Lutsenko accused the US ambassador of handing over the list of “untouchables”, and the embassy accused Lutsenko of an attempt to weaken the reputation of the US ambassador.
Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko claims that the US ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, gave him a list of people whom she asked not to prosecute. This caused a loud reaction from both the US State Department and the US Embassy in Ukraine.
“Unfortunately, at the first meeting, the US ambassador in Kiev gave me a list of people we should not pursue,” Lutsenko said in an interview with The Hill.
The Prosecutor General called it unacceptable.
“Nobody in this country, neither our president, nor our parliament, nor our ambassador will prevent me from showing whether there was a crime,” he noted.
In addition, Lutsenko added that he had not received approximately 4 million dollars from the US embassy in Ukraine which it was supposed to allocate to his department. The Prosecutor General called this situation “rather strange” and pointed out that the funds were intended, but he “did not receive them”.
At the same time, the US State Department called the statement of Lutsenko “frank fiction.” Also, the State Department stated that they are not yet helping Prosecutor’s General Office but earlier they tried to “support the fundamental reform of the justice sector, including after the Revolution of Dignity 2014”.
“When the political will for real reforms carried out by successive prosecutors general was insufficient, we took advantage of our responsibility to US taxpayers and redirected assistance to more productive projects,” the State Department said.
Also, their reaction to the charges of Lutsenko was voiced at the US Embassy in Ukraine.
“The statements of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine are not true and are intended to weaken the reputation of Ambassador Jovanovic,” stated in the response from the US Embassy, published by TSN website.
It also notes that the accusation against US representatives is an act of corruption.
“Such attacks deepen our determination to help Ukraine achieve victory in its fight against corruption,” diplomats said and explained that voicing claims in the United States media does not make these claims true.
As of Thursday morning, March 21, there were no reactions from either Lutsenko or his press secretary Larisa Sargan.