The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine announced that there were no reasons to raise the status of diplomatic relations with the Russian Federation by appointing an ambassador.
That's according to a response of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine to UNIAN's inquiry.
"Given Russia's continued aggression against Ukraine and the Russian occupation of Ukrainian territories, there is no reason to raise the status of diplomatic relations by appointing an ambassador of Ukraine," the Foreign Ministry noted.
As UNIAN reported earlier, on February 10, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia "didn't mind" redeploying their ambassador to Kyiv and having a Ukrainian ambassador back in Moscow.
Read alsoKremlin says Russia's ready to send ambassador to Kyiv – Peskov
Later, Dmitry Peskov, a press secretary for Russian President Vladimir Putin, confirmed the Kremlin’s readiness to send an ambassador to Kyiv.
*** On February 23, 2014, the Russian Foreign Ministry recalled the ambassador to Kyiv, Mikhail Zurabov, who had held the position since 2009. After that, Andrei Vorobyov held Russia's charge d'affaires a.i. to Ukraine until the day he died – on May 30, 2016. Since November 2016 Alexander Lukashik has been performing duties of CDA a.i.
Ukraine recalled its then-ambassador to the Russian Federation, Volodymyr Yelchenko, in March 2014. Since 2015, Ruslan Nimchynsky has been charge d'affaires of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.
