Oleg Alexandrovich Troyanovsky (24 November 1919 – 21 December 2003) was ambassador of the

Soviet Union 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, ...

to Japan and China and was the Soviet

Permanent Representative A permanent representative is a diplomat who is the head of a country’s diplomatic mission to an international organisation. Organizations that receive permanent representatives from their member states include the United Nations, the World Tr ...

to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

(from 1976 to 1986). Troyanovsky was born into a diplomatic family. His father, Alexander A. Troyanovsky, served as the first Soviet ambassador to the United States from 1934 to 1938 and was also Soviet Ambassador to Japan from 1929 to 1932. Although he was born in Moscow, Oleg attended

The American School in Japan The American School in Japan (ASIJ; ja, アメリカンスクール・イン・ジャパン) is an international private day school located in the city of Chōfu, Tokyo, Japan. The school consists of an elementary school, a middle school, and a ...

; the

Sidwell Friends School Sidwell Friends School is a Quaker school located in Bethesda, Maryland and Washington, D.C., offering pre-kindergarten through high school classes. Founded in 1883 by Thomas W. Sidwell, its motto is ' ( en, Let the light shine out from all), a ...

in Washington, DC; and Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. At Swarthmore in the 1930s, Troyanovsky allegedly recruited his American classmate Stephen Laird as a Soviet spy. Troyanovsky returned to the Soviet Union to complete his education at the Moscow Institute for Foreign Languages and Moscow University. After spending two years as a soldier in the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

, Troyanovsky joined the Soviet Foreign Ministry to work as a foreign policy assistant and interpreter for Soviet leader

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

and adviser to

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...

. Troyanovsky served as the Soviet ambassador to Japan before he was appointed to the United Nations. In 1980, two members of a dissident Marxist group sneaked into the

UN Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the Organs of the United Nations, six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international security, international peace and security, recommending the admi ...

chamber and threw red paint on Troyanovsky and US Ambassador

William vanden Heuvel William Jacobus vanden Heuvel (April 14, 1930 – June 15, 2021) was an American attorney, businessman, author and diplomat of Belgian descent. He was known for advising Robert F. Kennedy during the latter's campaigns for Senate in 1964 and Pres ...

. The Soviet responded, "Better red than dead." In 1983, when listening to the recording of Soviet fighter pilots shooting down

Korean Air Flight 007 Korean Air Lines Flight 007 (KE007/KAL007)The flight number KAL 007 was used by air traffic control, while the public flight booking system used KE 007 was a scheduled Korean Air Lines flight from New York City to Seoul via Anchorage, Alas ...

jumbo jet near

Moneron Island Moneron Island, (russian: Монерон, ja, 海馬島 Kaibato, ja, トド島 Todojima, Ainu: Todomoshiri) is a small island off Sakhalin Island. It is a part of the Russian Federation. Description Moneron has an area of about and a high ...

that killed carrying 269 people, Troyanovsky remained poker-faced and impassive. From 1986 to 1990, he held his final diplomatic post as the ambassador to China. Troyanovsky spent his retirement years working on his memoirs and giving lectures in Russia and abroad.

References

External links

Obituary, from the Boston Globe

wilsoncenter.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Troyanovsky, Oleg 1919 births 2003 deaths Ambassadors of the Soviet Union to China Ambassadors of the Soviet Union to Japan Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Diplomats from Moscow Permanent Representatives of the Soviet Union to the United Nations Swarthmore College alumni American School in Japan alumni