During his visit to Zhytomyr oblast, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States to Ukraine John Herbst had official meetings with the head of the Oblast State Administration, Serhiy Ryzhuk, and the mayor of Zhytomyr, Heorhy Buravkov. He also visited the Institute of Postgraduate Pedagogical Education, where Peace Corps volunteers work, and the Zhytomyr Confectionary Factory. At the Zhytomyr Press Club the ambassador also met with local journalists and regional NGO members. Ambassador Herbst then visited Brusyliv, where he took part in a ceremony marking the issuance of state legal estate certificates to farmers.
During his meeting with the media at the Zhytomyr Press Club, the US ambassador, in particular, reiterated his country’s well-known stand regarding the need to move Ukraine toward a market economy and democracy. At the same time, in answer to The Day’s question as to how widespread “Ukraine-fatigue” is in the US, Mr. Herbst said that this notion does not mean that America is less interested or less involved in Ukraine. According to the ambassador, one may speak rather of a certain disappointment that was observed in American society both after the 1999 presidential elections in Ukraine, which in the Americans’ view were not as democratic as the elections of 1994, and after certain subsequent events. The ambassador emphasized that the US clearly understands how important Ukraine is, adding that he believes that bilateral relations have improved as a result of his efforts. In his opinion, these relations could be much improved if the next elections are free and fair. Mr. Herbst also stressed that the US is not interested in precisely who wins the elections. In his words, the potential candidates from both the government and the opposition are serious, reliable people with whom his country could successfully cooperate. The latter statement may be regarded to a certain extent as the latest nuance in US diplomacy toward Ukraine and a positive signal to certain individuals in the current government. At the same time, it appears to be a warning to those opposition candidates who used to see themselves as the only potentially worthy partners of a global leader. Perhaps they should also draw some obvious conclusions from this.
