US State Department: political asylum granted to Nikolai Melnichenko

The US State Department has confirmed that Nikolai Melnichenko, a former officer of the security service of the Ukrainian president, applied for political asylum in the USA, and the US authorities agreed, according to the information given to journalists by Richard Boucher, the official spokesman for the State Department, in Washington on Monday. He said that Melnichenko's application for political asylum in the USA had been processed "in accordance with the international practice and criteria". Boucher refused to spill out details about this incident, including the time and place where Melnichenko applied for asylum in the USA. He stressed, however, that the US policy in relations with Ukraine "remain unchanged" and includes partnership and cooperation with the Ukrainian government.-

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