The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has said that there is no diplomatic row between Ukraine and the Czech Republic and that the candidacy of the Czech consul general in Donetsk has already been agreed.
"There is no diplomatic row between Ukraine and the Czech Republic. Kyiv sees Prague as its extremely important partner and friend in the European Union and hopes for the maximally constructive development of partnership," the director of the ministry’s information policy department, Oleh Voloshyn, told Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday.
He said that the candidacy of the consul general in Donetsk proposed by the Czech Republic had already been agreed and that this procedure was held "within the traditional time frame used in diplomatic relations."
Voloshyn said that it was in the competence of the Czech side to complete the procedure for appointing the Czech consul general in Donetsk.
"Ukraine considers the work of the Czech consulate general in Donetsk as an important element in extending the access of Ukrainian citizens to obtaining Schengen visas. In this regard, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry and other agencies will do everything possible to ensure that the Czech consulate general in Donetsk works as successfully as possible, because this meets the interests of Ukrainian citizens in the region," Voloshyn said.
It was reported earlier that from July 1, 2011, the Czech Republic would close the visa office of its consulate general in Donetsk under the decision taken by the Czech Foreign Ministry. Prague said that the reason for such measures was the fact that the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has not yet given its consent to the arrival of a new consul general in Donetsk, although the Czech Foreign Ministry submitted a respective application on February 23, 2011.
A diplomat who requested anonymity, in turn, told Interfax-Ukraine that apart from this, Kyiv was not in a hurry to agree on the appointment of a new Czech ambassador to Ukraine. Prague submitted the candidacy of its ambassador to Ukraine several months ago, but it has not yet received any agreement. The former Czech ambassador to Ukraine left Kyiv in March 2010. Charge d’affaires Vitezslav Pivonka has headed the Czech Embassy in Ukraine since then.
