English
Spanish
French
German
Italian
Portuguese
Russian
Chinese (Simplified)
Hindi
Japanese
WASHINGTON — Embattled Ukrainian Ambassador Oksana Markarova gave first lady Jill Biden a brooch worth more than $14,000 last year — as the US government footed the bill for tens of billions of dollars of Kyiv’s governmental operations, new federal filings revealed.
Markarova, whom top congressional Republicans want to be fired over an event they believed was designed to boost Democrats last year in swing-state Pennsylvania, gave the first lady the forget-me-not-flower brooch on the same day that the Bidens hosted her at the 2023 State of the Union address to Congress.
“Non-acceptance would cause embarrassment to donor and U.S. Government,” an annotation on the gift registry says.
The present was one of the most expensive gifts given to the first couple in a listing published Thursday in the Federal Register — though it was topped by a diamond gifted to Jill Biden by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, worth an estimated $20,000.
US ethics policies require diplomatic gift recipients to relinquish the items unless they purchase them for market value.
The pricey brooch will be “Retained for Official Use in the East Wing,” the disclosure document says.
The first lady’s office and Markarova’s office did not immediately offer comment to The Post.
Congress has appropriated $183 billion to support Kyiv since the February 2022 Russian invasion.
Those funds include $26.8 billion in direct budget support for the Ukrainian government.
Markarova’s position as ambassador became tenuous in September when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited a Scranton, Pa., ammunition plant at the height of the election campaign between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) demanded that Zelensky “immediately fire” Markarova for organizing the trip featuring Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro.
“The facility was in a politically contested battleground state, was led by a top political surrogate for Kamala Harris, and failed to include a single Republican because — on purpose — no Republicans were invited,” Johnson said at the time.
“The tour was clearly a partisan campaign designed to help Democrats and is clearly election interference. This shortsighted and intentionally political move has caused Republicans to lose trust in Ambassador Markarova’s ability to fairly and effectively serve as a diplomat in this country.”
