Andriy Melnyk (diplomat)

Andriy Yaroslavovych Melnyk (born 7 September 1975) is a Ukrainian diplomat currently serving as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. Previously he served from January 12, 2015[1] until October 2022 as the Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany and currently serving as the Ukrainian ambassador to Brazil since June 2023.[2] He is a Doctor of Law.[3][4]

This article is about the Ukrainian politician. For other people, see Andriy Melnyk (disambiguation).
Andriy Melnyk
Андрій Мельник
Melnyk in 2022
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs
Assumed office
18 November 2022
PresidentVolodymyr Zelensky
MinisterDmytro Kuleba
Ambassador of Ukraine to Germany
In office
12 January 2015 – 14 October 2022
PresidentPetro Poroshenko
Volodymyr Zelensky
Preceded byPavlo Klimkin
Succeeded byOleksiy Makeev
Personal details
Born (1975-09-07) 7 September 1975
Lviv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
NationalityUkrainian
SpouseSvitlana Melnyk
Children2
Alma materLviv University
Occupation
  • Lawyer
  • jurist
  • diplomat
Professiondiplomat

Early life and education

Andriy Melnyk was born in 1975 in Lviv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union.[3]

In 1997, he graduated from Ivan Franko Lviv State University, qualified as a specialist in international relations, translator of German. Then Melnyk studied in Sweden at the Faculty of Law of the University of Lund, where he received a master's degree in international law. Also, he interned at Harvard University.

Diplomatic career (1997-2014)

In 1997, he joined the diplomatic service as a senior consultant in the Foreign Policy Department of the Administration of the President of Ukraine.[4]

In 1999–2003, Melnyk was second and then the first secretary of the Embassy of Ukraine in Austria;[5] he left this Embassy in 2003.[3]

Between 2005 and 2007, Andriy Melnyk worked as an advisor to Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.[3] He was Deputy Head of the Department of Bilateral and Regional Cooperation, Head of the Analysis and Planning Department of the Main Foreign Policy Service of the Secretariat of the President of Ukraine,[6] Secretary of the Ukrainian part of the Advisory Committee of the Presidents of Ukraine and the Republic of Poland.[7]

From 2007 till 2012, Melnyk was Consul of Ukraine in Hamburg.[8] to 9 July 2022[9][3] He initiated the establishment of the Coordination Council of Ukrainian public organizations at the Consulate General: the Union of Ukrainian Students of Germany, the Association of Ukrainians of Northern Germany, the Society of Ukrainians of Germany.[10] He was sworn into office in Germany on January 12, 2015.[1]

Between 2012 and 2014, Andriy Melnyk worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.[3]

In March 2014 he was appointed Deputy Minister of the first Yatsenyuk Government responsible for European integration.[3][11]

Ambassador to Germany

On 19 December 2014, Melnyk was appointed a Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany by a decree of President Petro Poroshenko.[8]

Criticism of German government

As ambassador to Germany Melnyk was vocal in his criticism of what he considered Germany's insufficient support of Ukraine following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[12] After Germany's president Frank-Walter Steinmeier was uninvited to Ukraine due to his allegedly close links to Vladimir Putin, Germany's chancellor Olaf Scholz cancelled his visit to Ukraine. This prompted Melnyk to dub Scholz an offended liver sausage (German: beleidigte Leberwurst) in reference to a person who huffs from being too thin-skinned. Melnyk elaborated that this "is the most brutal war of extermination since the Nazi invasion of Ukraine. It's not kindergarten".[13]

Comments on Bandera

On 29 June 2022 Andriy Melnyk gave an interview to Tilo Jung where he denied the interviewer's claim that Stepan Bandera's followers were "involved in the killing of 800,000 Jews" during World War II, to which Melnyk replied "there is no evidence that Bandera's troops killed hundreds of thousands of Jews. There is zero evidence." Melnyk called this claim a narrative pushed by Russia that is now being supported by Germany, Poland, and Israel.[14][15] After an official protest of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland, Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs published a statement on 1 July 2022 in which it was declared that this was Melnyk's private opinion.[16][17][18] On 1 July 2022 the Embassy of Israel in Berlin published a statement on Melnyk's interview which criticized him for "a distortion of historical facts concerning the Holocaust."[18][19][20][21] Felix Klein, the Federal Government Commissioner for Jewish Life in Germany and the Fight against Anti-Semitism in Germany, reprimanded Melnyk[22] and appealed to Ukraine to seek rapid admission to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), an intergovernmental organization which is dedicated to the study of the Holocaust. Klein regretted that the Ukrainian government had so far been negative about an IHRA membership.[23][24]

On 9 July 2022, just weeks after his controversial statements, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine announced that Melnyk had been dismissed from his position as ambassador to Germany. Melnyk was dismissed along with several other of Ukraine's ambassadors; president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that "this rotation is a normal part of diplomatic practice".[25][26] It was expected that he would remain in office until the end of September 2022, after which he would move to Kyiv.[12]

Spat with Elon Musk

On 3 October 2022, Melnyk tweeted "Fuck off is my very diplomatic reply to you @elonmusk" in response to a proposal from Musk for Ukraine to give up the territories occupied by Russia.[27][28] On October 12, Ukraine's Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov stressed how important Starlink from Musk's SpaceX was to Ukraine[29] and Musk confirmed his support for Ukraine.[30] On October 14 it surfaced that SpaceX had written the Pentagon that it could not indefinitely fund the operation of Starlink in Ukraine. In spite of having communicated this financing issue in September, Musk elaborated on the Starlink funding issue by retorting in reference to Melnyk "We’re just following his recommendation”.[31] The day after, Musk tweeted that in spite of the cost, SpaceX would continue to fund the operation of Starlink in Ukraine.[32]

Deputy Foreign Minister

On 24 October 2022, diplomat Oleksiy Makeev officially succeeded Melnyk as the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany.[33] On 19 November, Melnyk was appointed Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine.[34]

Monographs

Andriy Melnyk is the author of publications on international law, including several monographs. He was the only person to make a deep research of the succession of Ukraine in relation to international treaties of the USSR in his monograph.[35][36][37]

Awards and ranks

See also

References
  1. "Akkreditierung des ukrainischen Botschafters" [Accreditation of the Ukrainian Ambassador]. www.bundespraesident.de (in German). 2015-01-12. Retrieved 2022-03-25.
  2. https://brazil.mfa.gov.ua/en/governance/andrii-melnyk
  3. (in Ukrainian) Poroshenko appointed Melnyk Ambassador of Ukraine in Germany, RBK Ukraine (19 December 2014)
  4. "Andriy Melnyk — Diplomatic Service". Archived from the original on 2020-02-08. Retrieved 2021-04-13.
  5. "15 вересня 1999 року № 256". 2016-05-16. Archived from the original on 2016-05-16. Retrieved 2021-04-13.
  6. "Melnyk - 2005".
  7. Украина, Комментарии (2005-04-29). "Ющенко утвердил новый состав Комитета Президентов Украины и Польши". Комментарии Украина (in Russian). Retrieved 2021-04-13.
  8. Andriy Melnyk appointed Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany - decree, Interfax-Ukraine (20 December 2014)
  9. "УКАЗ ПРЕЗИДЕНТА УКРАЇНИ №479/2022". Офіційне інтернет-представництво Президента України (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2022-07-09.
  10. "Nord-Inform - Partner-Nord №70 12/2008 - «Будущее Украины – в ЕС и НАТО»". 2014-10-24. Archived from the original on 2014-10-24. Retrieved 2021-04-13.
  11. (in Ukrainian) Ambassador of Germany became Andriy Melnyk, who worked in the government for European integration, Ukrayinska Pravda (19 December 2014)
  12. Emendörfer, Jan (2022-08-15). "Deutschland liefert nach wie vor nicht alles, was notwendig und möglich wäre" [Deutschland still delivers not everything that is necessary and possible]. RND.de (in German). Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  13. Kinkartz, Sabine (2022-05-03). "Olaf Scholz — an 'offended liver sausage'?". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  14. Tagesschau (German TV programme) 1 July 2022. Kiew distanziert sich von Melnyk-Äußerungen
  15. Jung & Naiv 29 June 2022. interview and with English subtitles
  16. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine 30 June 2022. Comment of the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Oleg Nikolenko on the Ukrainian-Polish Relations.
  17. Tagesschau (German TV programme) 1 July 2022. Kiew distanziert sich von Melnyk-Äußerungen
  18. "Ukraine's envoy to Germany irks Israeli, Polish governments". Deutsche Welle. 2022-07-02. Retrieved 2022-10-22. "The statement made by the Ukrainian ambassador is a distortion of the historical facts, belittles the Holocaust and is an insult to those who were murdered by Bandera and his people," the Israeli embassy said.
  19. "Die Aussagen des ukrainischen Botschafters sind eine Verzerrung der historischen Tatsachen, eine Verharmlosung des Holocausts und eine Beleidigung derer, die von Bandera und seinen Leuten ermordet wurden." See: https://twitter.com/IsraelinGermany/status/1542907026560393218/photo/1 See also: https://www.spiegel.de/politik/andrij-melnyk-israelische-botschaft-wirft-botschafter-der-ukraine-verharmlosung-des-holocausts-vor-a-d8fa72cd-0356-4364-bdfd-285260f2d781
  20. RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland 1 July 2022. Israelische Botschaft wirft Melnyk Verharmlosung des Holocaust vor
  21. Haaretz 1 July 2022. Ukraine´s Berlin Envoy Draws Israeli, Polish Ire With Comments On WWII Leader
  22. Antisemitismusbeauftragter rügt Melnyk
  23. "Weiter Kritik an Melnyk: Aussagen über Bandera sind "problematisch"".
  24. "Felix Klein kritisiert ukrainischen Botschafter für Bandera-Äußerung".
  25. "Ukraine: Zelenskyy dismisses ambassador to Germany — as it happened". Deutsche Welle. 2022-07-09. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  26. "Zelenskiy sacks Ukraine's envoy to Germany, other ambassadors". Reuters. 10 July 2022. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  27. Dress, Brad (2022-10-03). "Ukrainian diplomat responds to Musk's peace proposal: 'f— off'". The Hill. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  28. @MelnykAndrij (October 3, 2022). "Fuck off is my very diplomatic reply to you @elonmusk" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  29. @FedorovMykhailo (October 12, 2022). "Over 100 cruise missiles attacked 🇺🇦 energy and communications infrastructure. But with Starlink we quickly restored the connection in critical areas. Starlink continues to be an essential part of critical infrastructure" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  30. @elonmusk (October 12, 2022). "You're most welcome. Glad to support Ukraine" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  31. "Exclusive: Musk's SpaceX says it can no longer pay for critical satellite services in Ukraine, asks Pentagon to pick up the tab". CNN. 2022-10-14. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  32. @elonmusk (October 15, 2022). "The hell with it … even though Starlink is still losing money & other companies are getting billions of taxpayer $, we'll just keep funding Ukraine govt for free" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  33. tagesschau.de. "Ruhiger und diplomatischer: Der neue ukrainische Botschafter". tagesschau.de (in German). Retrieved 2022-10-24.
  34. "Kyiv's ex-envoy to Berlin takes deputy foreign minister post – DW – 11/19/2022". dw.com. Retrieved 2022-11-20.
  35. Правонаступництво України щодо міжнародних договорів СРСР: [Монографія] / Ін-т держави і права ім. В. М. Корецького; Нац.акад.наук України, Ін-т законодавства Верховної Ради України. — К. : Юрид.думка, 2005. — 423 с. — Бібліогр.в підрядк.прим. — ISBN 966-8602-06-4.
  36. "Електронний каталог Миколаївської обласної універсальної наукової бібліотеки". opac.mk.ua. Retrieved 2021-04-13.
  37. Archived copy (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-04-13. Retrieved 2022-02-13.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  38. "Про присвоєння дипломатични... | від 21.12.2012 № 711/2012". zakon.rada.gov.ua. Retrieved 2021-04-13.
  39. "УКАЗ ПРЕЗИДЕНТА УКРАЇНИ №570/2016". Офіційне інтернет-представництво Президента України (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2021-04-13.
  40. "Order of Merit — Melnyk Andriy".
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