For Immediate Release
September 25, 2024
Contact: Taylor Haulsee
Letter comes in the wake of Zelenskyy’s ill-advised visit to battleground state of Pennsylvania in home stretch of 2024 election
WASHINGTON — Today, Speaker Johnson sent a letter requesting that Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, immediately remove Ukraine’s Ambassador to the U.S., Oksana Markarova, from her post.
After Ambassador Markarova organized a tour of an American manufacturing site in a political battleground state, led by a top political surrogate for Kamala Harris, and purposely excluded Republicans, Speaker Johnson wrote that Republicans have lost trust in the Ambassador’s “ability to fairly and effectively serve as a diplomat in this country” and demanded that Zelenskyy immediately remove her from her position.
Read the full letter here or below:
Dear President Zelenskyy:
I demand that you immediately fire Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova.
As you have said, Ukrainians have tried to avoid being “captured by American domestic politics,” and “influencing the choices of the American people” ahead of the November election. Clearly that objective was abandoned this week when Ambassador Markarova organized an event in which you toured an American manufacturing site.
The facility was in a politically contested battleground state, was led by a top political surrogate for Kamala Harris, and failed to include a single Republican because – on purpose – no Republicans were invited. The tour was clearly a partisan campaign event designed to help Democrats and is clearly election interference. This shortsighted and intentionally political move has caused Republicans to lose trust in Ambassador Markarova’s ability to fairly and effectively serve as a diplomat in this country. She should be removed from her post immediately.
Additionally, as I have clearly stated in the past, all foreign nations should avoid opining on or interfering in American domestic politics. Support for ending Russia’s war against Ukraine continues to be bipartisan, but our relationship is unnecessarily tested and needlessly tarnished when the candidates at the top of the Republican presidential ticket are targeted in the media by officials in your government.
These incidents cannot be repeated. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter, and I trust you will take immediate action.
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