Hannu Himanen to be Head of the Finnish Embassy in Moscow

The President of the Republic appointed today, 22 December Hannu Himanen, Counsellor for Foreign Affairs, as Head of the Finnish Embassy in Moscow from 1 May 2012.

Hannu Himanen will transfer to Moscow from the Permanent Mission of Finland in Geneva, where he has served as Permanent Representative of Finland to the UN and other international organisations and to the WTO since September 2008. Prior to Geneva, Himanen served for five years as Under-Secretary of State for Administrative Affairs of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

Himanen joined the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1976. He has served in the Finnish Consulate General in Leningrad, Embassy of Finland in New Delhi, Permanent Mission of Finland to the UN in New York, Embassy of Finland in Moscow, and Permanent Mission of Finland to the OSCE, and as Ambassador of Finland in Jakarta, Indonesia.

In the Ministry, he has served, among others, as Director for Cultural Affairs of the Department for Press and Culture, as Director for the European Union and Western Countries of the Department for Political Affairs, as Deputy Director General for Africa and the Middle East, and in the Ministry’s Unit for Policy Planning and Research. Hannu Himanen has also held a fellowship at Harvard University and served as Vice President for Security and Governance at the EastWest Institute of Prague Center.