Kiev has sacked envoy Andrey Melnik, who been entangled in a number of scandals over the previous few months
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky relieved Ambassador Andrey Melnik from his submit in a decree signed on Saturday. In latest months, the diplomat has sparked a number of high-profile scandals and even branded German Chancellor Olaf Scholz an “offended liverwurst.”
No reasoning for the transfer has formally been offered. Melnik was dismissed from his submit alongside a number of different high diplomats, together with the nation’s envoys to India, Norway, Finland, and the Czech Republic.
The approaching dismissal of Melnik was reported earlier this week by German tabloid Bild, which prompt the diplomat could possibly be set to take up a brand new submit within the Ukrainian International Ministry, probably even changing into a deputy overseas minister.
“Andrey Melnik may be very a lot appreciated in Kiev for his work,” an unnamed Ukrainian authorities official informed the paper.
In latest months, Melnik grew to become entangled in a number of high-profile scandals. Most lately, the ambassador repeatedly defended Stepan Bandera – a controversial Ukrainian nationwide hero who collaborated with the Nazis throughout WWII – in an interview with German podcaster Tilo Jung.
Kiev’s envoy claimed that Bandera had not been implicated within the mass homicide of Jews and Poles, prompting criticism from each Poland and Israel. Ukraine’s International Ministry needed to step in, explaining that Melnik’s phrases had mirrored his personal view however not Kiev’s official place.
Again in Could, Melnik insulted Chancellor Scholz –calling him an “offended liverwurst” – over his refusal to pay a go to to Kiev. Scholz’s transfer was prompted by Kiev’s refusal to obtain German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in mid-April, over his allegedly too shut ties with Russia.
Whereas Melnik had repeatedly stood by his comment, insisting it was “not a matter of apologizing,” he admitted in late June he in the end “regretted” the offensive assertion.
“That’s an announcement that I regretted later, after all. I’ll apologize to [Scholz] personally,” Melnik informed Berlin journal Der Spiegel again then. It stays unknown whether or not the diplomat has really had a chance to supply his apology to the Chancellor.
