The Diplomat
The Special Operations Group (GEO) of the National Police yesterday raised the flag of Spain in Kiev in the presence of the ambassador, Silvia Cortés Marín, almost two months after the closure of the delegation as a result of the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“Today, at one o’clock in the afternoon, the flag was raised again,” the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, told the press yesterday during his official visit to Rome. The reopening of the Embassy was announced last Thursday by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, to the President of Ukraine, Volodímir Zelenski, during his visit to Kiev, during which he was accompanied by the Ambassador.
The Ministry of the Interior published yesterday, through its Twitter account, some images in which two members of the GEO can be seen, with their faces blurred for security reasons, at the moment when they were raising the flag. “In the presence of the ambassador of Spain, the Special Operations Group of the National Police is going to proceed with the raising of the flag of Spain according to the chords of the national anthem. Long live Spain! Long live the King!”, says one of those present.
Both the ambassador and the rest of the Spanish diplomatic delegation were evacuated last February 25, one day after the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. With the reopening, Spain joins other countries and official organizations that have also returned to the Ukrainian capital or have announced their intention to do so, as is the case of the European Union delegation in Kiev or countries such as France, Italy, Slovenia, Lithuania, Czech Republic and Turkey, among others. Just yesterday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that the UK will reopen its embassy in Kiev. The Apostolic Nuncio of the Vatican, Lithuanian Archbishop Visvaldas Kulbokas, has remained at his post in Ukraine at all times, even after the invasion.
On the other hand, Albares announced yesterday in Italy -where he went to inaugurate the commemorative event of the centenary of the Spanish Pavilion at the Venice Biennale of contemporary art- that Spain is going to contribute one and a half million euros to preserve the cultural heritage of Ukraine.
“Now I am going to Venice to inaugurate the Spanish Pavilion in Venice, which turns 100 years old, and there I will launch Spain’s participation with a special Spain-UNESCO fund endowed with 1.5 million to safeguard heritage in Ukraine,” he said during the joint press conference with his counterpart Luigi Di Maio. “War, which devastates everything in its path, also devastates culture, and cultural heritage is something we have to defend,” because without it “there can be no national conscience” and because “the universal language” of culture makes us “free citizens,” he added.
“Spain is supporting Ukraine in every possible way, with the sending of armaments, with the reception of 135,000 refugees, with a package of 31 million euros of humanitarian aid and also taking to the International Criminal Court the need for war crimes to be judged,” the minister added.
