New Ambassador to Ukraine and non-resident Ambassadors to Slovenia, Luxembourg, Kuwait and Yemen

At the presidential session on Friday 26 August, the President of the Republic appointed a new Ambassador to Ukraine and four new non-resident Ambassadors.

Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine

The President of the Republic appointed Counsellor for Foreign Affairs Jaakko Lehtovirta to serve as Head of Mission at Finland’s Embassy in Kyiv from 1 September 2022. Lehtovirta is currently the Foreign Ministry’s principal lecturer on the national defence courses. He has previously worked in Finland’s Embassies in Tokyo and Moscow and as Director of the Unit for Russia at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, among other positions. Lehtovirta joined the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 2001. He holds a Doctor’s degree in Philosophy. 

 

Non-resident Ambassadors

The President of the Republic appointed Ambassador Pertti Anttinen, Head of Mission at Finland’s Embassy in Budapest as of 1 September 2022, to serve as a non-resident Ambassador to Slovenia; Ambassador Jouko Leinonen, Head of Mission at Finland’s Embassy in Brussels as of 1 September 2022, to serve as a non-resident Ambassador to Luxembourg; Ambassador Pekka Voutilainen, Head of Mission at Finland’s Embassy in Doha, to serve as a non-resident Ambassador to Kuwait; and Ambassador Anu-Eerika Viljanen, Head of Mission at the Embassy in Riyadh, to serve as a non-resident Ambassador to Yemen. 

In addition, the President of the Republic authorised Ambassador Ilkka-Pekka Similä to serve as Permanent Representative of Finland to the United Nations Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.