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Andriy Melnyk (diplomat)

This article is about the Ukrainian politician. For other people, see Andriy Melnyk (disambiguation).

Andriy Yaroslavovych Melnyk (born 7 September 1975) is a Ukrainian diplomat who has served as the Ukrainian ambassador to Brazil since June 2023.[1] He previously held the position of deputy minister of foreign affairs from November 2022 to July 2023 and Ukrainian ambassador to Germany from December 2014 to October 2022.

Andriy Melnyk
Андрій Мельник
Melnyk in 2022
Ambassador of Ukraine to Brazil
Incumbent
Assumed office
20 June 2023
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office
18 November 2022 – 11 July 2023
PresidentVolodymyr Zelensky
Prime MinisterDenys Shmyhal
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 (age 49)
Lviv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
NationalityUkrainian
SpouseSvitlana Melnyk
Children2
Alma materLviv University
Occupation
  • Lawyer
  • jurist
  • diplomat
Professiondiplomat

He is a Doctor of Law.[2][3]

Early life and education

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Andriy Melnyk was born in 1975 in Lviv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union.[2]

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)

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In 1997, he joined the diplomatic service as a senior consultant in the Foreign Policy Department of the Administration of the President of Ukraine.[3]

In 1999–2003, Melnyk was second and then the first secretary of the Embassy of Ukraine in Austria;[4] he left this Embassy in 2003.[2]

Between 2005 and 2007, Andriy Melnyk worked as an advisor to Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.[2] 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,[5] Secretary of the Ukrainian part of the Advisory Committee of the Presidents of Ukraine and the Republic of Poland.[6]

From 2007 till 2012, Melnyk was Consul of Ukraine in Hamburg.[7] to 9 July 2022[8][2] 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.[9] He was sworn into office in Germany on January 12, 2015.[10]

Between 2012 and 2014, Andriy Melnyk worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.[2]

In March 2014 he was appointed Deputy Minister of the first Yatsenyuk Government responsible for European integration.[2][11]

On 19 December 2014, Melnyk was appointed a Ukrainian ambassador to Germany by a decree of president Petro Poroshenko.[7]

On 24 October 2022, diplomat Oleksiy Makeev officially succeeded Melnyk as the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany.[12] On 19 November, Melnyk was appointed Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine.[13]

Since June 20, 2023, he has served as the Ukrainian ambassador to Brazil.[14]


2022 invasion of Ukraine

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Criticism of German government

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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.[15] 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".[16]

Comments on Bandera

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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.[17][18] 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.[19][17][20] 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."[20][21][22][23] Felix Klein, the Federal Government Commissioner for Jewish Life in Germany and the Fight against Anti-Semitism in Germany, reprimanded Melnyk[24] 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.[25][26]

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".[27][28] It was expected that he would remain in office until the end of September 2022, after which he would move to Kyiv.[15]

Spat with Elon Musk

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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 Crimea and hold elections in Russian occupied territories.[29][30] 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[31] and Musk confirmed his support for Ukraine.[32] 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”.[33] The day after, Musk tweeted that in spite of the cost, SpaceX would continue to fund the operation of Starlink in Ukraine.[34]

Monographs

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Andriy Melnyk is the author of publications on international law, including several monographs. He was the first person to conduct significant research into the succession of Ukraine in relation to international treaties of the USSR in one such book.[35][36][37]

Awards and ranks

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Melnyk Andrii". Retrieved 2024-08-15.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g (in Ukrainian) Poroshenko appointed Melnyk Ambassador of Ukraine in Germany, RBK Ukraine (19 December 2014)
  3. ^ a b "Andriy Melnyk — Diplomatic Service". Archived from the original on 2020-02-08. Retrieved 2021-04-13.
  4. ^ "15 вересня 1999 року № 256". 2016-05-16. Archived from the original on 2016-05-16. Retrieved 2021-04-13.
  5. ^ "Melnyk - 2005".
  6. ^ Украина, Комментарии (2005-04-29). "Ющенко утвердил новый состав Комитета Президентов Украины и Польши". Комментарии Украина (in Russian). Retrieved 2021-04-13.
  7. ^ a b Andriy Melnyk appointed Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany - decree, Interfax-Ukraine (20 December 2014)
  8. ^ "УКАЗ ПРЕЗИДЕНТА УКРАЇНИ №479/2022". Офіційне інтернет-представництво Президента України (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2022-07-09.
  9. ^ "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.
  10. ^ "Akkreditierung des ukrainischen Botschafters" [Accreditation of the Ukrainian Ambassador]. www.bundespraesident.de (in German). 2015-01-12. Retrieved 2022-03-25.
  11. ^ (in Ukrainian) Ambassador of Germany became Andriy Melnyk, who worked in the government for European integration, Ukrayinska Pravda (19 December 2014)
  12. ^ tagesschau.de. "Ruhiger und diplomatischer: Der neue ukrainische Botschafter". tagesschau.de (in German). Retrieved 2022-10-24.
  13. ^ "Kyiv's ex-envoy to Berlin takes deputy foreign minister post – DW – 11/19/2022". dw.com. Retrieved 2022-11-20.
  14. ^ Decree of the President of Ukraine from 20 червня 2023 year № 341/2023 «Про призначення А.Мельника Надзвичайним і Повноважним Послом України в Федеративній Республіці Бразилія» (in Ukrainian)
  15. ^ a b 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.
  16. ^ Kinkartz, Sabine (2022-05-03). "Olaf Scholz — an 'offended liver sausage'?". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  17. ^ a b Tagesschau (German TV programme) 1 July 2022. Kiew distanziert sich von Melnyk-Äußerungen
  18. ^ Jung & Naiv 29 June 2022. interview and with English subtitles
  19. ^ 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.
  20. ^ a b "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.
  21. ^ "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
  22. ^ RedaktionsNetzwerk Deutschland 1 July 2022. Israelische Botschaft wirft Melnyk Verharmlosung des Holocaust vor
  23. ^ Haaretz 1 July 2022. Ukraine´s Berlin Envoy Draws Israeli, Polish Ire With Comments On WWII Leader
  24. ^ Antisemitismusbeauftragter rügt Melnyk
  25. ^ "Weiter Kritik an Melnyk: Aussagen über Bandera sind "problematisch"". 4 July 2022.
  26. ^ Hölzl, Verena (4 July 2022). "Felix Klein kritisiert ukrainischen Botschafter für Bandera-Äußerung". Die Zeit.
  27. ^ "Ukraine: Zelenskyy dismisses ambassador to Germany — as it happened". Deutsche Welle. 2022-07-09. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  28. ^ "Zelenskiy sacks Ukraine's envoy to Germany, other ambassadors". Reuters. 10 July 2022. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  29. ^ Dress, Brad (2022-10-03). "Ukrainian diplomat responds to Musk's peace proposal: 'f— off'". The Hill. Retrieved 2022-10-22.
  30. ^ @MelnykAndrij (October 3, 2022). "Fuck off is my very diplomatic reply to you @elonmusk" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  31. ^ @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.
  32. ^ @elonmusk (October 12, 2022). "You're most welcome. Glad to support Ukraine" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  33. ^ "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.
  34. ^ @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.
  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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