According to the report, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a $50,000-a-month contract with a Republican lobbying firm to assist in setting up meetings with government officials in an effort to "strengthen the US-Ukrainian relations."
Senator Lindsey Graham was questioning Wray about the report. Wray said that he had not heard about the allegations but would be "happy to dig into it."
"I have no idea if they are true, but would you agree with me that if they are true, that is wrong for Ukraine to be involved with our elections," Graham inquired.
"Yes," Wray replied.
In an interview with Radio Sputnik, expert at the Institute for Social-Economic and Political Studies Alexei Zudin said that Wray’s statement is a wake-up call for Ukrainian leadership.
"Upon closer inspection, there is bad news for Kiev. Their actions and their statements openly indicated that the Ukrainian government supported Hillary Clinton during the US electoral campaign. This is an accomplished fact, not some speculations. Taking this fact into account, this is really bad news for Kiev," Zudin said.
Apparently, the Ukrainian government does not want the White House to remember that story. However, according to the expert, Washington will not forget it in his future relations with Kiev.
"Probably, the Trump administration could use this fact as leverage over the Ukrainian government in the near future or in the mid-run," Zudin suggested.
In an op-ed for RIA Novosti, Rostislav Ishchenko, head of the Center for Systemic Analysis and Prognosis, noted that the policy of the current US presidential administration towards Ukraine is significantly different than that of the Obama administration.
"Previous visits by US officials, especially by Victoria Nuland, to Ukraine indicated Washington’s high interest in settling Kiev’s issues. But the current administration would be glad if it didn’t have to deal with the Ukrainian crisis and Ukrainian officials. [During the visit to Kiev] Tillerson gave a signal to Poroshenko that the White House is not happy with the Ukrainian government," Ishchenko wrote.
Tillerson’s visit to Ukraine came right after the G20 Summit during which US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin had their first personal meeting. According to Russian Minister Sergei Lavrov, Ukraine was among the issues discussed by the two leaders. In particular, according to Lavrov, Putin and Trump agreed to establish a bilateral communications channel between Moscow and Washington to discuss the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis.
