claims that some EU countries need tens of thousands of Ukrainian employees for seasonal agricultural work like picking fruit.
The new ambassador doesn’t support the Minsk agreements meant to help stop Russia’s war in eastern Ukraine, saying that they are impossible to implement.
Regarding relations with the U.K., in September 2019, Prystaiko said Ukraine insisted on negotiations with the United Kingdom about a visa-free regime between the two countries.
Melinda Simmons, ambassador of the United Kingdom to Ukraine, announced that in 2021 Ukraine and the U.K. will start the talks about the visa-free regime. After that, they will also discuss trade relations: the countries will try to foster bilateral trade.
On Jan. 16, 2020, Prystaiko, then Ukraine’s foreign minister, held talks with U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab. They agreed to speed up the negotiations on the signing of the bilateral Agreement on Political Cooperation, Free Trade and Partnership between the countries.
Britain’s direct investment in Ukraine in 2019 accounted for over $2 billion, making the U.K. one of three major investors in the country.
Prystaiko will focus on developing a bilateral agreement between the U.K. and Ukraine, which he have signed by the end of 2020.
“We have many issues that used to be regulated by European legislation. As part of the EU, Britain didn’t have to run certain issues by us. Now they need to,” says Prystaiko.
According to Prystaiko, the bilateral agreement includes the issues of free trade, visas, military cooperation and security. He said that the agreement should be signed by the end of 2020.
“We hope to complete the work this year. I hope it will be during the president’s visit to London.”
Improving the visa regime between the U.K. and Ukraine will be part of his work, too, Prystaiko said. After Brexit, Ukraine granted the U.K. citizens visa-free entrance for one year. Ukrainians require a visa to visit the U.K. Prystaiko said he wants to improve the visa situation for both sides.
