"The situation in the Russian embassy will be following: a charges d'affaires ad interim is a senior diplomat, who will be tasked to support those rare contacts in the Ukrainian-Russian affairs. We are not speaking about full freeze of the ties. First of all because we must understand: today more than 3 million of Ukrainians are at the Russian territory. Every day more than 300 Ukrainians are applying for consular aid, validation of documents to our consulate in Moscow. There are Ukrainians there," Makeev told Radio Svoboda.
Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed Mikhail Zurabov from the post on July 28, a decision that came into force after its publication on Thursday.
Russia has requested the diplomatic courtesy, known as Agrement, from Ukraine before appointing the ambassador to the neighboring country, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said last week. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry's official Olena Zerkal said Wednesday the issue of a new Russian ambassador in the country "has been removed from the agenda."
