Ukraine
will not accept the newly appointed Russian ambassador, the Ukrainian
Deputy Foreign Minister for European Integration, Olena Zerkal, said
Wednesday.
"This
issue has been taken off Ukraine's agenda," Zerkal said on Ukraine’s TV
5 Kanal.
Zerkal claimed that the absence
of an ambassador will not affect the relations between the two
countries. "The previous ambassador had a minimal part in shaping those
relations," she said.
President spokesperson Dmitry Peskov earlier announced that Russia had requested to send Mikhail Babich to the country as Russian ambassador to Ukraine. Mikhail
Babich, the former presidential envoy to Russia's Volga Federal
District, was appointed to the role last week. Putin
made the move after relieving former ambassador Mikhail Zurabov of his duties. Zurabov had been ambassador to Ukraine since August, 2009.
