Starving for qualified diplomatic personnel. Ukraine is facing a shortage of professional diplomats

The Presidential Administration of Ukraine plans to optimize the structure of foreign diplomatic institutions by shutting down some of them. This should help the state save budget funds. Such optimization will resolve yet another problem – namely, staffing. The shortage of diplomatic personnel led to the fact that for nearly several months Ukraine has not been represented by ambassadors in more than 20 countries around the world.

Embassies will be curtailed

Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Valeriy Chaliy announced on his Facebook page the closing of diplomatic representative offices of Ukraine abroad and downsizing of diplomats with the aim of economizing state funds. “It is unfortunate, but we are forced to reduce the number of consulates and embassies, meaning liquidating some of them,” Chaliy wrote.

According to information that Capital possesses, some of the embassies in small neighboring countries in Europe such as Montenegro and Slovenia may be closed. Diplomatic representative offices in Serbia and Croatia will cover these countries. It is not ruled out that such a principle will be applied to relations with North European countries.

Be that as it may, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine voices different opinions about the possibilities of optimization. “While such downsizing is necessary in the Balkans, in other countries this move is questionable. Besides that, embassies are obligated to make their contribution to the solution of the financial problems of the country. Diplomats are working with investors and represent Ukraine. Besides around UAH 1 bn is required to maintain them, which is much less than is allocated to the State Security Service, for example,” an employee of the MFA told Capital upon the request of anonymity.

Hunger for personnel

But reduction of financing is not the only problem that Ukrainian diplomats face on the foreign front. Today Ukraine is not represented by ambassadors in more than two dozen countries. In particular, Ukraine has no ambassadors to France, Germany, the UK, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark and Serbia. Provisional proxies assumed the functions of diplomatic representatives. The majority of ambassadors were dismissed by the acting president of Ukraine Oleksandr Turchynov over the period March-May. But recently the president of Ukraine appointed two ambassadors. On August 20, Andriy Olefirov was appointed Ambassador of Ukraine to Finland and Yevhen Burkat – Ambassador of Ukraine to South Africa.

“Absence of ambassadors carries the risk of losing communication of the top officials of the country with their foreign colleagues. The most important contacts are traditionally supported through the head of the diplomatic representative office that has the right to meet in person with the highest representatives of the country in which they are stationed. The delay in the appointment of an ambassador may not be understood by the receiving side and as a result the doors for the majority of diplomats may be closed,” Deputy Chair of the VR Foreign Affairs Committee Volodymyr Polochaninov of the Batkivshchyna party told Capital.

The fact that European society is poorly informed about the events in Ukraine is also associated with the absence of ambassadors. The Presidential Administration of Ukraine says that decrees on the appointment of new ambassadors will soon appear. “We are expecting that in early September there will be argements (consent of countries to accept a certain individual as the diplomatic representative of another country). I hope that the appointment of ambassadors of Ukraine to France and Poland will be good news,” said Chaliy. He added that there was a pause in the process of confirming new ambassadors due to “objective circumstances”, though he did not specify.

Diplomat with many years of experience and member of the delegation of Ukraine in the talks with the EU from 2007-2010 Vadym Tryukhan suggests that the reason for the delay in filling the vacancies was a shortage of personnel that Minister of Foreign Policy Pavlo Klimkin and his predecessor Andriy Deshchytsia had to deal with.

Tryukhan says the MFA does not want to assign diplomats that played the leading roles under ex-president Viktor Yanukovych to serve as ambassadors. However, there are specialists that left the diplomatic corps in previous years that are suitable for the job. “The new leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is not taking any measures to rehire them,” Tryukhan told Capital. He is concerned that under the current circumstances newly appointed officials for serving abroad may be politically motivated coming from the inner circles of the minister of foreign affairs or the Presidential Administration.

“The appointment of ambassadors has been the Achilles heel of the Ukrainian diplomatic corps over the past ten years. While in 2005, as a rule, staff diplomats were appointed, ex-president Viktor Yushchenko introduced the practice of politically motivated appointments that was proven to the maximum under the leadership of Yanukovych,” Tryukhan noted.

In Tryukhan’s opinion, the insufficient military, financial and humanitarian aid to Kyiv from leading countries of the world is testimony to the fact the Ukraine’s diplomatic corps is lagging behind in meeting today’s challenges.