Volker, U.S. special envoy to Ukraine, submits resignation

Kurt Volker, the U.S. special envoy to Ukraine,
announced his resignation on Sept. 27, a day after he was referenced in the
whistleblower complaint alleging U.S. President Trump pressured Ukrainian
President Zelensky to investigate the business dealings of U.S. Vice President
Joe Biden’s son. The nytimes.com report that announced the resignation cited no
reason from Volker, but directly mentioned that Volker will be questioned next
week in the U.S. House of Representatives regarding his involvement in Trump’s
alleged months-long campaign to pressure Zelensky. The complaint cites Volker’s
role as providing advice to the Ukrainian leadership on “how to ‘navigate’ the
demands that the (U.S.) president had made of Mr. Zelensky” during a July 26
visit, a day after the phone call at the heart of the scandal.

The complaint has drawn uncomfortable attention to
Volker and the unusual arrangement by which he served as Trump’s special envoy
– essentially as a volunteer while maintaining other paid jobs, including as
executive director of the McCain Institute think tank, the politico.com news
site said on Sept. 28. Appointed in July 2017, Volker supported a shift in
policy to send lethal weapons to Ukraine, particularly anti-tank Javelin
missile launchers. Besides the McCain Institute, which drew donations from
Raytheon Corp., Volker worked for the BGR Group lobbying firm, which has
Raytheon as among its top clients. Raytheon manufactures the Javelin system and
earned millions from Trump’s decision to send them to Ukraine, politico.com
said.

Among BGR Group’s clients has been the Ukrainian
government, which signed a contract in January 2017, politico.com said. That’s
when Volker was still a paid consultant and before he was named as special
envoy. But while BGR Group stressed that Volker had recused himself from all
issues related to the firm’s work for the Ukrainian government, Volker’s remit
as special envoy was far wider, giving him broad responsibilities in
discussions with Russia, as well as privileged access to information about U.S.
and EU sanctions policies. These were “matters of intense interest to military
defense contractors, energy companies, and financial firms,” among other
sectors.