The State Department has appointed Kurt Volker, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO, as U.S. special representative for Ukraine negotiations.
“The United States remains fully committed to the objectives of the Minsk agreements, and I have complete confidence in Kurt to continue our efforts to achieve peace in Ukraine,” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a statement released Friday.
Germany, France, Ukraine and Russia agreed on a package of measures in Minsk, Belarus, in 2015 in an effort to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict that broke out when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.
Volker also accompanied Tillerson on a trip to Ukraine’s capital city Kyiv where the latter met with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to reaffirm U.S. commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty, Politico reported.
The report said Volker also serves as an expert in U.S. foreign and national security policy at the McCain Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank established by Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) and the Arizona State University.
Volker previously served as principal deputy assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs and director for NATO and Western Europe on the National Security Council.
