KIEV, March 17 – President Viktor Yushchenko on Tuesday nominated Oleh Shamshur, Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S., as the country’s new foreign minister.

The candidacy must be approved by Parliament and political groups have been scheduling meetings with the nominee before holding the vote, perhaps as soon as Thursday, according to lawmakers.

The nomination of Shamshur, a career diplomat and an advocate of Ukraine’s closer cooperation with the West, underscores Yushchenko’s commitment the pro-Western foreign policy.

The move also shows that Yushchenko has rejected the candidacy of Kostiantyn Hryshchenko, the ambassador to Russia and an opponent to quick accession to NATO, as the likely choice. Hryshchenko was widely considered by Yushchenko, people familiar with the situation said.

The vote to approve Shamshur was likely to be scheduled on Thursday when the government had been considering filling other vacancies in the Cabinet, such as the finance minister and the head of the State Property Fund.

“[Shamshur’s] approval will depend on his meetings with all groups in Parliament as he will have to outline his vision of Ukraine’s foreign policy course,” Mykola Tomenko, deputy speaker of Parliament, said Tuesday.

Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Tuesday declined to comment on the nomination.

“I did not have a chance to hold consultations with the group, with the coalition,” Tymoshenko said. “Once I hold the consultations, I will let you know about the decision.”

The post of the foreign minister is vacant since March 3, when Tymoshenko’s group joined forces with the pro-Russian opposition Regions Party to dismiss Volodymyr Ohryzko, an advocate for Ukraine’s quick accession to NATO.

Yushchenko on Tuesday appointed Ohryzko as a deputy secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, the country’s top security body.

Meanwhile, there were mixed signals from political groups on Tuesday suggesting that approval of Shamshur will not be easy.

The Regions Party on Tuesday was not likely to support Shamshur amid concerns that he will continue the pro-Western policy that the party has been opposing, Oleksandr Yefremov, a Regions Party lawmaker, said.

“We suspect that Shamshur will be conducting the same policy as his predecessor,” Yefremov said. “That’s why we will be very careful about this candidacy.”

But Tymoshenko-led coalition, which controls 213 seats in the 450-seat Parliament, may also reject the nomination following a clash with Yushchenko.

The coalition has asked Yushchenko on March 6 to nominate Boris Tarasiuk, a former foreign minister and now a Tymoshenko loyalist, to the post, but Yushchenko had rejected the choice.

“Your nomination of Shamshur in fact means the rejection of the coalition’s suggestion,” leaders of three groups that compose the coalition wrote in the letter to Yushchenko on Tuesday. (tl/ez)