WASHINGTON — Vice President Joe Biden’s visit Saturday to support Ukraine’s fragile democracy came soon after his youngest son was hired by a private Ukrainian company that promotes energy independence from Moscow.
Yet that company leases natural gas fields in the breakaway Russian-backed state of Crimea and is owned by a former government minister with ties to Ukraine’s ousted pro-Russia president.
The hiring of Hunter Biden, 44, by Burisma Holdings Limited in April was approved by the company’s owner, a former senior minister and political ally of Viktor Yanukovych, the exiled Ukrainian president. Yanukovych fled to Russia in February after protests erupted over his efforts to establish closer economic ties with Moscow.
Hunter Biden’s employment means he will be working as a director and top lawyer for a Ukrainian energy company during the period when his father and others in the Obama administration attempt to influence the policies of Ukraine’s new government, especially on energy issues.
There’s no indication that Hunter Biden, his father, or Burisma is crossing any legal or ethical lines, although ethics experts appear divided over the implications of Hunter Biden’s new job.
American conflict-of-interest laws and federal ethics rules essentially do not regulate the business activities of adult relatives of those who work in the White House.
‘‘The primary problem here is the fact that Hunter Biden has set up a financial arrangement with someone who might have business pending before this administration,’’ said Craig Holman, an ethics expert with Public Citizen, a government reform organization in Washington.
Joe Biden led the US delegation at Saturday’s inauguration of Ukraine’s new president, Petro Poroshenko, and announced $48 million in additional aid for the Kiev government.
Ukraine has vast transportation networks of natural gas and petroleum liquids. Two major pipeline systems carry Russian gas through Ukraine to Western Europe.
Burisma is headed by Nikolai Zlochevskyi, who held senior posts over natural resources, environment, and defense in Ukraine. The company has aggressively bought Ukrainian oil and natural gas leases and companies.
Hunter Biden’s new company says it aims to reduce Ukraine’s dependence on Russian gas and oil, a goal that parallels US efforts to aid Ukraine’s energy industry.
As a Burisma director and the company’s top lawyer, the younger Biden has yet to take any public actions on behalf of the company.
But the timing of his hiring is politically awkward for the administration’s efforts to shore up Ukraine’s pro-Western government, and it poses potential complications from Burisma’s energy interests and the background of Hunter Biden’s boss, Zlochevskyi.
The vice president’s spokeswoman, Kendra Barkoff, has said Biden’s son is a private citizen and a lawyer and that Joe Biden ‘‘does not endorse any particular company and has no involvement with this company.’’