US House Speaker demands dismissal of Ukraine's Ambassador over "election interference"
On Wednesday, 25 September, Mike Johnson, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, posted a letter to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy containing a categorical demand for Ukraine.
Source: a photocopy of the letter posted by Johnson on the Speaker's official website and on Twitter (X), as reported by European Pravda
Details: The letter, dated 25 September, is written in a categorical tone which is unusual for correspondence between countries.
Quote: The letter begins: "Dear President Zelenskyy, I demand that you immediately fire Ukraine's Ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova."
Johnson cited the Ukrainian president's visit to a Pennsylvania shell production facility as the reason for his demand.
"Ambassador Markarova organised 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 [on Ukraine’s part – ed.]," Johnson said in the letter.
The speaker emphasised that the incident has caused "the Republicans to lose trust in Ambassador Markarova's ability to fairly and effectively serve as a diplomat in this country," and repeated the demand to Zelenskyy that the Ambassador of Ukraine should "be removed from her post immediately".
Johnson also stated that this is not his only complaint against Ukraine. He expressed outrage that "candidates at the top of the Republican presidential ticket are targeted in the media by officials in your government". He did not elaborate further, but it is safe to assume that this relates to the perception of the many questionable statements made by Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance.
Johnson concluded his letter by stating that he trusts that President Zelenskyy will take immediate action.
It is worth mentioning that relations with the Republican Party leadership deteriorated dramatically shortly after Zelenskyy's visit to the United States began. Donald Trump refused to meet with Zelenskyy, while Speaker Johnson hinted at potential disruptions to congressional meetings.
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