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Anatolii Ponomarenko (Ukrainian diplomat, native of Yevpatoriia)

Anatolii Heorhiiovych Ponomarenko (March 4, 1947, Yevpatoriia — May 20, 2008, Stockholm) was a Ukrainian diplomat, the first Consul General of independent Ukraine, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Federal Republic of Germany (1997–2003) and Sweden (2006–2008). A Crimean Ukrainian, a native of Yevpatoriia.

Overview

Anatolii Ponomarenko was a Ukrainian diplomat and native of Crimea (the city of Yevpatoriia) whose career spanned both the Soviet and Ukrainian diplomatic services. He was born on March 4, 1947, in Yevpatoriia and died on May 20, 2008, in Stockholm. He served as the first Consul General of independent Ukraine (restoration of the mission in Munich), Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Federal Republic of Germany (1997–2003) and Sweden (2006–2008). Within the Ukrainian diaspora he was regarded as one of Ukraine's best ambassadors, and was compared to the envoy of the Ukrainian People's Republic to Germany, Roman Smal-Stotskyi.

Key Details / Subtopics

  • Education and languages: In 1971, he graduated from the Faculty of Foreign Languages of the Crimean State Pedagogical Institute; he spoke russian, English and German; he held the degree of Candidate of Historical Sciences.
  • Career in the USSR / Ukrainian SSR: referent for international relations of the Crimean regional committee of the LKSMU; senior referent and deputy head of the Committee of Youth Organizations of the Ukrainian SSR; Second Secretary of the USSR Embassy in India (1978–1983); Second Secretary of the MFA of the Ukrainian SSR (1983–1984); student at the Diplomatic Academy of the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1984–1987); First Secretary of the MFA of the Ukrainian SSR (1987–1989).
  • Beginning in Germany: in 1989 — consul at the Consulate General of the USSR in Munich; from 1992 — Consul General of Ukraine in Munich (restoration of the Ukrainian mission, which in the early 1990s was housed within the walls of the Ukrainian Free University).
  • Work in the central apparatus of the MFA: 1994–1997 — head of the Department of Western European Countries, deputy and subsequently director of the Administration for European and American Countries of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.
  • Ambassador to the FRG (1997–2003): Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Federal Republic of Germany (September 2, 1997 — November 26, 2003; the diplomatic rank was conferred in 1999). Active work with the Ukrainian diaspora: honoring Yevhen Petrushevych (laying a wreath on his grave and encouraging Ukrainian politicians to visit it), unveiling a memorial plaque to Oleksandr Dovzhenko in Berlin (Bismarckstrasse 69) within the framework of the Days of Ukrainian Culture in Germany.
  • Later career: 2004–2006 — director of the Second Territorial Department and member of the Collegium of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine; on December 6, 2006, appointed Ambassador of Ukraine to Sweden; in 2007, awarded the Order of Merit, 3rd class; died in Stockholm on May 20, 2008. Often compared to the envoy of the Ukrainian People's Republic to Germany, Roman Smal-Stotskyi (for uniting the diaspora).