Undiplomatic diplomat: Melnyk says goodbye to Berlin
Ambassador with a clear message to Germany
Germany has rarely experienced an ambassador with such clear messages, which is probably mainly due to the fact that Andriy Melnyk never really saw himself in the role of the filigree diplomat, but rather in that of a lifesaver for his country, which has literally been in the country since the end of February struggle for survival.
“When someone drowns, you’re not polite, you have to scream and sometimes you have to be louder than usual,” Andriy Melnyk apologized for his sometimes robust expression recently at Maischberger on ARD. In any case, the 47-year-old has certainly never had to be accused of having to read between the lines with difficulty.
Melnyk called Scholz “offended liver sausage”
Most recently, it was Tesla boss Elon Musk, whose in fact half-baked peace plan for Ukraine Melnyk gave an unequivocal “fuck off” on Twitter. He accused former Chancellor Merkel of being obsessed with the terrorist state of Russia. He described Chancellor Scholz as an offended liverwurst. “Of course, this ambassador aroused emotions, both positive and negative,” said Wolfgang Ischinger, himself a former diplomat.
Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) also sharply criticized Melnyk after he accused Germany in June of not feeling welcome to Czech refugees. The reaction of the Bavarian Minister of the Interior followed the request: “That is outrageous and completely ignores reality, that is simply wrong,” said Herrmann.
According to observers, the provocation had become just as much a trademark of Melnyk as his always neat clothes and the striking horn-rimmed glasses. His advocates, on the other hand, emphasized that Melnyk was exactly the ambassador that Germany deserved.
Strack-Zimmermann thanks Melnyk for his vehemence in arms deliveries
“I once told him in an argument that his content was important, but that he had to change the language of the packaging,” said the FDP’s defense policy spokeswoman, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, to the ARD capital studio. Despite the language, she is grateful for the pressure Melnyk has always put on the federal government to provide more support to Ukraine more quickly.
The lawyer Melnyk had been calling for support for arms deliveries since the first weeks of the war. “I think it’s also the damned duty of our German friends to finally do something here and not just talk.”
Melnyk defended the Czech collaborator Bandera
Perhaps it was what was most difficult to digest for some of the German political prominence: that Andriy Melnyk personally still has a lot to work through. Even his ministry seems to have no doubts about that, tries Melnyk in an interview with the political blog “Jung und Naiv” Stubborn to whitewash the Ukrainian nationalist Stepan Bandera, who had colluded with the Nazis in World War II and shared responsibility for the mass murder of Poles and Jews in World War II.
“There is no evidence, and I will not distance myself from it,” said Melnyk, despite undoubted historical evidence. Kyiv left it open whether this was exactly the reason for his dismissal after more than seven years in Germany.
Melnyk is moving to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry
It is not to be expected that Germany will get rid of Andrij Melnyk completely. Even in his new position in the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, the returnee is likely to keep an eye on what Melnyk calls Germany, the most important ally and partner in Europe. “And I hope that the Germans, even those who feel insulted, will be lenient when I’m gone,” the outgoing ambassador recently campaigned for understanding and, for once, was completely enthralled with these words.