The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine has given consent to the appointment of Vyacheslav Svetlichny as a new Russian Consul General to Simferopol, a diplomat told an Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
“The Ukrainian side has given consent to his appointment,” the source said on Monday, June 3.
The diplomat also said that the appointment procedure was in progress. However, the source did not specify when the new consul would take office.
As reported, in late May Russian Consul General in Simferopol Vladimir Andreyev said in an interview with ATR television channel that “the theme of collaborationism and help to the invaders must be present at all events” concerning the deportation of the Crimean Tatars during WWII.
The local community of Crimean Tatars in response held a number of demonstrations demanding that Andreyev be declared a persona non grata.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on May 22 that it expected the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Russian authorities in general to properly assess Andreyev’s remarks as essentially justifying the deportation of the Crimean Tatars.
The Russian Foreign Ministry acknowledged in a May 23 statement that Andreyev’s wordings regarding the Crimean Tatars were incorrect and not taking into account sensitivity of the issue.
Andreyev openly disagreed with the Foreign Ministry’s comment on his remarks and declared his decision to resign.
“I stick to my opinion and to each word of my opinion. And I view the [Russian] Foreign Ministry statement as helpless, stupid, unprincipled and disgracing the Russian Foreign Ministry. They excuse for what I have not said and, on the contrary, do not support me on something that cannot be surrendered. And actually anyone who writes such statements and who allows publishing them needs to be punished,” Andreyev said in a telephone interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
