Geoffrey R. Pyatt, in his third year as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, may be moving from one troubled European country to another one. According to news media reports in Greece, he is set to leave Kyiv later this year to become America’s new ambassador to Greece.
One name frequently mentioned as Pyatt’s replacement is Marie L. Yovanovitch.
She has been the principal deputy U.S. assistant secretary of state in the Bureau
of European and Eurasian Affairs since September 2012. She is also a former
ambassador to Armenia and Kyrgyzstan who served as the deputy chief of the U.S.
mission in Ukraine from 2001-2004. Day newspaper, citing its sources in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also reported that Yovanovitch has been picked to replace Pyatt.
The Kyiv Post could not get official confirmation on either
possible reassignment.
The news about Pyatt’s impending transfer was first reported by
Greek news organization Kathimerini on May 6. The U.S. government has already asked the
Greek government for permission for Pyatt’s arrival, according to the report.
Greece is a financially strapped European Union nation of 11 million people, with
unsustainable debt, a rapidly shrinking economy and strong public resistance to
austerity measures required by international creditors in exchange for multibillion-dollar bailouts.
Pyatt arrived in Kyiv as the U.S. envoy to Ukraine on Aug. 3, 2013,
becoming the eighth American ambassador and replacing John F. Tefft, who is now
the U.S. ambassador to Russia. U.S. ambassadors and U.S. foreign-service officers
are typically rotated every three to four years.
By November 2013, the EuroMaidan Revolution had started to oust
President Viktor Yanukovych, who had become increasingly corrupt and
autocratic during his four years in power. By February 2014, the revolution succeeded in prompting Yanukovych
to flee power and take up exile in Russia, which had backed him.
Pyatt played a key role among Western leaders in talks trying to
mediate the conflict between Yanukovych and opposition political leaders during the revolution.
But Yanukovych, who triggered the revolution by shunning closer
ties to the European Union in favor of Russia, proved to be too violent and too
inflexible. And Ukrainians, especially after the murders of 100 demonstrators
in January and February 2014, were determined and powerful enough to
drive him out of power.
After the revolution, the U.S. faced another dilemma in how to
respond to Russia’s military invasion and illegal annexation of Ukraine’s
Crimean peninsula. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces took over Crimea within a
month and without the Ukrainian side fighting back, exposing how badly Yanukovych
had hollowed-out Ukraine’s military during his four years in office. The U.S. also came
under criticism for reportedly discouraging Ukrainians from putting up a fight
for their territory.
Emboldened by his quick success in Crimea, Putin soon tried to
stir up trouble in other cities and succeeded – with his armed forces – in
instigating a war in the eastern Donbas region that continues today and that
has killed 9,100 people and driven 1.5 million people from their homes.
Again, the U.S. and the West more broadly have come under
criticism for not more forcefully helping Ukraine with tougher sanctions
against Russia and for refusing to supply Ukraine with better weaponry to hold
off the Russian-backed assault. Today, the conflict remains unresolved, chiefly
because of Russia’s refusal to withdraw from eastern Ukraine and return border
control to Ukraine.
Unconfirmed reports are that Marie L. Yovanovitch will become the ninth U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, replacing Geoffrey R. Pyatt, who Greek news outlets say is set to become the ambassador to Greece later this year.
By virtue of the country he represents and his deep
engagement with Ukraine’s crises, Pyatt is considered one of the most influential
ambassadors in Ukraine.
He has been praised for his tough stance against Ukraine’s
corruption and his ability to project strong and unwavering U.S. support for
Ukraine, even when that support hasn’t been so evident to Ukrainians. The U.S.
has committed only up to $3 billion in loan guarantees and more than $500
million in direct aid to the post-revolution governments, while U.S. President
Barack Obama is set to become the first American president since Ronald Reagan
not to visit Ukraine while in office.
Pyatt was among a group of G7 ambassadors who sent an open letter
expressing displeasure over the reasons for the February resignation of former Economy Minister Aivaras Abromavicius, who alleged that a key lawmaker, Ihor
Kononenko, had been trying to perpetuate corrupt schemes in state-owned
enterprises, charges Kononenko denied.
Pyatt and American officials have also come under criticism for an
over-emphasis on personalities, a frequent and historic shortcoming of U.S.
foreign policy in many nations.
A February 2014 leaked conversation between Pyatt and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, for example, showed them
discussing the pros and cons of various Ukrainian politicians. The conversation
is most remembered for Nuland’s biting criticism of European Union differences with U.S. policy, when she told Pyatt “Fuck the EU.”
Pyatt also called public attention to corruption in the General Prosecutor’s Office, especially during the tenure of Viktor Shokin. While the critics
succeeded in getting President Petro Poroshenko to remove Shokin in April, the
corrupt ways remain in the discredited prosecutorial service.
A career diplomat, Pyatt’s time in Ukraine is part of his 26 years of
working at the U.S. Department of State, including stints in Vienna and South
Asia.
Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian (L) shakes hands with the US Ambassador to Armenia Marie L.Yovanivitch during a ceremony of credentials in Yerevan on September 22, 2008.
Next U.S. ambassador?
Yovanovitch, a former U.S. ambassador to Armenia and
Kyrgyzstan, is another career diplomat. Yovanovitch has worked in the foreign service
since 1986 and served in Kyiv under Ambassador Carlos Pasqual.
The president’s nominations for ambassadorships require U.S.
Senate confirmation.
