"Connections with the First Lady helped": Media criticize the appointment of Olha Nikitchenko as the new ambassador to Lithuania.

On December 21, President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed nine and appointed seven ambassadors of Ukraine. Along with these decrees, the president identified candidates for at least 38 new ambassadors. This significant diplomatic rotation, which has already begun, aims to change the heads of around forty diplomatic missions of Ukraine.

The list of appointments includes ambassadors of Ukraine in 16 European countries (including Turkey), two North American countries (Canada and Mexico), three ambassadors to international organizations (NATO, UN, and international bodies in Geneva), 11 Asian countries, including China and Japan, and in six African nations.

The list of agreed candidates, first published by “Mirror of the Week”, quickly spread through Telegram channels and social media, becoming a subject of criticism, including from opposition politicians and journalists.

Questions are also being raised within the diplomatic community regarding the “big rotation.” For instance, there is concern over a very unusual appointment in Lithuania, as reported by “European Truth.”

This concerns Olga Nikitchenko, whose candidacy has sparked unanimous outrage within diplomatic circles, particularly regarding how she obtained this position in a country that is truly significant for Ukraine.

Olga Nikitchenko (Aktsionova) joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the team of Minister Dmytro Kuleba, serving as his personal assistant. She was once a classmate of the future minister at university, but did not pursue a diplomatic career after graduation. However, in 2019, Kuleba invited her to join his team when he became Deputy Prime Minister. In 2020, Nikitchenko moved with him to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

As “European Truth” notes, after relocating her entire family to Lithuania in 2022, she also decided to move to this country, specifically to take on the role of ambassador – despite the fact that there is already another ambassador, Petro Beshta, who was appointed only recently.

In the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it is believed that Olga Nikitchenko at this stage benefited from connections with the First Lady and her office, through which the idea of her appointment reached the president personally.

Minister Kuleba reportedly even had to respond to the president's inquiry about whether he wanted to send his assistant as ambassador to Vilnius. Allegedly, Zelensky raised this question twice.

Following this, Minister Kuleba's trust in his office head diminished. Olga Nikitchenko was promptly dismissed from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but she immediately secured a position at Bankova.

And although the law stipulates that the minister independently determines ambassadorial candidates, in reality, this often happens under directives from Bankova, notes “European Truth.”

Dmytro Kuleba was faced with the fact that he had to submit a proposal to the president for appointing his former assistant as Ukraine's ambassador to Lithuania.

Nikitchenko ensured that everyone in the ministry was aware of this – she registered a declaration with the National Agency for Corruption Prevention regarding her appointment as ambassador. Although there was no necessity for this, and it directly contradicts established rules.

However, the publication states that all of this worked. Olga Nikitchenko obtained the position, while diplomats in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs received a clear lesson on how to push through an appointment. And Ukraine received an ambassador in a country that is a crucial geopolitical ally, with a questionable background, as noted by “European Truth.”

Background. As previously reported, Zelensky also decided to replace the ambassador of Ukraine in Germany. He will be succeeded by a diplomat currently representing Ukraine in Israel. Observers have also described this as a “doubtful step.”