Poland to replace ambassador to Ukraine on 1 September

Ivanna Kostina, KATERYNA TYSHCHENKO — Saturday, 24 August 2024, 18:59

Piotr Łukasiewicz will assume the duties of Poland’s Ambassador to Ukraine on 1 September, the Polish Foreign Ministry has said.

Source: Paweł Wroński, spokesman for Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in RMF24, as reported by European Pravda

Details: "Jan Tombiński [who once headed the EU Delegation to Ukraine – ed.] has assumed the post in Berlin in a very cordial environment. Piotr Samerek and Ryszard Schnepf will take up the posts in Bratislava and Rome on 26 August. We’re preparing for Małgorzata Kosiura-Kaźmierska to take up the post in Oslo on 1 September," Wroński said.

He also said that Piotr Łukasiewicz will head the Polish Embassy in Ukraine on 1 September.

According to Wroński, the majority of changes in Polish diplomatic missions will take place by the end of September.

For reference: Piotr Łukasiewicz is a political scientist, diplomat, and colonel in the Polish Armed Forces. He served as the Polish Ambassador to Afghanistan from 2012 to 2014. In 1995-2006, he worked on issues related to state security and the fight against terrorism. He participated in stabilisation missions in Iraq in 2004-2005. In 2006, he was appointed Deputy Military Attaché in Islamabad, and in January 2007, he became Colonel and Military Attaché in Afghanistan, a position he held for three years.

Łukasiewicz became the plenipotentiary representative of the Polish Ministry of Defense in Afghanistan in October 2009, where he helped develop the strategy of the Polish military presence in Afghanistan.

In 2012, Łukasiewicz retired from the army with the rank of colonel and became Poland’s ambassador to Afghanistan. He completed his mission on 31 December 2014. After his return, he worked as a journalist, professor, and political expert.

Background:

  • In March, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said that more than 50 people serving as Poland’s ambassadors abroad will conclude their missions and that over a dozen of officials appointed by the previous foreign minister would be recalled. The Polish Foreign Ministry said it hoped that key government institutions would cooperate on this issue.
  • According to Polish law, ambassadors are appointed and dismissed by the president. The head of the presidential cabinet, Marcin Mastalerek, said that Andrzej Duda did not agree with the mass dismissal of ambassadors by the foreign minister without specifying grounds and reasons for the dismissal.
  • In early June, Duda said that diplomatic missions were being staffed in the worst possible way.
  • Duda also said that as long as he was in office, he would not sign the appointment of Bogdan Klich as ambassador to the United States. Duda stressed that he would also not sign the appointment of Ryszard Schnepf and other members of the Conference of Polish Ambassadors.
  • Poland’s current Ambassador to Ukraine, Jaroslaw Guzy, was appointed by the previous government and started his work in Ukraine in December 2023.

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