Political signal from Ukraine: a new ambassador will take office in Buenos Aires after three years of vacancy

Ukraine has chosen a symbolic day to appoint its new ambassador to Buenos Aires. Coinciding with the anniversary of the war with Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky appointed Yuri Klymenko as the new diplomatic representative in the country with the intention of strengthening bilateral relations with Argentina.

Klymenko will present his credentials this Friday as Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to the Foreign Ministry headed by Santiago Cafiero. The post had been vacant for three years. Until then, the diplomatic headquarters located on Calle Olleros was in charge of the business manager, Serge Nebrat.

The last Ukrainian ambassador to Argentina was Youri Diudin. His mission ended when the government of Alberto Fernández began. With the new foreign policy designation, Ukraine aims to strengthen the political presence in the country and towards the rest of Latin America.

Klymenko is a career civil servant and entered the foreign service in 1992. His previous post was as Ukraine’s special representative for conflict resolution in Transnistria, another hot spot at odds with Russia, Moldova and Romania. Last December, Zelenski signed decrees 887/2022 and 888/2022 so that Klymenko would now be in charge of bilateral liaison with the Argentine government.

The appointment of the new ambassador has a strategic and symbolic seasoning for Ukraine. In addition to making it official on the anniversary of the start of the military escalation in Donetsk there Luganskin the Donbass region, coincides in a context of deepening hostilities with Russia, after the Russian President, Vladimir Poutineannounced its withdrawal from the treaty New start on nuclear disarmament.

As a result of the war, the government of Alberto Fernández had to gradually change its position on the Russian government. Moscow has been a key ally of Argentina in the first year of the pandemic with the supply of Sputnik V vaccines against COVID-19. In fact, the war meant a reality check for the Casa Rosada and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It started a few weeks after Alberto Fernández held a bilateral meeting with Vladimir Putin and promised him that Argentina “would be Russia’s door to Latin America”.

The outbreak of hostilities, however, closed it.

There were some initial hesitations. At first, the government avoided using the terms “invasion” and “condemnation” refer to Russian military actions. With the development of the war, the national government finally positions itself in favor of Ukraine, calls for the search for peaceful solutions and sends humanitarian aid to the besieged population. The Argentine Agency for International Cooperation and Humanitarian Assistance-White Helmets, headed by the former Minister of Security, Sabine Fredericmade twelve trips sending donations and two missions to evacuate Argentine citizens and refugees to Poland and Romania.

In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ratified this position within the framework of the anniversary: ​​”Argentina reaffirms its commitment to the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity of States and of human rights, permanent axes of our country’s foreign policy. It rejects the use of force as a mechanism for conflict resolution and, in this sense, reiterates its condemnation of the invasion of Ukrainian territory by Russia.”

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With this record, Yuriy Klymenko will assume the new political role. He had previously had other diplomatic missions. In 2005-2006 he was consul in the Greek city of Thessaloniki and in 2006-2010 was in the Spanish city of Barcelona. Between 2013 and 2021, he served as Ambassador of Ukraine to international organizations in Geneva, Switzerland.

From a geopolitical point of view, what is foreseeable is that Ukraine will continue to demand greater commitment to the war from Argentina. In an interview with GlobeLiveMediaSergiy Nebrat suggested that they expect more humanitarian aid from the government and collaboration in the sanctions against Russia and the resolutions they promote in international organizations.

Another challenge will be trade policy. The war strongly affected the exchanges that Argentina maintained with the countries in conflict. Flows of goods and services have fallen by just over 40% in 2022 compared to the previous year, both in Ukraine and in Russia. Argentina has a trade balance surplus with both nations. With kyiv, the figure barely reaches $61.58 million per exchange, while with Moscow it reaches $1,330.69 million. The most sold products in Ukraine are frozen hake, lemons and shelled peanuts.

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