Ukraine’s envoy to the UK had publicly scolded the president for his conduct at the NATO summit in Vilnius
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has sacked his country’s ambassador to Britain Vadim Pristayko, who recently criticized the head of state. A decree confirming the dismissal was published on the president’s website on Friday.
According to the document, Pristayko has also lost his job as Kiev’s permanent representative to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), a UN body that has its headquarters in London.
The diplomat’s dismissal comes less than two weeks (13 July 2023) after he publicly criticized Zelensky for his conduct at the NATO summit in Vilnius on July 11 and 12.
Even before arriving at the high-profile event, the Ukrainian president had lashed out at the US-led military bloc on social media, claiming that its “indecisiveness” on Kiev’s membership bid was a sign of “weakness.” According to the Washington Post, the US delegation was “furious” about the remarks.
A heated exchange between Zelensky and top US and UK officials in the Lithuanian capital reportedly followed. British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told journalists on the sidelines of the summit that allies “want to see gratitude” from Ukraine for the military assistance that NATO states have provided to the country amid the conflict with Russia.
Wallace also recalled how he told the Ukrainian officials during his visit to Kiev last year that Western nations “are not Amazon.”
During a press conference in Vilnius, Zelensky claimed that Ukraine had “always been grateful” to the UK and called on Wallace to “write to me how to be grateful” in a way that would satisfy him. “We can wake up every morning and thank the minister personally,” he added.
When the opinion of Pristayko was sought by Sky News journalists on the matter, he said Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s reaction to a demand for gratitude from one of its Western backers was misplaced.
Recall that Zelensky had responded sarcastically to a call by UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace for Kiev to show some gratitude for all the Western aid it receives.
Answering to question posed by Sky News reporters, the Kiev’s ambassador said, “I do not believe that this sarcasm is healthy.”
He referred to the fact that Zelensky had suggested supposedly waking up every morning and thanking Wallace for what he had done. Such public displays only demonstrate that Kiev and its Western backers are not as united as they would like to appear, the ambassador added.
“We do not have to show… Russians that there is… something between us. They have to know that we are working together,” Pristayko said, advocating a more discreet way of sorting out differences. “If anything happens, Ben [Wallace] can call me and tell me everything he wants,” he said.
Pristayko had been Kiev’s ambassador to the UK since July 2020. During his career, the 53-year-old diplomat occupied a number of top positions, including Ukrainian foreign minister in 2019-2020, and the country’s envoy to NATO in 2017-2019.
