Speaker of the US Congress Mike Johnson demands the dismissal of Ukraine’s Ambassador to the US Oksana Markarova.
Johnson published a corresponding appeal on the X platform, Suspilne reports.
In his address to the President of Ukraine, the Speaker of Congress writes that during a visit to the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Zelenskyy arrived with a supporter of Democrat Kamala Harris, State Governor Josh Shapiro. Republicans were allegedly not invited. According to Johnson, this plant is located in a “swing” state, as it is a key state in the US presidential election, and because of this, Republicans were “not specifically invited”.
The visit was obviously part of a political campaign to help Democrats and is clearly election interference, – Johnson said.
The speaker also quoted Zelenskyy as saying that Ukraine “does not interfere in US domestic politics” and that Ukrainians “do not influence the choice of Americans before the November presidential election. In the letter, Johnson demands that Markarova be “immediately released”.
Ukrainian Ambassador Oksana Markarova has demonstrated that she cannot be trusted to serve honestly and effectively as a diplomat in this country. President Zelensky should remove her immediately, – he wrote.
According to the speaker of the Congress, American Republicans have lost confidence in Markarova’s “ability to do diplomatic work fairly and effectively” in the United States.
Oksana Markarova has been Ambassador to Washington since April 2021.
