Maasikas' last role was as EU ambassador to Ukraine.

Maasikas told ERR on Monday that: "From mid-September, I will be advisor on strategic issues to Stefano Sannino, EEAS secretary general."

"Having contributed to the EU's common foreign and security policy of the from the front line, as it were; from the delegation in Ukraine, I am delighted with the opportunity to continue dealing with that now, from the EEAS headquarters in Brussels," he went on.

"Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine has significantly strengthened and deepened the EU's foreign policy, turning the union into a geopolitical actor. Support for Ukraine is at its core: With weapons, sanctions, funding, trade restrictions, and humanitarian aid. However, the most important aspect is the perspective of EU membership given to Ukraine, and its status as a candidate country."

Maasikas joined the foreign service in 2001.

Maasikas' CV also includes a stint as Estonia's permanent representative to the EU from 2011, while in the second half of 2017, when Estonia held the rotating Council of the European Union presidency, he was tasked with representing Estonia at European Parliamentary sessions, defending the council's common positions there, as Estonia's special representative to the EU.

From 2018, Maasikas he was a deputy undersecretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, becoming the EU's representative to Ukraine in the fall of 2019.

He was until 2020 a long-term member of Isamaa and its forerunners, holding a number of senior positions there including as advisor to prime minister Mart Laar.

His EU official code level is AD14, in a hierarchy which ranges up to AD16.

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