The Austrian authorities have decided to recognize “persona non grata” of four Russian diplomats, they must leave Austrian territory no later than April 12, the Oe24.tv portal reported on Thursday.
“The Austrian Foreign Ministry announced an order to deprive the diplomatic status of three employees of the Russian Embassy in Vienna and one employee of the Consulate General in Salzburg,” the portal notes.
According to the Austrian side, these diplomatic staff were engaged in activities incompatible with their diplomatic status, the portal notes.
Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky, Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg and Slovak Foreign Minister Ivan Korčok will together visit Ukraine on February 7-8 on the invitation of their Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.
The first ever visit by the foreign ministers of the Slavkov or Austerlitz format to Kyiv is to demonstrate solidarity with Ukraine, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry’s press service said in a statement.
Kuleba and his Czech, Slovak and Austrian counterparts will hold talks with key agenda items such as “further support for Ukraine in countering Russian aggression, the implementation of a comprehensive containment package for the Russian Federation, strengthening security cooperation, supporting the economic and financial stability of our state,” it said.
The Slavkov format ministers are also planning to visit the zone of Ukraine’s Joint Forces Operation to familiarize themselves with the current situation, Kyiv said.
Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg plans to visit Ukraine on February 7-8 to show a “clear signal of support,” OE24 has reported.
“In the midst of the aggravation of the Ukrainian crisis, Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) wants to visit the Eastern European country in early February (February 7-8),” the OE24 article says.
It is indicated that Schallenberg said this on Thursday at an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brest, France. The Austrian Foreign Minister plans to pay a visit together with his colleagues from Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
“Yes to dialogue, but certainly not the threat of tanks and missiles changing borders in the 21st century,” Schallenberg said, adding that Austria has always “taken a clear position” on Ukraine.
The Austrian-based Head Group has received permission from the State Inspectorate for Architecture and Urban Planning of Ukraine to start the construction of the Head Vinnytsia plant on the territory of the Winter Sport industrial park, Andriy Ocheretny, the deputy mayor of Vinnytsia, said on Facebook.
“The completion of construction of the plant and commissioning of production facilities is scheduled for December 2022. The company plans to invest about EUR80 million in the creation of production, administrative and storage facilities,” he said.
The deputy mayor clarified that since May 12, 2021, preparatory work on the land plot continued at the site: more than 100,000 cubic meters of fertile soil layer were removed, reinforced concrete supports were installed for laying a cable power line, temporary connection networks from the substation were installed.
According to the project, the building of the plant will consist of production and storage facilities, an administrative building, a sewing workshop. The production building will house workshops for the manufacture of skis, boots and bindings, as well as warehouses for raw materials and finished products.
The total area of production premises after the commissioning of the enterprise in 2023 will be 43,000 square meters.
Ocheretny noted that, as expected, this plant will be one of the largest Head Group plants in the world and will provide jobs for more than 1,200 residents of Vinnytsia.
As reported, the total area of the Winter Sport industrial park is 25 hectares. The start of construction of the plant took place in May 2021.
Head International Holding GmbH manufactures sports equipment for winter sports, tennis and scuba diving. The company’s production facilities are located in Austria, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, China. The company is present in 85 countries around the world.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, by his decrees, has appointed ambassadors of Ukraine to the Republic of Indonesia, the Republic of Austria and the United Republic of Tanzania.
Relevant decrees No. 335/2021, No. 337/2021 and No. 338/2021 are published on the president’s website.
So, according to the documents, Vasyl Ivanovych Hamianin was appointed the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Republic of Indonesia, Vasyl Vasyliovych Khymynets – the Ambassador of Ukraine to Austria.
Also, Andriy Ivanovych Pravednyk, the Ambassador of Ukraine to the Republic of Kenya, was also appointed the Ambassador of Ukraine to the United Republic of Tanzania.
Vasyl Hamianin is a Ukrainian diplomat and sinologist. Since 2011, he has been serving as the Minister-Counselor of the Ukrainian Embassy in the People’s Republic of China. In 2012-2013 – the Charge d’Affaires of Ukraine in the People’s Republic of China.
Vasyl Khymynets is the Director of the First European Directorate General at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. In 2011-2012 and in 2014 – the Chargé d’Affaires of Ukraine in Germany.
Andriy Pravednyk has been serving as the Ambassador of Ukraine to Kenya since September 2018.
Mining enterprises of Ukraine in January-May this year reduced exports of iron ore raw materials (iron ore) in quantity terms by 1.8% compared to the same period last year, to 18.536 million tonnes.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service on Wednesday, during the specified period, foreign exchange earnings from iron ore exports increased 2.1-fold, to $3.132 billion.
Iron ore was exported mainly to China (45.44% of supplies in monetary terms), the Czech Republic (9.41%) and Austria (8.36%).
In January-May 2021, iron ore was imported to Ukraine for $127,000 in a total volume of 1,130 tonnes, while in January-May 2020, iron ore was imported from the Netherlands for $28,000, from Sweden for $10,000, from Germany for $1,000 and from Hungary $1,000 in the total volume of 84 tonnes.
In January-May 2021, iron ore was imported from Egypt (81.75%), Poland (10.32%) and Chile (2.38%).
