US Senator McCain Declines Office of Ukraine President Adviser

US Republican Senator John McCain has turned down an invitation to be one of the advisors to Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko.

This was announced in a statement published on McCain's page on the website of the US Senate, with the Republican citing "provisions of the US Constitution concerning the interaction of Members of Congress with foreign governments."

McCain, noted for his fierce anti-Russian rhetoric, was to be part of the advisory body established with the President to help him carry out reform in Ukraine.

It now includes Swedish ex-Foreign Minister Carl Bildt and is to be chaired by Georgia's former head of state Mikheil Saakashvili, according to a statement by the Ukrainian Presidency dated Thursday which included a list of people "invited" to take part.

The new institution is called Advisory International Council of Reforms.

Other prominent participants are former two-term Lithuanian PM Andrus Kubilius, MEP Elmar Brok and Economist Anders Aslund.

Saakashvili, whose tenure was marked by a staunchly pro-European course of Georgia, voiced regret over McCain's inability to join.

John McCain really wanted to join International Advisory Council on Reforms in order to help Ukraine, as we... http://t.co/fEhoOCwWju

? Mikheil Saakashvili (@SaakashviliM) May 14, 2015