List of ambassadors of Russia to the United Kingdom

The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, or formally the Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Court of St James's, is the official representative of the President and the Government of the Russian Federation to the Monarch and the Government of the United Kingdom.

Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the United Kingdom
Ambassador of Russia to the Court of Saint James's
Emblem of the Russian Foreign Ministry
Incumbent
Andrey Kelin
since 5 November 2019
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Embassy of Russia, London
StyleHis Excellency
The Honourable
Reports toMinister of Foreign Affairs
ResidenceHarrington House
SeatLondon
AppointerPresident of Russia
Term lengthNo fixed term
Formation1556
First holderOsip Nepeya [ru]
as ambassador to the Kingdom of England
WebsiteEmbassy of Russia in London

The ambassador and his staff work at large in the Russian Embassy in London, while the official residence of the ambassador is 13 Kensington Palace Gardens. There is a consulate general in Edinburgh.[1]

The post of ambassador to the United Kingdom is currently held by Andrey Kelin, incumbent since 5 November 2019.[2]

History of diplomatic relations edit

The United Kingdom established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union in 1924. However, King George V was still upset over the execution of the Romanov family and refused to receive the Soviet ambassador. In a breach of diplomatic protocol, he dispatched the Prince of Wales to accept the Soviet ambassador's credentials.[3][4]

List of representatives (1556–present) edit

Representatives of the Tsardom of Russia to the Kingdom of England (1556–1707) edit

NameTitleAppointmentTerminationNotes
Osip Nepeya [ru]Chief of embassy15561557
Fyodor Pisemsky [ru]Chief of embassy15821583
Grigory Mikulin [ru]Chief of embassy16001601
Aleksey Zyuzin [ru]Chief of embassy16131613
Pyotr Prozorovsky [ru]Chief of embassy16621662

Representatives of the Tsardom of Russia to the Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1720) edit

NameTitleAppointmentTerminationNotes
Andrey MatveyevChief of missionMay 17071708
Boris KurakinMinister Plenipotentiary17101711
Albrecht von der Liet [ru]Resident17111713
Bertram von ShakResident17131717
Fyodor Veselovsky [ru]Resident9 June 1717February 1720
Mikhail Bestuzhev-RyuminResidentMarch 172014 November 1720
Great Northern War: Diplomatic relations interrupted (1720–1730)

Representatives of the Russian Empire to the Kingdom of Great Britain (1731–1801) edit

NameTitleAppointmentTerminationNotes
Antiokh KantemirResident (before 17 July 1733)
Envoy (after 17 July 1733)
24 December 1731April 1738
Sergey Dolgorukov [ru]Envoy17381739
Ivan Shcherbatov [ru]EnvoyJune 1739March 1742
Semyon Naryshkin [ru]Envoy31 December 1741June 1743
Ivan Shcherbatov [ru]Envoy20 June 1743August 1746
Pyotr ChernyshyovEnvoy14 July 174620 March 1755
Aleksandr GolitsynEnvoy17551762
Alexander VorontsovEnvoyFebruary 17621764
Heinrich Gross [ru]Envoy9 December 17631765
Fyodor Gross [ru]Chargé d'affaires17651766
Aleksey Musin-Pushkin [ru]EnvoyDecember 1765July 1768
Ivan ChernyshevEnvoy1768August 1769
Aleksey Musin-Pushkin [ru]Envoy12 August 17695 May 1779
Ivan Lizakevich [ru]Chargé d'affaires17751777
Ivan Lizakevich [ru]Chargé d'affaires17781778
Ivan Simolin [ru]Envoy5 May 177914 March 1784
Semyon VorontsovEnvoy24 May 17844 May 1800
Ivan Lizakevich [ru]Chargé d'affaires17851785
Ivan Lizakevich [ru]Chargé d'affaires4 May 1800September 1800
Malta Question: Diplomatic relations by chargé d'affaires (1800–1801)
Yakov SmirnovChargé d'affaires29 September 180025 May 1801

Representatives of the Russian Empire to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1917) edit

NameTitleAppointmentTerminationNotes
Semyon VorontsovAmbassador25 May 180115 May 1806
Pavel StroganovChargé d'affaires10 May 18067 December 1806
Maxim AlopeusSpecial envoy7 December 18062 February 1808
Anglo-Russian War: Diplomatic relations suspended (1808–1812)
Pavel Sukhtelen [ru]Special envoy30 August 181230 September 1812
Pavel Nikolai [ru]Chargé d'affaires30 August 181218 September 1812
Khristofor LivenAmbassador18 September 181222 May 1834
Adam Matushevich [ru]Minister Plenipotentiary7 July 183023 October 1830
Pavel MedemChargé d'affaires20 June 183431 January 1835
Carlo Pozzo di BorgoAmbassador5 January 183526 December 1839
Nikolai Kiselyov [ru]Chargé d'affaires18391840
Phillip BrunnovEnvoy17 June 184018 December 1854
Crimean War: Diplomatic relations suspended (1854–1856)
Mikhail Khreptovich [ru]Envoy30 June 18568 February 1858
Phillip BrunnovEnvoy (before 4 December 1860)
Ambassador (after 4 December 1860)
8 February 185821 May 1870
Nikolay OrlovAmbassador appointee21 May 187028 November 1870Was not accredited
Phillip BrunnovAmbassador28 November 187022 July 1874
Pyotr ShuvalovAmbassador22 July 187419 October 1879
Aleksei Lobanov-RostovskiiAmbassador22 December 187913 July 1882
Aleksandr Davydov [ru]Chargé d'affaires18821882
Arthur von MohrenheimAmbassador13 July 18828 February 1884
Yegor StaalAmbassador27 March 188430 August 1902
Alexander von BenckendorffAmbassador190229 December 1916
Konstantin Nabokov [ru]Chargé d'affaires19161917
Sergey SazonovAmbassadorJanuary 19173 March 1917
Yevgeny Sablin [ru]Chargé d'affaires19191924Unaccredited by the post-Imperial Russian government

Representatives of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1918–1923) edit

NameTitleAppointmentTerminationNotes
Maxim LitvinovAuthorised representative
Plenipotentiary (after June 1918)
January 1918September 1918Not accredited
Leonid KrasinPlenipotentiary1920July 1923Not accredited

Representatives of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1923–1991) edit

NameTitleAppointmentTerminationNotes
Christian RakovskyPlenipotentiaryJuly 192330 October 1925Accredited from 1 February 1924
Leonid KrasinPlenipotentiary30 October 192524 November 1926
Arkady RosengoltsPlenipotentiary192626 May 1927
Grigori SokolnikovPlenipotentiaryNovember 192914 September 1932
Ivan MaiskyPlenipotentiary (before 9 May 1941)
Ambassador (after 9 May 1941)
8 November 193212 August 1943
Fedor GusevAmbassador12 August 194322 August 1946
Georgy ZarubinAmbassador28 September 194613 June 1952
Andrei GromykoAmbassador13 June 1952May 1953
Yakov MalikAmbassadorMay 195311 January 1960
Aleksandr Soldatov [ru]Ambassador11 January 196025 January 1966
Mikhail SmirnovskyAmbassador25 January 196627 April 1973
Nikolai Lunkov [ru]Ambassador27 April 19735 November 1980
Viktor Popov [ru]Ambassador20 November 198010 April 1986
Leonid ZamyatinAmbassador10 April 198618 November 1991
Boris PankinAmbassador19 November 199125 December 1991

Representatives of the Russian Federation to the United Kingdom (1991–present) edit

NameTitleAppointmentTerminationNotes
Boris PankinAmbassador25 December 199116 September 1993
Anatoly AdamishinAmbassador5 September 19946 June 1997
Yury Fokin [ru]Ambassador6 June 199720 January 2000
Grigory KarasinAmbassador6 March 20009 June 2005
Yuri FedotovAmbassador9 June 200527 August 2010
Alexander YakovenkoAmbassador24 January 201126 August 2019
Andrey KelinAmbassador5 November 2019

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Edinburgh, the United Kingdom". Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Russia). Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  2. ^ "Andrei Kelin appointed as Russia's Ambassador to the UK". Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 5 November 2019. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
  3. ^ Bilainkin, George (1944). Maisky, Ten Years Ambassador. G. Allen & Unwin Limited. pp. 73–74.
  4. ^ Davison, Janet (21 May 2014). "Prince Charles and Vladimir Putin: Can royals wade into politics?". CBC News. King George V, who reigned from 1910 to 1936, was close to his lookalike cousin, Czar Nicholas II, but refused to meet a number of Soviet ambassadors following the revolution there. "He claimed to be unwell and [did] not receive the Soviet ambassador because he blamed the Bolshevik regime for the murder of his cousin, Czar Nicholas II and his family in 1918," says Harris.