Vasyl Boiechko
Veteran of the diplomatic service
DOI https://doi.org/10.37837/2707-7683-2018-8
Abstract. Ukrainian-Romanian relations have in fact become the main subject of my professional life. I started as a historian during the Soviet Union times and later as a diplomat of Independent Ukraine from December of 1992. For almost 14 years out of 24 of my diplomatic service I worked first as political adviser at the Embassy of Ukraine in Romania (1994–1999), and then twice as Consul General of Ukraine in Romanian city of Suceava in 2001-2005 and in 2010–2014. I had the honour to open the Ukrainian consular office in Romania in 2001, which was unfortunately closed in 2014! It was a combination of pleasant moments with sad feelings. Due to a certain aggravation of relations between Ukraine and Romania in the middle of 1994, in particular the Transnistrian crisis, I was urgently appointed as a Counsellor at our Embassy in Bucharest. Thus, after a year and a half of joining the staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in July 1994 I left for a long-term diplomatic appointment to Romania.
After the end of this assignment in November 1999, I was appointed as a deputy Head of the Secretariat of the new Minister for Foreign Affairs Borys I. Tarasiuk.
In December 2001 I was appointed as the first Consul General of Ukraine in Suceava city. At that time, the Ukrainian-Romanian political relations were rather complicated. Occasionally, the Romanian side officially accused Ukraine of “non-fulfilment” of the basic bi-lateral political agreement, especially with regard to ensuring the cultural and educational rights of the Romanian minority in Ukraine, although the real situation was completely different. The first Consulate General of Ukraine in Romania which I had the honour to open, performed all the functions stipulated by our national Consular Statute. Our first concern was the provision of necessary support to citizens of Ukraine who visited Romania or lived in this country. My first Consular mission to Romania ended in 2005 and from September 2010 to November of 2014 I again represented Ukraine in Suceava. However, this time my working mood was not so uplifted. Then I remembered an advice of B. I. Tarasiuk, then already the deputy at our Verkhovna Rada, who said to me, “You have to serve Ukraine”. The distinctive thing about consular work is that its main aim is to protect the rights of Ukrainian citizens living or temporarily staying in the territory of a country of one’s appointment. Therefore, I paid special attention to this working direction.
After returning from Romania, I worked for some time again as the Ambassador at large and reaching the retirement age in January 2016 I discontinued my diplomatic service by my own will, as I believed that young Ukrainian diplomats should have “space” for their career and professional growth.
Keywords: Embassy of Ukraine in Romania, Consulate General of Ukraine in the Romanian city of Suceava, reminiscences, biography, diplomatic service of Ukraine.