The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has reported that new Russian Consul General in Simferopol Vyacheslav Svetlichny assumed his duties on Tuesday.
“The new Russian consul general has already assumed his duties,”
Acting Director of the Information Policy Department of the Ukrainian
Foreign Ministry Yevhen Perebyinis said at a briefing on Tuesday.
Previous Russian Consul General in Simferopol
Vladimir Andreyev caused a scandal when he 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 their publishing needs to be punished,” Andreyev said in a
telephone interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
