page_title: John E. Herbst
section_title: U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine
hierarchical_section_title: John E. Herbst / Career / U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine
caption_attribution_description: English: Ambassador Herbst meets with Viktor Yuschenko at a US Independence Day event.
context_page_description: John Edward Herbst is a retired American diplomat who was the United States Ambassador to Uzbekistan from 2000 to 2003 and United States Ambassador to Ukraine from September 2003 to May 2006. Herbst was married to Nadezda Christoff Herbst and has five children.
context_section_description: During the period that became known as the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, Ambassador Herbst was involved in the events which led up to and defined Viktor Yushchenko's presidency. Ambassador Herbst was described by Pakistan's Daily Times as "an erudite, charming and linguistically gifted diplomat" whose accomplishments "conveyed Bush policy that Ukraine should not join the Common Economic Space with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan because 'it is not in [its] interests to have this integration complicated'."
  In 2005, Ambassador Herbst, serving as U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, called the reputation of Mykola Bilokin, Minister of the Internal Affairs of Ukraine from 2003 to 2005, "unacceptable." Later in the month Ambassador Herbst worked with newly appointed Minister of the Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Yuri Lutsenko, to reform the ministry. The new ministry was restructured to meet the changing political and socio-economic environment in Ukraine. During the meeting Ambassador Herbst offered the support of American law enforcement officers and noted that the U.S. is willing to provide aid to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
  Following the Orange Revolution, Ambassador Herbst facilitated funding of objective sources of news in Ukraine. His efforts led to the United States Agency of International Development funding $2.4 million to be spent towards the development of mass media in the country. Ambassador Herbst implemented his strategy by focusing on readying trainers and educators in the communications discipline, including Ukraine's Center for Ukrainian Reform Education and Kiev non-governmental organization Telekritika. Ambassador Herbst oversaw tertiary funding including the Open Media Fund, sponsored by the International Renaissance Foundation and worked with his associates at the U.S. Embassy, including press attaché Brent Byers, to allocate $750,000 in 2005. Ambassador Herbst oversaw funding in support of independent media in Ukraine. Ambassador Herbst coordinated with the European Commission to Ukraine and effectively secured an additional 3.5 million Euros between 2003 and 2005.
caption: Ambassador John E. Herbst meets with Viktor Yushchenko at a U.S. Independence Day event.
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