Mikhail Ulyanov rejected a tweet by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanking US arms sales with “No mercy to the Ukrainian people!” he commented. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine ordered the expulsion from Vienna.
Russia’s permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, caused outrage in Ukraine with a message on Twitter that was later deleted. On Saturday night, Ulyanov tweeted “No mercy for the Ukrainian people!” by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who thanked him for the US arms deliveries. he commented. Representatives from Ukraine interpreted this as a call to genocide.
“Russian Ambassador to Austria Ulyanov speaks of the need for a ‘final solution to the Ukrainian question’ and calls for genocide,” reacted Zelenskyi’s adviser Michajlo Podoliak on Twitter Saturday morning. At the same time, he complained that voices like “Not all Russians are Putin” or “Maybe we should activate Nord Stream 2” were being heard in Europe. It’s time to understand that Russia is a fascist power structure with millions of people, wrote Podoljak in Ukrainian.
“This genocidal language must not be tolerated,” Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Nikolenko wrote on Twitter on Saturday afternoon. The entire diplomatic community in Vienna must boycott Ulyanev and Austria, as the host country, must declare him an undesirable person, he demanded. Ukrainian Parliament Speaker Ruslan Stefantschuk had previously asked Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) and Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen on Twitter to “immediately deport” the Russian diplomat.
“Nothing contemptible about the Ukrainian people”
Ulyanov, who had previously deleted his tweet in English, felt misunderstood on Saturday. In a phone call to the APA, he said he “of course not” advocates genocide against Ukrainians. “If you read what I’ve written on Twitter in recent years, you won’t find anything despicable about the Ukrainian people,” the diplomat said. Perhaps he should have written a question mark instead of an exclamation point in his post, he admitted self-criticism. “But I reacted emotionally to Zelenskyy’s message – again just guns, no diplomacy,” he explained.
Ulyanov, who recently worked primarily as a Russian negotiator in the nuclear talks with Iran in Vienna, is not the first Russian diplomat in Vienna whose social media activities have sparked discussions. In mid-August, Konstantin Gawrilow, responsible for disarmament negotiations in Vienna, sent a NEOS parliamentary consultation to Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) via Twitter. The top Russian diplomat previously shared a tweet in which a self-declared Stalinist called for the reintroduction of Stalinist state terror in Russia. However, Gavrilov’s personal attitude to this demand remained unclear.
(APA)