Selenskyj’s new ambassador needs to put more pressure on Bern Selenskyj warns of the danger of mines – the night update without photos

It is not yet clear when Artem Rybchenko, the Ukrainian ambassador to Bern, will travel back to Kiev with his family. “Right now, the bureaucratic procedures are underway,” he says. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine will make this decision.”

It sure will. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called him back. He may still visit the WEF in Davos. “We have already started preparations,” he says. «It is an important platform for Ukraine. We thank Switzerland for this opportunity.”

Rybchenko was ambassador to Switzerland from June 2018. “I intend to remain in the diplomatic service,” he says. “The goal is to protect and rebuild Ukraine.” He is eager to continue what he started with the reconstruction conference in Lugano.

Popular and valued ambassador

The 39-year-old was popular. He behaved very differently from Andriy Melnyk, the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany recalled. This had fueled the political landscape with sharp demands. In Bern, the consensual Rybchenko was all the more appreciated.

“I certify his tremendous commitment and top-notch performance,” said EPP Councilor Nik Gugger. “He has always found the right balance to make Switzerland aware of his country.” Gugger emphasizes that the CHF 100 million promised by the Federal Council as winter aid for Ukraine is partly due to Rybchenko.

He was “on the road day and night,” said Andrej Lushnycky, president of the Swiss-Ukrainian Association and Honorary Consul of Ukraine for Romandie. “He was very close to the people and very present.”

Selenskyj wants to tighten up pace in Switzerland

Despite all the praise: President Selenskyj wants to increase the pace in Switzerland, research shows. He will soon appoint former Attorney General Irina Venediktova as ambassador to Switzerland. She is, says Lushnycky, “not a diplomat with a classic career”. It is a “political appointment”.

Venediktova has extensive know-how in the field of corruption and war crimes. She painstakingly collected evidence against Vladimir Putin, government officials and military commanders for destroying Ukrainian cities and killing civilians. As a former law professor at the University of Kharkiv, she is also a legal expert.

She is considered a close confidant of Zelenskyj, even though he fired her as Attorney General. In 2018, she first served as legal counsel to Zelenskyy and then became a member of his campaign headquarters for the presidency. In 2020, Zelenskyy Venediktova proposed to Parliament as Attorney General.

An unknown named Artem Samorodov

Ukrainian lawyer Artem Samorodov, who has been in Switzerland since late February, knows Venediktova personally. Both are from Kharkov, both have met again and again at scientific and academic meetings.

Samorodov is little known in Switzerland. It was the Ukrainian parliament that sent him to the West on the second day of the war, he says. “I have to organize aid for the Ukrainian people.” He chose Switzerland for this because it was “a very important country with an international focus”.

Samorodov is head of the advisory groups of the Ukrainian parliament and his plenipotentiary in Switzerland. He is said to have very close ties to Ruslan Stefanchuk, the chairman of the Ukrainian parliament. He also has connections in President Zelenskyj’s office.

The Ambassador’s New Expectations

Samorodov praises Rybchenko as a “good ambassador with a lot of experience”. His resignation surprised him. At the same time, he notes that war requires new qualifications: “President Zelenskyj has different expectations of the new ambassador.”

What is the job of Venediktova? “It would use its international network to take action against oligarchs and war criminals,” he says. “She must ensure that Switzerland tightens sanctions against Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs and freezes their assets.”

Selenskyj had said something similar during his virtual performance at the University of Zurich: He would be happy if Switzerland “blocked Russian assets”. The performance was organized by Samorodov, with Ambassador Rybchenko.

The ambassador also stressed that Zelenskyi had made it clear to President Ignazio Cassis that the Russian oligarchs would have to pay for the reconstruction of Ukraine. But this requires a legal mechanism in Switzerland, Rybchenko says.

At the moment, Ukraine mainly needs “as many generators as possible to be able to produce energy for the civilian population in the winter,” he says. For Lushnycky, however, the central problem lies with the Swiss companies that are still active in Russia. “They pay taxes there and deliver material to Russia.”

Ukrainian centers in different cities

The Ukrainian community has improved its networking in Switzerland. She wants to open her own centers in Zurich, Zug, Lucerne, Basel, Lugano and Geneva. “We’re working on that now,” says Samorodov. Integration and bilateral relations must be strengthened.

There is now a sort of ‘vacuum’ in the ambassador’s post, says Samorodov. Venediktova has not yet been officially appointed ambassador to Ukraine. And although Rybchenko is no longer an ambassador under Ukrainian law, he still fulfills all his duties. This issue should be resolved by the end of January. (cpf/aargauerzeitung.ch)