Ep. 547 — Amb. Oksana Markarova

The Axe Files with David Axelrod

CNN

News

4.6 • 7.7K Ratings

🗓️ 31 August 2023

⏱️ 61 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Ukrainian Ambassador Oksana Markarova grew up during the downfall of the Soviet Union. She spent much of her career helping rebuild Ukraine’s economy after the country became independent, working in the private sector before joining Ukraine’s Ministry of Finance. She was appointed Ambassador to the U.S. in 2021 in part to help strengthen economic ties, but her priorities quickly shifted after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Amb. Markarova joined David to talk about her upbringing and the difficulty and hope that came with Ukrainian independence, her view of President Zelensky, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and why this war in an existential threat to all who believe in democracy.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	And now from the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago and CNN audio, the
0:11.5	Axwiles.
0:13.0	With your host, David Axelrod.
0:16.5	When she came to the U.S. as Ukraine's ambassador, Oksana Markarova could not have anticipated
0:22.7	becoming a fixture on American TV, but the career finance expert also could not have anticipated
0:28.4	that she would be a wartime ambassador, representing her besieged country after Putin's brutal
0:33.8	invasion.
0:34.8	I spoke with Ambassador Markar over this week about the war, her beloved country, and her
0:39.4	own journey to this fateful moment.
0:41.4	Here's that conversation.
0:48.4	Ambassador, honored to be with you.
0:50.4	Thanks so much for joining me today.
0:52.4	I know you are on a 24-7 schedule over there, adapting to two time zones.
0:59.0	So thank you for being here.
1:00.7	Thank you very much for having me look forward to talking to you.
1:03.9	So Americans have become familiar with you because you are the principal spokesman for
1:10.9	Ukraine in our country and you're on television quite a bit.
1:15.0	But I don't want, and we will get to the current issues of the war, but I really am interested
1:21.6	in you and your story, which isn't as well-known.
1:26.2	So if you'll indulge me, let's talk about that a little bit.
1:30.1	First of all, talk about your family.
1:31.1	I think one of your parents is Ukrainian and other from Armenia.
	...

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