President Vladimir Putin appointed Vladimir Lipaev as ambassador of the Russian Federation to Romania.
The decree was published on Tuesday on the official legal information portal, alongside the one releasing former ambassador Valeri Kuzmin from this position he held for eight years in Bucharest, as reported by the TASS agency.
Valeri Kuzmin was appointed as ambassador to Romania in 2016. Previously, he served as a roving ambassador and led diplomatic missions in the Republic of Moldova and Sudan.
The Russian diplomatic representation in Bucharest announced last week that Valeri Kuzmin has completed his term as ambassador to Bucharest. During his lengthy mandate, Kuzmin made controversial statements and was repeatedly summoned by the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, especially after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Who is Vladimir Lipaev
According to TASS, Vladimir Lipaev was born in 1959, speaks German, English, and French. The diplomat has worked in various positions within the central apparatus of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and abroad.
He graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, and from 1997 to 2001, he served as a counselor at the Russian Embassy in Norway. From 2004 to 2007, he was the Deputy Director of the Personnel Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and in 2007, he was appointed the Consul General of the Russian Federation in Frankfurt am Main (Germany).
Subsequently, for 10 years, from 2011 to 2021, he returned as the Deputy Director of the Personnel Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
From 2021 to 2023, he led the Russian diplomatic mission in Estonia. He was expelled from Estonia in response to Russia's expulsion of the Estonian ambassador to Moscow.
In February 2023, Estonia expelled 21 employees of the Russian Embassy in Tallinn, stating that it would host only eight diplomatic officials on its territory - a number equal to the Tallinn team in Moscow.
The Kremlin responded by expelling the Estonian Ambassador Margus Laidre from Russia. It was the first expulsion of an ambassador from this country in the year that had passed since Russia launched a large-scale invasion in Ukraine. In response, Estonia then ended the term of Russian Ambassador Vladimir Lipaev in Tallinn.