Newly appointed U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine has arrived in Kyiv

Kyiv (INTERFAX) Newly appointed U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine John Tefft has arrived in Kyiv. Tefft presented copies of his credentials to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Petro Poroshenko on Wednesday evening. The U.S. Senate appointed Tefft as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine on November 20, 2009. Tefft has been a career Foreign Service officer for 37 years, the White House reported. He most recently served as U.S. Ambassador to Georgia from 2005-2009. Prior to that assignment, Tefft served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs and was responsible for U.S. relations with Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova. From 2003-2005 Tefft was the International Affairs Advisor at the National War College in Washington, DC. He served as the U.S. Ambassador to Lithuania from 2000 to 2003. He was Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow from 1996 to 1999, and served as Charge d'Affaires from November 1996 to September 1997. His other Foreign Service assignments include: Jerusalem, Budapest and Rome. William Taylor was the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. His diplomatic career ended in May 2009. Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko decorated him with the order of merit of the third degree.