Victoria Samborska
Meet the new ambassador (I’ll refrain from choosing a feminine form) to Sweden — former journalist and MP Svitlana Zalishchuk.
Grounds for appointment:
Relevant education – none
Diplomatic experience – none
Participation in international organizations – also none
So what’s the reason then?
A romantic relationship with Swedish diplomat Mårten Ehnberg.
Let me remind you: in 2016, Zalishchuk found herself at the center of a scandal after trying to conceal in her declaration the purchase of an apartment in central Kyiv worth $270,000. She claimed the apartment was bought jointly with her husband using funds from the sale of his apartment in Stockholm. However, the income declared by Ehnberg — who served as Sweden’s deputy ambassador to Ukraine until August 2014 — hardly supported that explanation.
The scandal was swept under the rug, the apartment is no longer mentioned, but the relationship with the Swede has now become sufficient grounds for Zalishchuk’s appointment as ambassador to one of Ukraine’s most strategically important countries.
I still remember that inseparable trio:
Zalishchuk – Leshchenko – Nayem.
There are still plenty of beautiful European countries where the President wants to replace ambassadors, so I doubt Zalishchuk’s colleagues will be left jobless.
Qualifications?
Who cares, when the work of Ukraine’s professional diplomatic service has long been discredited, and the most important posts at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are filled by random people from Yermak’s inner circle?
People are acting so surprised that Zelensky appointed Svetka Zalishchuk as ambassador to Sweden — as if they’ve forgotten who our ambassador to Bulgaria is and who Zelensky himself is.
Oleh Sharp
Mason Lemberg
Tags: Politics Ukraine
