The Government has granted the placet to the new Russian ambassador to Spain, who will replace Yuri P. Korchagin, still in office since June 2021, with the aim of "keeping diplomatic channels open" despite the ordered invasion of Ukraine by Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, on February 24 last.
The approval was granted in the Council of Ministers on Tuesday, but in the public reference of what was approved, it does not allow to identify either the country or the person to whom it is granted.
"Agreement for the granting of approval for the head of the foreign mission," says the government document.
Sources from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have stressed that Spain does not want to "break any bridge to stop this war", convinced that "peace will come hand in hand with diplomacy".
For their part, sources from the Russian Embassy in Madrid have indicated to Europa Press that they have not yet received "official notification" from the Government.
On October 3, the Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian ambassador in Madrid, Yuri Korchagin, to protest the annexation of four Ukrainian regions by Moscow at the beginning of the month.
This call was made in coordination with other European partners, who had already summoned the Russian ambassadors over the weekend to convey this same message.
That was the second time that Foreign Affairs summoned the Russian ambassador since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine ordered by Putin on February 24.
The previous one was at the beginning of April, when it was notified of the decision to expel 27 Embassy employees, a measure to which Moscow reciprocated a month later.
The ambassador was also summoned to the Ministry's headquarters on February 23, one day before the start of the invasion, to express the protest of the Spanish Government over the decision announced by Putin to recognize the independence of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Lugansk.
Korchagin has been in the diplomatic career for 45 years.
He entered in 1977, after studying International Relations and History.
When he finished the mandatory two years of military service, he applied for the entrance exam and passed.
This has allowed him to be in Mexico, Peru and Argentina, while he was climbing the ladder.
Later he was the ambassador in Colombia and also in Argentina, in addition to being the Director of Latin America in the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs until he landed in Spain ten years ago.
