Volodymyr Yelchenko is the Ambassador of Ukraine to Russia appointed on July 2, 2010

Biography

Yelchenko was born in Kiev in 1959 and graduated from the Faculty of International Relations and International Law at Kiev State University in 1981. Since 1981 he has worked in the diplomatic service of Ukraine. Between 1997 and 2000 he acted as Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

. From December 2000 till his next post he served at various senior posts within the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine. In 2005 and 2006 he was Ukraine's ambassador to Austria. (Then) Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko

Viktor Yushchenko

Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko is a former President of Ukraine. He took office on January 23, 2005, following a period of popular unrest known as the Orange Revolution...

 dismissed Yelchenko as ambassador to Austria on January 23, 2007 after he had made an unauthorized offer of a visa to Ukraine for exiled Turkmen

Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan , formerly also known as Turkmenia is one of the Turkic states in Central Asia. Until 1991, it was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic . Turkmenistan is one of the six independent Turkic states...

 opposition leader Hudaýberdi Ozarow. Ozarow and opposition leader Nurmuhammet Hanamow

Nurmuhammet Hanamow

Nurmuhammet Çaryýewiç Hanamow is a Turkmen politician...

 allegedly visited Kiev

Kiev

Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....

 in January 2007 and met with Ukrainian Transportation Minister Mykola Rudkovskiy, but this was denied by several officials.