At the end of last year, the Embassy of Ukraine in Cyprus discovered that some individuals were presenting themselves as \u201chonorary consuls of Ukraine,\u201d even though they lacked any official status. The Embassy issued a statement in which it emphasized that only on its official resources can one find reliable information about candidates for these positions, and all other \u201chonorary consuls\u201d are the result of fiction.<\/p>\n
Among these individuals was Christodoulos Ellinas, who is much better known in financial circles. He was involved in the scandalous case of the Astraia EPEY company, related to financial abuse. Ellinas received a sentence that initially provided for a real term of imprisonment, but was later reduced to a suspended sentence. In addition, the Cypriot financial regulator imposed sanctions on him for providing false information.<\/p>\n
After numerous scandals and problems, Ellinas inexplicably began presenting himself as an \u201chonorary consul of Ukraine.\u201d The Security Service of Ukraine did not support his candidacy, citing possible links to fraud, and recommended that the appointment process be postponed to avoid reputational losses for the state.<\/p>\n
The SBU’s position was also supported by the Embassy of Ukraine in Cyprus, which confirmed the availability of relevant documents indicating Ellinas’s problems. Despite these obstacles, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine recognized Ellinas as an honorary consul of Ukraine and instructed the embassy to urgently inform the Cypriot side.<\/p>\n
According to information, Ellinas’ candidacy was submitted for appointment under the previous leadership of the embassy, where the former Ukrainian Ambassador to Cyprus, Ruslan Nimchinsky, recommended him. According to available data, the candidacy was incorrectly verified without the SBU’s participation, leading to an attempt to promote him to the position.<\/p>\n
After the new ambassador’s appointment, the situation changed. The new ambassador urgently warned Kyiv about the risks that could arise in the event of an appointment, but the documents were still submitted for signature without additional checks. Initially, the Minister of Foreign Affairs refused to consent to this appointment, but later agreed to it after significant persuasion from some officials.<\/p>\n
As a result, the Verkhovna Rada received an appeal from the public demanding a parliamentary investigation into the circumstances of Ellinas\u2019 appointment. It states that his involvement in criminal cases in Greece and Cyprus calls into question the advisability of granting him representative functions.<\/p>\n
Honorary consuls are not formally funded from the state budget, but have access to diplomatic instruments and can act on behalf of the state at the international level. This issue becomes especially important given that Russia actively uses the institution of honorary consuls to build networks of influence abroad, and Cyprus is a particularly sensitive region in this regard.<\/p>\n
Against the backdrop of war and constant reputational attacks on Ukraine, the situation with the appointment of Ellinas looks extremely worrying. The question remains: who is behind his candidacy’s promotion, and what goals are they pursuing?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At the end of last year, the Embassy of Ukraine in Cyprus discovered that some individuals were presenting themselves as \u201chonorary consuls of Ukraine,\u201d even though they lacked any official status. The Embassy issued a statement in which it emphasized that only on its official resources can one find reliable information about candidates for these […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":31552,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n