Luis Ayllón The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, will appoint diplomat Antonio Ramos as 'number two' at the Spanish Embassy in Lisbon, who has not been able to take up his position as consul general in Moscow, because the Russian authorities have not granted him the visa to travel to that country, as The Diplomat learned from reliable sources. The appointment of Antonio Ramos will occur after a reduced competition has been called to provide jobs abroad, which includes the second position at the Embassy in Lisbon, which until now was held by Alfonso López Perona. To proceed with this appointment, the position has been given an asterisk, which means that the Foreign Minister makes the decision without having to listen to the proposal of the Diplomatic Career Board. In addition, the destination, which was usually reserved for diplomats with the category of ambassador or minister, it has also been open to those with the category of advisor, as is the case of Ramos. Antonio Ramos Membrive was head of the Cabinet of the president of the Constitutional Court, Cándido Conde Pumpido, after having also been head of three other presidents of that organization Francisco Pérez de los Cobos, Juan José González Rivas and Pedro González Trevijano and his appointment to take charge of the Consulate It created a certain controversy in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, because it was not the one proposed by the Diplomatic Career Board. However, the minister, who always makes the final decision, appointed him, in November 2023, consul general in the Russian capital, to fill a position that María Isabel Vicandi would leave vacant in February of this year, due to retirement. The problem arose when he requested a visa to take possession of his new destination and found the Government of Vladimir Putin refusing to grant it. Almost eight months after his appointment, Antonio Ramos has not been able to travel to Moscow. The Russian decision is a response to the refusals that the Spanish Government is transmitting to Russia to grant accreditation to new members of the Russian Embassy in Madrid. Although the reasons for these refusals are not formally specified, in diplomatic circles it is considered that Spain does not accept these people because it considers that they are related to the Russian spy services. Putin has granted approval for Spain to name Ricardo Martínez as the new ambassador in Moscow last Tuesday, although it took four months to do so, the same time it took for the Spanish Government to give its approval to the Russian ambassador in Madrid, Yuri Klimenko. . He also recently granted accreditation to the person who will be second head of the Spanish Embassy, Javier Echeandía, among other reasons, because Dmitry Sokolov, who has been in his position for nearly seven years, remains in the Russian Embassy in Madrid. Since the expulsion of 27 members of the Russian Embassy in Spain in May 2022, as a result of the decisions taken by the EU after the invasion of Ukraine, Putin's Government has responded with parallel decisions, and so on. He also expelled another 27 people from the Spanish Embassy.
