Today, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine approved Andrii Sybiga as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Sybiga, who replaced Dmytro Kuleba, distinguished himself in the Ukrainian diplomatic environment through a number of controversial decisions and initiatives.
Sybiga is a native of Ternopil region. In diplomatic work since 1997. He worked at the Ukrainian embassy in Poland, and for five years - from 2016 to 2021 - he was the ambassador to Turkey. Then he moved to the Office of President Zelenskyi, where he was engaged in foreign policy as Yermak's deputy.
In April of this year, he moved from Bankova to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a deputy to Kuleba. Even then, some sources reported that this was preparation for his appointment as a minister.
Literally a week after his appointment as Kuleba's deputy, he signed a scandalous letter to foreign consulates of Ukraine - with a demand not to issue documents to men of conscription age abroad. Many criticized the order at the time as going beyond the scope of the law.
In June, Sybiga went to China, where he met with high officials of the Chinese Foreign Ministry. What was then seen as an attempt by Bankova to strengthen her position on the eve of the negotiations.
The new minister spoke undiplomatically about Hungary and Poland. Thus, he called the Speaker of the Hungarian Parliament László Kevera a "non-politician" in response to his statement that President Zelensky has "personal mental problems."
And Sibig compared Poland's closing of borders for Ukrainian goods to "euthanasia".
"Insisting that Ukraine, as part of its gratitude to Poland, accept the closure of borders for Ukrainian agricultural products is equivalent to forcing us to agree to euthanasia," he said.
We will remind that one of the reasons for Kuleba's removal is cited by the Western media as his unwillingness to be "rude" to international partners.
Also, Sybiga is considered to be closer than Kuleb to Yermak, who is currently in charge of Ukraine's foreign policy. Despite the fact that with the former head of the Foreign Ministry, as the Western media wrote, the head of the OP had recently had a difficult relationship.
