OTTAWA – Since taking up his post as Ukraine’s ambassador to Canada in late 2015, Andriy Shevchenko has spent most of his time with journalists talking to them about Russian aggression in his country.
So when there’s a good-news story, such as the official launch of the Canada-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement (CUFTA) on August 1, the 41-year-old former journalist and Ukrainian national deputy hauled out the wine, cheese and fresh cherries on July 28 for media invited to the Ukrainian Embassy to first hear from the ambassador and officials from both countries about how CUFTA will benefit both – in Ambassador Shevchenko’s words, Canada, “the symbol of the free world,” and Ukraine, “a new frontier of the free world.”