Sir Anthony Russell Brenton, (born 1 January 1950) is a former British diplomat.

Education

Brenton was educated at Peter Symonds' School, a former

direct grant grammar school A direct grant grammar school was a type of selective secondary school in the United Kingdom that existed between 1945 and 1976. One quarter of the places in these schools were directly funded by central government, while the remainder attracted ...

for boys (which subsequently became Peter Symonds College) in the city of

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

in Hampshire, followed by

Queens' College Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the oldest colleges of the university, founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. The college spans the River Cam, colloquially referred to as the "light s ...

at the University of Cambridge, where he studied Mathematics.

Life and career

Brenton entered the British

Foreign and Commonwealth Office The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ministries of fore ...

in 1975, where he began his career learning Arabic and spent three years in the British Embassy in Cairo working on Middle East disputes. He later worked in London and Brussels on the development of European Community Foreign and Energy Policy and, also in Brussels, he worked on European Environment Policy for the European Commission, dealing with energy issues, the Chernobyl crisis and the birth of European environment policy. Brenton took a sabbatical at Harvard University to write ''The Greening of Machiavelli – The History of International Environmental Politics'' after setting up and leading (1990–92) the Foreign Office unit that negotiated for the 1992 Rio "Earth Summit", and in particular the first global agreement on climate change. In 1989–90, he headed a UN Department in the Foreign Office in London. Through 1994–98 he worked as a Counsellor in

British Embassy This is a list of diplomatic missions of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, excluding honorary consulates. The UK has one of the largest global networks of diplomatic missions. UK diplomatic missions to capitals of other Com ...

in Moscow, responsible for the British aid programme to Russia, analysis of the Russian economy and UK policy towards Russia in the major international economic fields. In 1998 he was nominated to the position of Director on Global Issues in FCO. Within the sphere of his responsibilities was the policy towards the UN, human rights, the environment and international economy and development. Brenton served as

British Ambassador to Russia The ambassador of the United Kingdom to Russia (Russian: Британский Посол в России) is the United Kingdom's foremost diplomatic representative in the Russian Federation and head of the UK's diplomatic mission in Russia. ...

from 2004–2008. In 2007, he was made a

Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III. It is named in honour ...

(KCMG), thereby gaining the title '' Sir''. From 2008–2017, he was a fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge.

Selected works

* Tony Brenton (2016
Historically Inevitable? Turning Points of the Russian Revolution

References

Sources

Sir Anthony Russell Brenton, KCMG from British Embassy, Moscow.
Retrieved 15 January 2008.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brenton, Tony 1950 births Living people Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Russia Fellows of Wolfson College, Cambridge Place of birth missing (living people) Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George