United States Agency for Global Media

Undersecretary Stengel Visits RFE/RL Kyiv Bureau

May 13, 2014

Undersecretary Stengel Visits RFE/RL Kyiv Bureau
U/S Stengel (right) speaking with Kyiv Bureau staffers including (l-r) Andriy Tkachuk, Yana Polyanska (seated), Olena Removska, Oleksandr Lashchenko (background), and Chief Editor Inna Kuznetsova.
U/S Stengel (right) speaking with Kyiv Bureau staffers including (l-r) Andriy Tkachuk, Yana Polyanska (seated), Olena Removska, Oleksandr Lashchenko (background), and Chief Editor Inna Kuznetsova. Credit: RadioSvoboda.org (RFE/RL)

U.S. Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Richard Stengel visited the journalists and staff at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Kyiv Bureau today during his trip to the region. Stengel is traveling to Ukraine, Latvia and Belgium to encourage greater regional support for Ukraine’s upcoming May 25 elections.

During his visit to the bureau, Stengel congratulated Ukrainian Service journalists for their hard work and quality reporting despite the increasingly dangerous reporting environment, and he responded to questions from staff in both Kyiv and Prague. He also sat down for an interview, during which he discussed current U.S. diplomatic relations with Russia and explained how the United States plans to support Ukraine’s early presidential election. Earlier in the day he did an interview with VOA Ukrainian Service reporter, Ruslan Deynychenko, to talk about the upcoming  elections on and how the US is trying to fight Russian propaganda through its commitment to a free press.

As the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, Stengel provides global strategic leadership for all Department of State public diplomacy and public affairs engagement. Stengel also represents Secretary of State John Kerry, who is an ex officio member of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, to the board.