Oleh Shamshur, Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Ukraine
Ambassador Shamshur graduated from T. Shevchenko Kyiv State University, Department of International Relations and International Law in 1978, and obtained his PhD in history from the same university.
In 1978 he started his professional career at the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine where he worked at the Institutes of Social and Economic Problems of Foreign Countries and World Economy and International Relations, including in 1984-1989 as Director of Programs. In 1992-1993 he was a visiting scholar at University College London.
In 1993, he joined the Ukrainian Foreign Service and was posted as first secretary and counselor of the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the UN and other international organizations in Geneva, and then as the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of Ukraine to the Benelux Countries. He served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine (2004-2005), being Ukrainian chief negotiator of the Ukraine-EU Action plan, and as Ambassador of Ukraine to the United States (2005-2010) and France (2014-2020). Prior to his appointment as Ukraine’s Ambassador to France, Ambassador Shamshur was serving as a Senior Advisor to PBN Hill and Knowlton Strategies and as a non-resident Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.
At present, Ambassador Shamshur serves as an independent political and business consultant in Kyiv and as a non-resident Senior Fellow of the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC.