September 20, 2007      [INVITATION ONLY]

Ambassador Oleh Shamshur
Ambassador of Ukraine
Washington, D.C.

Topic:  United States-Ukrainian relations

Ambassador Oleh Shamshur became Ambassador of the Ukraine to the United States on Jan. 24, 2005.  Previously, he served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs (2000-04), Head of the European Union Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2003-04), and Minister-Counselor at the Ukrainian Embassy to the Benelux countries (1998-2003). In addition, he was Deputy Chairman of the State Committee for Nationalities and Migration of Ukraine, as well as a member of the President’s Commission on Citizenship (1996-98), and Secretary and Counselor at the Ukrainian Mission to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva (1993-96).

Ambassador Shamshur was also a visiting scholar at the University College in London (1993), and he held various posts at the Institute of Social and Economic Problems of Foreign Countries at the Academy of Sciences in Ukraine, including Director of Programs (1981-93).

Ambassador Shamshur graduated cum laude from the Taras Shevchenko Kyiv University’s Department of International Relations and International Law, and he holds a doctorate from Kyiv University. He also completed a post-graduate course at the Academy of Sciences in Ukraine. Ambassador Shamshur speaks English, French and Russian and is married with one daughter.