President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed Vadym Prystayko from the post of Ambassador of Ukraine to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
This is stated in Decree No. 442/2023.
Also, Prystayko will not be a permanent representative of Ukraine at the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
The reasons for the dismissal were not officially announced, but last week Prystaiko called the presidentʼs statement that he was ready to thank British Defense Minister Ben Wallace for military assistance every day as "unhealthy sarcasm."
What happened?
After the NATO summit in Vilnius, the Bloomberg agency wrote that some leaders were angry because of Volodymyr Zelenskyʼs criticism on social networks on the first day of the summit in Vilnius on July 11. In the evening of the same day at a joint dinner, when Joe Biden left, the president of Ukraine was urged to "cool down and look at the full package, new obligations regarding membership and guarantees."
At the same time, Wallace said that Ukraine should thank its partners more. Zelensky then assured that Ukraine is very grateful to the people of Britain, to all those involved in helping the prime ministers, and to Wallace personally.
- After the NATO summit, British Defense Minister Ben Wallace commented on his words that Ukraine should thank its partners more: "Ukraine sometimes needs to admit that in many countries and in some parliaments there is not as much support as in Great Britain. It was a comment not about governments, but about citizens and members of the international community."
- On June 4, 2020, the Verkhovna Rada dismissed Vadym Prystayko from the post of Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration and appointed Olha Stefanishyna in his place.
- On July 20, 2020, Prystayko was appointed ambassador of Ukraine to Great Britain.