The Diplomat
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs assured on Friday that the former ambassador to Ukraine, Silvia Cortés, who coordinated the evacuation of Spaniards after the Russian invasion on 24 February, will receive a decoration for her work, like the rest of those who took part in the operation.
The information from the Foreign Ministry comes after The Diplomat published yesterday that Cortés was not among the people who had been decorated by the head of the Foreign Ministry, José Manuel Albares, who presented the awards to embassy staff and six Ukrainians during his visit to Kyiv on Wednesday.
On Thursday, The Diplomat asked the Diplomatic Information Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs whether the former ambassador had been decorated, and when no reply was received throughout the day and it was confirmed by reliable sources that Silvia Cortés had not received any notification to that effect, it reported the absence of the diplomat among the recipients of the awards.
On Friday afternoon, through the Efe news agency, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the former ambassador would receive the Order of Civil Merit, along with three other people who are no longer in Ukraine, in “the next few days” at a ceremony in Madrid.
When asked again by the Diplomatic Information Office, the reply was that the decoration to be awarded to the former ambassador would be the Commendation of Number of the Order of Civil Merit, and that the award had not yet been published in the Official State Gazette because “it is being processed”. It was not specified when the decoration will be awarded to her and the other three people, whose identities were not provided.
The sources consulted by The Diplomat said that the award was still awaiting the signature of the minister, who was out of Madrid on Friday, taking part in the Spanish-Portuguese summit in Viana do Castelo.
