President's Office head meets with Vatican Secretary of State tete-a-tete

Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andrey Yermak. Photo: 24tv.ua

On October 5, 2020, after a meeting of the Ukrainian delegation in Rome with Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andrey Yermak went to the Vatican, where he held an unannounced tete-a-tete meeting with the Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, reports the ZN.UA resource, which had the programme of the visit at its disposal.

"Yesterday's one-day trip of the Ukrainian delegation consisting of the Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olga Stefanishina and the head of the President's Office Andrey Yermak to the Apennine Peninsula was more eventful and the delegation was more numerous than it was officially reported on the website of the OPU," the newspaper writes.

According to the resource, after meetings at the Italian Foreign Ministry, Andrey Yermak went to the Vatican, where he had a solo meeting with the Vatican State Secretary. At the same time, it is noted that there was not even an interpreter from the Ukrainian side, and the translation was provided by the other side.

Referring to data from its own diplomatic sources, the resource reported that neither the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry nor the Ukrainian Embassy in Italy and the Vatican was involved in the preparation of this meeting.

A key role in its organization and preparation was played by Claudio Gugerotti (in 2015-2020 he was Apostolic Nuncio in Ukraine), who "had a trusting personal relationship with Yermak and acted at his request". Currently, according to the edition, Gugerotti is in self-isolation in the Vatican due to infection with the coronavirus, and "thanks to his own authority and trust from Pope Francis, Gugerotti managed to arrange a one-on-one meeting with the Secretary of State of the Holy See, Cardinal Pietro Parolin." 

According to the newspaper, one of the main topics of Andrey Yermak's meeting with Cardinal Parolin was to discuss and agree on an acceptable candidacy for the Ambassador of Ukraine to the Vatican, whose post has remained vacant since July 2019, “since the OPU sees a significant mediating potential, primarily humanitarian, in the possible involvement of the Vatican in the settlement of the conflict with the Russian Federation in the Donbass”.

It should be noted that the website of the Office of the President of Ukraine only officially informs about the meeting of the Ukrainian delegation consisting of Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olga Stefanishina and Head of the Office of President Andrey Yermak with Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio.

Earlier the head of the NGO "Public Advocacy" Oleg Denisov explained why the RCC is complicit in violations of Orthodox rights in Ukraine.

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