Gennadi (or Gennady) Ivanovich Gerasimov (Russian, ''Геннадий Иванович Герасимов'', 3 March 1930, – 14 September 2010) was the last Soviet, and then Russian ambassador to Portugal from 1990 to 1995. Previously he was foreign affairs spokesman for Mikhail Gorbachev and press secretary to

Eduard Shevardnadze Eduard Ambrosis dze Shevardnadze ( ka, ედუარდ ამბროსის ძე შევარდნაძე}, romanized: ; 25 January 1928 – 7 July 2014) was a Soviet and Georgian politician and diplomat who governed Georgia fo ...

. He is noted for coining the expression "

Sinatra Doctrine The Sinatra Doctrine was a Soviet foreign policy under Mikhail Gorbachev for allowing member states of the Warsaw Pact to determine their own internal affairs. The name jokingly alluded to the song My Way popularized by Frank Sinatra—the So ...

" in reference to Gorbachev's non-intervention policy with respect to other members of the

Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist repub ...

. When asked, during Mikhail Gorbachev's visit to Prague in 1987, what the difference was between the Prague Spring and perestroika, Gerasimov replied: "nineteen years". He was recognized in 1990 as Communicator of the Year by the (American) National Association of Government Communicators (NAGC) He is mentioned in the Billy Bragg song "Moving the Goalposts". p

References

1930 births 2010 deaths Ambassadors of Russia to Portugal Ambassadors of the Soviet Union to Portugal Cold War diplomats {{USSR-bio-stub Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery