Ambassador Viktor Batiuk killed in car accident (12/08/96)

Ambassador Viktor Batiuk killed in car accident

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Viktor Batiuk, who had been Ukraine's representative to the United Nations and later ambassador to Canada, was killed in an automobile accident on December 2.

The 57-year-old diplomat, who had currently held the title ambassador-at-large, was returning to Kyiv from a mission to Slovakia when the accident occurred.

According to an unofficial version the Ministry of Foreign Affairs press service gave The Weekly, the ambassador was crossing a bridge near the village of Latorytsia in the Zakarpattia region of Ukraine at approximately 10 a.m. when his car crossed the meridian and struck a tractor-trailer approaching from the other direction. The press spokesperson emphasized that the official investigation was not yet complete.

In addition to Mr. Batiuk, who was driving, two other passengers in the car died.

Mr. Batiuk served as Ukraine's ambassador to the United Nations in 1992-1994. Afterwards, he was appointed ambassador to Canada, where he served until February of this year.

Ambassador Batiuk was born in Sverdlovsk, Russia, on March 15, 1939. The ethnic Ukrainian, after completing studies at the Moscow Institute of International Relations in 1962, moved to Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kyiv.

For the next 30 years he slowly rose through the ranks, spending time at the United Nations as second secretary of Ukraine's Permanent Mission in New York in 1968-1973, and at the U.N. Office and other international organizations based in Geneva, in 1978-1984.

He also served as third, second and first secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1962-1968, assistant to the minister of foreign affairs in 1973-1974, and general secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine in 1974-1978. From 1984 to 1992 he served as a member of the board and director of the Department of International Organizations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In 1964 he was a fellow at the Institute for Labor Studies at the International Labor Organization. He was a member of the Writers' Union of Ukraine and had published translations of works from Bangladeshi, Indian and American literature.

Mr. Batiuk is survived by his wife and three children.