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A Finn takes over from a Frenchman as deputy head of EUMM Georgia

Nicolas Gros Verheyde September 18, 201011th May 2018 Head of Mission, EUMM Georgia, Finland, Georgia, PeSDC mission

(BRUSSELS2) Finnish Colonel Jussi Saressalo took office on Wednesday as Deputy Head of the European Monitoring Mission deployed in Georgia (EUMM Georgia)
He replaces the French general Gilles Janvier who was there since the beginning of the mission (1), alongside the German diplomat Hansjörg Haber.

A retired colonel in the Finnish army, Saressalo served in several UN missions (Untso Middle East in Damascus, Gaza Strip) or as an adviser in an NGO (IPA). He also served as Balkan peacekeeping adviser to the Finnish Foreign Ministry and to the EU Special Representative in Sudan - Darfur.

This appointment thus maintains the "diplomat-military" couple which marks the direction as well as the composition of this EUMM mission which also has a sensitive "peacekeeping" tone as well as observation.

(1) Read: Story of Georgia 9: interview with Gilles Janvier, deputy director of the mission

(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)

Nicolas Gros Verheyde

Chief editor of the B2 site. Graduated in European law from the University of Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne and listener to the 65th session of the IHEDN (Institut des Hautes Etudes de la Défense Nationale. Journalist since 1989, founded B2 - Bruxelles2 in 2008. EU/NATO correspondent in Brussels for Sud-Ouest (previously West-France and France-Soir).

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