Influential U.S. politicians, who nominated President Yushchenko for Nobel Prize, will talk it over with new government
will visit Ukraine on Feb. 11 for discussions with officials.
The delegations will spend about half a day in Ukraine discussing relations between the two countries.
“They will meet with President Viktor Yushchenko, Parliament speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn, and with other top Ukrainian officials,” a U.S. Embassy spokesperson said.
Other members of the delegation include Sens. Joseph Liebermann, Chuck Hagel, Lindsey Graham and Reps. Howard Burman, Jane Harman, Allan Tauscher, John Larson, Mark Udall and George Schwarz.
McCain led a delegation of Republican legislators to Ukraine last August to discuss Ukraine’s peacekeeping role in Iraq and to urge the country’s leadership to ensure a free and fair vote in the upcoming presidential elections.
McCain and Clinton, the wife of former U.S. President Bill Clinton, nominated Yushchenko and Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili for the Nobel Peace Prize late last month.
In their letter to the Norwegian Nobel Institute, they praised the two presidents for their roles in furthering democracy.
“In leading freedom movements in their respective countries, [these two presidents] have won popular support for the universal values of democracy, individual liberty, and civil rights,” reads the letter they submitted.
“We believe that the actions of Presidents Saakashvili and Yushchenko testify to the power of peace and human rights in their battle against oppression. Recognizing these men with the Peace Prize would honor not only their historic roles in Georgia and Ukraine, but would also offer hope and inspiration to those seeking freedom in lands still denied it,” the politicians’ letter reads.
