Feb. 4, 2013
Members of the United States Congress
Washington, DC
Dear Members of Congress,
I wish to thank you for inviting me to attend
the National Prayer Breakfast that will be held this week in Washington, D.C.
with [U.S.] President [Barack] Obama’s participation.
Unfortunately, I am unable to accept your gracious
invitation as the U.S. Embassy here in Kyiv has continued to delay issuance of
a visa to the point where there is now insufficient time for me to make travel
arrangements that would allow me to attend this important event. This is the
case even though my visa request was submitted pursuant to established
procedures and well within accepted time limits for processing such requests.
I cannot but conclude that such behavior by the U.S.
State Department demonstrates a distinct disrespect towards Ukraine in general
and towards me as one of her citizens. Such conduct, in my view, also reflects
disrespect towards the U.S. Congress, which extended to me the honor of
participating in this world spiritual event.
In light of the foregoing, I deeply regret that I will
not be able to accept your invitation to the National Prayer Breakfast. As we
all are aware, the NPB in US is a spiritual holiday seeking to promote common
goals of goodwill and cooperation among the many states and religions that will
be represented there. It is most certainly not intended as a political event,
but as a humanitarian and spiritual one.
Regrettably, this fact has been ignored in the decision by the
U.S. Department of State to deny me the opportunity to participate in this most
wholesome of celebratory events.
I wish you and all the participants in this week’s
proceedings much success and trust that I and my colleagues from Ukraine will
be welcomed to take part in future such endeavors that emphasize what is
positive in our relationships.
Most respectfully yours,
Renat Kuzmin,
First Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine
