Geoffrey R. Pyatt

Geoffrey R. Pyatt
United States Ambassador to Ukraine
Incumbent
Assumed office
July 30, 2013
President Barack Obama
Preceded by John F. Tefft
Personal details
Born 1963[1]
La Jolla, California, U.S.[1]
Spouse(s) Mary[2]
Children William and Claire[2]
Profession Career FSO

Geoffrey R. Pyatt (born 1963),[1] is the United States Ambassador to Ukraine.[3] Pyatt's U.S. State Department career landed him posts in Asia, Europe, and Latin America.[3]

Early life and education

Pyatt was born 1963 in La Jolla, an affluent neighborhood of San Diego, California.[1] He received his bachelor’s degree in political studies in 1985 at the University of California, Irvine, and a master’s degree in international relations at Yale University in 1987.[1][4]

Career

Pyatt started his diplomatic career in Honduras, from 1990 until 1992 he worked as vice-consul and economic officer in Tegucigalpa.[1] The highest position (before his current post) was deputy chief of diplomatic mission in India in 2006 and 2007.[1] After that he worked as deputy chief of U.S. mission to International Atomic Energy Agency and other international organizations in Vienna.[1] Prior to his current position Pyatt served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs from May 2010 until July 2013.[1][3]

Pyatt took the Oath of Office of United States Ambassador to Ukraine on July 30, 2013 in the Harry S Truman Building of the US State Department in Washington, D.C.[1] Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych accepted Pyatt's credentials on August 15, 2013.[3] After his appointment, Pyatt started actively studying the Ukrainian language.[1] On October 15, 2013 Pyatt attended an international conference on fighting anti-Semitism in Kiev, but could not address the audience at the event due to the United States federal government shutdown of 2013.[5]

Pyatt became part of a diplomatic scandal in January 2014, when his conversation with the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs at the United States Department of State, Victoria Nuland, was apparently intercepted and uploaded to YouTube.[6]

Assistant Secretary Victoria Nuland and Geoffrey Pyatt greet Ukrainian President-elect Petro Poroshenko before he met with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Warsaw, Poland, on June 4, 2014

Pyatt supported the 2014 Ukrainian revolution against Ukraine's pro-Russian President Victor Yanukovych.[6][7]

Pyatt characterised pro-Russian separatist rebels in Donetsk and Luhansk as "terrorists".[8]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 "Welcome, Mr. Pyatt!", Den, 5 August 2013.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Introducing U.S. Ambassador Geoff Pyatt to Ukraine on YouTube, Embassy of the United States, Kiev per YouTube (7 August 2013)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "Yanukovych accepts credentials from new US ambassador, discusses with him Ukrainian-US relations", Interfax-Ukraine (15 August 2013)
  4. ↑ Biography, U.S. State Department
  5. ↑ "Ambassador Pyatt decides not to speak at public events in Kyiv due to US government shutdown", Interfax-Ukraine, 15 October 2013.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Ukraine crisis: Leaked phone call embarrasses US". BBC News. February 6, 2014. Retrieved February 6, 2014.
  7. ↑ "Ukraine’s parliament votes to oust president; former prime minister is freed from prison". The Washington Post. February 22, 2014.
  8. ↑ Voice of America, Q&A with US Amb. Geoffrey Pyatt: Ukraine Crisis Escalates as War Fears Grow, 14 April 2014.

External links

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Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
John F. Tefft		 United States Ambassador to Ukraine
2013- 		Succeeded by
Incumbent