26 May 2021, Wednesday, 18:56 159

Zelenskyy Receives 12 Gifts From 2020

Редактор: Daria Zubkova

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has received 12 gifts since the beginning of 2020.

The Office of the President announced this to Ukrainian News Agency.

This year, during a visit to Ukraine in March, President of Lithuania Gitanas Nauseda presented to the head of state the jubilee medal of Jan Karol Chodkiewicz and the book "Porters of Grand Dukes and Nobles of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from Ukrainian Museums", and during Zelenskyy's visit to Qatar in April he received from Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani a photo album as a gift.

In 2020, the President was presented with nine gifts: a porcelain dessert dish, a jug and a plate with Turkish ornament he received from the Ministers of Defense and Foreign Affairs of Turkey, and a white metal tour in the shape of a dragon, a bus sculpture made of art glass, a hand-woven carpet, a rug, a dish made of white metal and a ceramic dish with an ornament from the ambassadors of Thailand, the Philippines, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Egypt and Tajikistan, respectively.

Earlier, the Agency reported that in 2019 since the inauguration as President, Zelenskyy received 181 gifts, including a collection of Shakespeare's works from the Secret Intelligence Service of the British Foreign Office (MI-6), a porcelain Pokemon figurine from a Chinese businessman, founder of Alibaba Group Jack Ma, bicycle and sleep mask from Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid, Hermes tie from former President of the European Council Donald Tusk.

Since the beginning of his presidency, Zelenskyy himself, according to data provided to the Agency by the State Affairs Department, has presented more than 1,500 gifts.

In particular, the President presented 18 embroidered shirts, 15 embroidered towels and tablecloths, 22 silk scarves, 300 dishes, plates and boxes with Petrykivka painting, 11 ceramics and three makitras, three carpets, six amber jewelry, two paintings from amber and silk, earrings and necklace with pearls.

Also among the gifts from the head of state there are 380 wristwatches, 130 cufflinks and 36 ties with state symbols, 10 sets of Christmas tree decorations, 137 books (different by Ivan Malkovich, "The Snow Queen" by Hans Christian Andersen, about Babi Yar, about Ukraine) and 88 photo albums (about Kyiv and Ukraine), as well as other souvenirs, including tapestries, sculptural compositions, figurines, vases, candlesticks, etc.

At the same time, the State Affairs department did not specify to whom exactly these gifts were addressed by the head of state.

It is publicly known that in 2020, on the occasion of Embroidery Day, Zelenskyy presented embroidered shirts to Donald and Melania Trump, Justin and Sophie Trudeau, Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron, as well as other world leaders and their spouses.

Then the Embassy of Belarus reported that Aleksandr Lukashenko had sent Belarusian embroidered shirts to Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Olena Zelenska as a return gift, but they are not included in the list provided to Ukrainian News Agency by the Office of the President.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, in 2019, Zelenskyy refused to accept his plaster bust with an imprint of red lipstick from the author's kiss as a gift, calling it "horror" and urging not to do this again.

Former President Petro Poroshenko was presented with a guide to Crimea in 2016, as well as 280 more gifts, including knitted woolen socks from the party and a ball signed by the players of FC Dynamo (Kyiv).

In 2017, Poroshenko was presented with magazines with recipes and the book "Fun Physical Culture", as well as 70 more gifts.

In 2018, Poroshenko received as a gift a book on Hungarian-Ukrainian relations and 25 more presents.