On March 24, 2017, the National Committee hosted Yulia Osmolovska and Ambassador Yuriy Sergeyev for a conversation on the state of affairs in Ukraine. The conversation focused on the triangle of interests present between the United States, Russia and Ukraine. The speakers and guests in attendance examined this triangle and possible areas of cooperation that might provide a "win-win" scenario in the process of resolving the ongoing crisis in the Donbass, Crimea and elsewhere.
Biographies of the Speakers:
Yulia Osmolovska
Spent most of her professional career (from 1999 to 2014) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. She led the team for Strategic Initiatives and Planning between Ukraine and the EU at the EU Department. She was a member of the Secretariat of the Delegation of Ukraine for negotiations on the EU Association Agreement, as well as a coordinator of the working group on Chapter on Political Dialogue, Foreign and Security Policy of the Association Agreement.
She was posted twice to the Embassy of Ukraine in the UK and, from 2009-2011, Yulia was Head of the Political Section and the Acting Deputy Head of Mission. Since then, Ms Osmolovska has held a variety of senior positions including under the Economic Reforms Coordination Centre mandated by the Ukrainian president; under the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, and as executive director at the Ukrainian Investment and Trade Facilitation Center. In 2014 she became a partner at the Institute for Negotiation Skills, promoting the Harvard negotiation model.
A graduate from Kyiv National Economic University, Ms Osmolovska holds a Master of Philosophy in European Studies degree from the University of Cambridge and Master in Foreign Policy degree from the Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine. She also studied Psychology of Negotiations and Mediation at St. Petersburg State University.
Ambassador Yuriy Sergeyev
Ambassador Sergeyev served as Ukraine’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations from April 2007 to December 2015. During his diplomatic career, Ambassador Sergeyev also served, at varying times, as Ukraine’s Ambassador to Greece, Albania, France, UNESCO, and the Bahamas. When not stationed abroad, he also held such distinguished positions as Secretary of State for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. In April 2003 he was awarded the State Order of Merit of Ukraine.
Ambassador Sergeyev is now a Rice Faculty Fellow and Lecturer at Yale University's MacMillan Center.
Educated at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, he earned his PhD in 1981. He is fluent in English, Russian and French, in addition to Ukrainian.