The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Austria is the official representative of the

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

and the

Government of the Russian Federation The Government of Russia exercises executive power in the Russian Federation. The members of the government are the prime minister, the deputy prime ministers, and the federal ministers. It has its legal basis in the Constitution of the Russia ...

to the

and the Government of the Republic of Austria. The ambassador and his staff work at large in the Embassy of Russia in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. The post of Russian Ambassador to Austria is currently held by , incumbent since 10 August 2015.

History of diplomatic relations

Embassy of Russia in Vienna at end of 19th century

The first ambassador of Russia to Austria was Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Golitsyn and he served in this position from 1763 until 1792. Gallitzinstraße, the street where his ambassadorial villa was located is named after him. In 1792 Count

Andrey Kirillovich Razumovsky Count (later Prince) Andrey Kirillovich Razumovskyrussian: Андре́й Кири́ллович Разумо́вский, , german: Andreas von Rasumofsky (2 November 1752 – 23 September 1836) was a Russian Imperial diplomat who spent man ...

became ambassador in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, where he kept contact with representatives of the

European aristocracy The aristocracy is historically associated with "hereditary" or "ruling" social class. In many states, the aristocracy included the upper class of people (aristocrats) with hereditary rank and titles. In some, such as ancient Greece, ancient ...

, politicians and artists. While in Vienna, he built the

Palais Rasumofsky Palais Rasumofsky (russian: Разумовски-пале) is a palace in Vienna, Austria. The palace was commissioned by Prince Andrey Kyrillovich Razumovsky as a Neoclassic embassy worthy of the representative of Alexander I. It was built a ...

, and also financed construction of a stone bridge across the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

. As a

patron of the arts Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...

, Razumovsky established an art gallery, and commissioned

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

to compose the famous Razumovsky string quartets.

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

is closely linked to the fate of prominent

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

and statesman Prince Alexander Mikhailovich Gorchakov. He arrived in Vienna in 1833 as an adviser to the embassy, and, from 1854 to 1856, he led the Russian diplomatic mission. Gorchakov became

Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary An envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, usually known as a minister, was a diplomatic head of mission who was ranked below ambassador. A diplomatic mission headed by an envoy was known as a legation rather than an embassy. Under the ...

to the Austrian court at the most difficult period for Russia during the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...

, during which time he was able to preserve

diplomatic relations Diplomacy comprises spoken or written communication by representatives of states (such as leaders and diplomats) intended to influence events in the international system.Ronald Peter Barston, ''Modern diplomacy'', Pearson Education, 2006, p. 1 ...

with Austria and helped to overcome the international isolation of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

and reinforced Russia's status as a

great power A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power inf ...

. The Vienna Conference in 1855 was the first presence of Gorchakov in an international forum, and his performance in representing Russia at the Paris Conference of 1856 saw Alexander II appoint him as Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs. In 1882, scientist and diplomat Prince Aleksey Borisovich Lobanov-Rostovsky was appointed as the Empire's representative in Vienna. In 1891 he bought several houses on Reisnerstraße from Adolphe I, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, the former

Duke of Nassau The Duchy of Nassau (German: ''Herzogtum Nassau'') was an independent state between 1806 and 1866, located in what is now the German states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse. It was a member of the Confederation of the Rhine and later of the G ...

, which still houses the embassy and consular section in Vienna, and he also began construction of the Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral. After the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian

monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutional monarchy) ...

in 1918 and the proclamation of the First Austrian Republic, diplomatic relations with the

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

were established on 25 February 1924. The first Soviet

Plenipotentiary A ''plenipotentiary'' (from the Latin ''plenus'' "full" and ''potens'' "powerful") is a diplomat who has full powers—authorization to sign a treaty or convention on behalf of his or her sovereign. When used as a noun more generally, the word ...

in Vienna was

Jan Antonovich Berzin Jan Antonovich Berzin (russian: Ян Антонович Берзин, ''Yan Antonovich Berzin'', lv, Jānis Bērziņš, pseudonym, alias Ziemelis; 11 October 1881 – 29 August 1938) was a Latvians, Latvian village teacher, later Bolsheviks, Bols ...

. Diplomatic relations were broken in March 1938 after the German invasion of Austria and its incorporation into

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the USSR and Austria re-established diplomatic relations at the level of political representation, which in 1953 was converted into

embassies A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...

. The preamble of the

Austrian State Treaty The Austrian State Treaty (german: Österreichischer Staatsvertrag ) or Austrian Independence Treaty re-established Austria as a sovereign state. It was signed on 15 May 1955 in Vienna, at the Schloss Belvedere among the Allied occupying p ...

, signed on 15 May 1955 by the USSR,

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and Austria, established that the treaty formed the basis of Soviet relations with Austria. After the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

, relations continued between the Russian Federation and the Austrian state.

Ambassadors

References

Bibliography

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External links

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Embassy of Russia to Austria
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