Georgiy Mammadov
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Georgiy Enverovich Mamedov (russian: Георгий Энверович Мамедов) (born 1947 in Moscow, USSR) is a Russian diplomat of Azerbaijani descent, and one of Russia's foremost authorities on the United States and Canada. In the 1990s and the early 2000s, he was his country's chief interlocutor with the United States on such subjects as NATO,
arms control Arms control is a term for international restrictions upon the development, production, stockpiling, proliferation and usage of small arms, conventional weapons, and weapons of mass destruction. Arms control is typically exercised through the u ...
and Kosovo. Mamedov served as Russia's ambassador to Canada between 2003 and 2014. Georgiy Mamedov's official biography and photo
at the site of Russian Embassy in Canada


Biography

Georgiy Mamedov was born on September 9, 1947 in Moscow. His father, Enver Nazimovich Mamedov, had been a diplomat for a few years, and was to spend most of his later career working for the Soviet mass media in a variety of positions, including that of the Deputy Chairman of the State Committee for Radio and Television in 1962–1985, directly in charge of Soviet television from 1970 to 1985. Georgiy Mamedov graduated in 1970 from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. He then joined the Institute for U.S.A. and Canada Studies in 1970 and became a protégé of the institute's founder,
Georgi Arbatov Georgy Arkadyevich Arbatov (russian: Гео́ргий Арка́дьевич Арба́тов, 19 May 1923, Kherson – 1 October 2010, Moscow) was a Soviet and Russian political scientist who served as an adviser to five General Secretaries of t ...
, the leading Soviet specialist on the United States at the time. After entering diplomatic service in 1972, Mamedov was posted at the Soviet Embassy in Washington from 1972 to 1973 and again from 1977 to 1981. While in Washington from 1977 to 1981 he impressed the Americans, who called him "George," but he was also suspected of working with the KGB. In 1989–90, Mamedov served as the first deputy director, in 1990–91, the director, of the US and Canada Desk of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR The Ministry of External Relations (MER) of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) (russian: Министерство иностранных дел СССР) was founded on 6 July 1923. It had three names during its existence: People's Co ...
.Biography
In 1991, Mamedov became Russia's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in charge of the relationship with the countries of the Americas, and occupied this position until 2003. In June 2003, he was appointed as
Ambassador of Russia to Canada The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Canada is the official representative of the President and the Government of the Russian Federation to the Prime Minister and the Government of Canada. The ambassador ...
. It often fell to Mamedov to smooth over the thorniest Russia-USA disputes. He helped persuade Washington to proceed with NATO expansion slowly, and reassured the Americans when President Boris Yeltsin sent tanks to besiege the Russian parliament during the
1993 Russian constitutional crisis The 1993 Russian constitutional crisis, also known as the 1993 October Coup, Black October, the Shooting of the White House or Ukaz 1400, was a political stand-off and a constitutional crisis between the Russian president Boris Yeltsin and t ...
. He helped broker a deal under which Ukraine gave up all the
nuclear weapons A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...
it had inherited after the breakup of the Soviet Union. Alexander Vershbow, a former U.S. ambassador to Moscow, first met Mamedov in the 1980s; Vershbow describes Mamedov as "a real problem solver, somebody who's always defended their interests quite aggressively—and volubly—but has been a good partner. Every U.S. ambassador who's dealt with him has found him to be a guy who could get things done." Georgiy Mamedov holds a Ph.D. in history and speaks English and Swedish in addition to Russian. He is married and has two adult children, a son and daughter.


Views on the Iraq war

Prior to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Mamedov declared in an interview with ITAR-TASS that the United States was making a "tragic error": "If Washington decides to ignore the UN Security Council, to violate the UN Charter and invade Iraq, this will be a tragic error from the side of the U.S.A.... Russia categorically rejects any ultimatums regarding Iraq.... In Russia we consider that Iraq constitutes neither a threat to the U.S.A, nor to the
international community The international community is an imprecise phrase used in geopolitics and international relations to refer to a broad group of people and governments of the world. As a rhetorical term Aside from its use as a general descriptor, the term is ...
, nor to its neighbors.... Russia will not participate in a campaign of pressure or threats, directed at changing the regime in Iraq." When asked what Russia would do if there were a U.S. military operation, Mamedov replied: "Russia will not launch an anti-American campaign, but will try its utmost to return the situation to a proper legal basis. We will not gloat over a tragic mistake by the United States."ITAR-TASS Interview of then Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mamedov, as quoted on the Russian Institute of Strategic Stability Website


References


External links


Photograph of Mamedov
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mamedov, Georgiy Enverovich Living people 1947 births Soviet diplomats Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary (Russian Federation) Ambassadors of Russia to Canada Diplomats from Moscow Russian people of Azerbaijani descent