March the 5th, 2022 - Who exactly is Anica Djamic, the Croatian Ambassador to Ukraine who refused to leave the besieged capital of Kiev during the first week of the Russian invasion?
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Anica Djamic is one of the few Western diplomats who chose to remain in the Ukrainian capital for such a long time following the Russian attack and regularly reported on the tragic unfolding situation in the country, despite the fact that Kiev was under the constant threat of Russian rocket attacks.
Fifteen days ago, before the direct Russian invasion of Ukraine, there were about one hundred foreign ambassadors residing in the City of Kiev, but after the attack they began to leave and only a dozen of them remained, including Croatian Ambassador Anica Djamic.
Anica Djamic flatly refused to leave Kiev until all Croatian citizens in the capital of that time were safe, but on Monday, PM Andrej Plenkovic decided she had to leave the city and report on the invasion from a safer place. "Given the deteriorating security situation in Kiev and the attacks on the Ukrainian capital, I instructed our ambassador Anica Djamic to leave the city," Plenkovic told parliament, adding that she was, at that point, on her way to Lviv, where she would stay and continue to perform her duties, help Croatian citizens and monitor the ongoing situation in Ukraine.
The name of the Croatian Ambassador to Kiev became known to the public because of her courageous speech, her talks with Croatian citizens in Ukraine and her regular reporting from Kiev despite the extremely dangerous situation there.
Three days ago, for example, she appeared on HRT's show Dobro jutro, Hrvatska/Good morning, Croatia from a shelter. "It's the fourth night we've spent in the shelters. An alert was issued four times from last night to this morning. Since we receive warnings that there is a serious danger of attack, citizens are urged to stay in their homes, and when the sirens sound, they go down to the shelters. These shelters are very often ordinary basements, but it should be said that the city has opened up metro stations to be used as shelters, so entrance to the metro is free,'' said Ambassador Djamic for HRT.
"From last night until this morning, the alarm sounded four times. We heard the detonations. It has become an every day thing for us now. Of course, it's smarter to remain in the places in which we feel the most protected,'' she said.
At the end of the conversation, Anica Djamic said that she was in Ukraine and that her place was now there. "If there's a need to leave, then we'll look at the roads," concluded Djamic, who then said she did not want to leave Ukraine while there were Croatian citizens still in the country, reports Index.
Mesic: She was a good analyst
Not much was previously known about Ambassador Anica Djamic, but she is an experienced diplomat who worked in the Office of the President back in the mid-1990s, where she was an assistant foreign policy adviser. Prior to going to Ukraine, she was Ambassador to Sweden from 2014 to 2018. Since 2019, she has been the Ambassador to Ukraine.
From 2000 to 2005, former Croatian President Stjepan Mesic appointed her as an adviser on European integration. He said for the 24sata publication that she was one of the most conscientious advisers he'd ever had, adding that she was very educated and spoke multiple languages.
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