Andriy Melnyk, until recently the former ambassador of Ukraine to Germany, expressed his respect for former German President Joachim Gauck on Twitter. “Federal President Joachim Gauck was and remains my favorite politician in Germany. A real statesman. With backbone and principles. Unafraid. Not even in front of Putin,” Melnyk tweeted.

Below the post was an excerpt from an interview with the ex-Federal President on ARD. Gauck spoke about the psychogram of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia’s rulers are characterized by “Leninist thinking” and are now showing themselves “with national-imperial gestures”.

The reactions under Melnyk’s tweet vary. Some of the users agree with the former ambassador – others, however, wonder about his contribution: “You always have such strange heroes … Gauck, Bandera …!”

As a longtime ambassador to Germany, Melnyk had often caused controversy because of his sometimes unconventional way of communicating – especially since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. On October 14, Melnyk left Berlin to take up a new post at the Foreign Ministry in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.

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