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Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who runs a private consulting firm, met with President Viktor Yanukovych in Kyiv on June 25.

The presidential press service would not say whether the government has hired Kissinger’s consultancy to do work for Yanukovych.

But the meeting comes as the president faces a rising chorus of international condemnation for his human rights record, backsliding in democracy and persecution of political opponents during his two years as president. Kissinger didn’t appear to participate in any public events, such as press conferences, and could not be reached for comment.

The presidential press service said Yanukovych and Kissinger discussed the Euro 2012 football championship in Ukraine, the country’s foreign policy and U.S.-Ukraine relations. The presidential press service reported: “Viktor Yanukovych has also discussed with Henry Kissinger the issue of Ukraine’s development in the context of global challenges and world economic crisis.”

President Viktor Yanukovych meets former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in Kyiv, June 25.

Kissinger, a former Harvard political science professor, worked as national security adviser and secretary of state in the administration of former U.S. presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford from 1969-1975. In 1973, he was awarded Nobel Peace Prize for brokering a ceasefire and withdrawal of U.S. troops from Vietnam.

After his government career, he founded and chaired Kissinger Associates, which is highly secretive about its clients, both in the international political and business world.

Back in 2003, Kissinger also met with ex-President Leonid Kuchma as he was facing international isolation for the allegedly illegal sale of anti-missile radars to Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and his allegedly criminal rule – purportedly exposed on hundreds of hours of tape recordings by his former presidential bodyguard. Kuchma denied the authenticity of those tapes recorded by Mykola Melnychenko, but was charged in 2011 with exceeding his presidential authority in giving an order that led to the Sept. 16, 2000 murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze. Those charges have been dropped and Kuchma has denied any involvement.

Currently, Yanukovych is also suffering from criticism from European Union countries, such as Germany and France, for the jailing of political opposition leaders. Those criminal cases are viewed as politically motivated attempts to remove their participation from the Oct. 28 parliamentary elections. Yanukovych’s ruling Party of Regions is struggling in the polls. Imprisoned former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko – sentenced to seven years in prison and facing a raft of new criminal investigations — is his biggest threat as the leader of the second largest faction in parliament.

The ex-U.S. state secretary’s arrival to Ukraine came at the invitation of Yanukovych during a security conference in Munich, Germany, in February, Yanukovych’s press service told the Kyiv Post.

“I see Ukraine only strong and independent – peace in Europe depends on it,” the press service quoted Kissinger as saying.

At the same time PRNewswire, sourcing Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry, wrote that Kissinger also supported Ukraine’s membership in the EU, but does not support Ukraine’s NATO membership, which Yanukovych has scuttled since taking power in 2010.

The presidential website also reported that they discussed reforms Ukraine needs to implement to pursue European integration, which is Yanukovych’s top foreign policy priority.

About the same time, PR Newswire also circulated a story about meetings in Washington, D.C. between Ukrainian Finance Minister Yuriy Kolobov and US Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs . According to Kolobov, Washington officials praised Ukraine for undertaking “reforms.”

Kyiv Post staff writer Yuriy Onyshkiv can be reached at [email protected]