Aleksandr Alekseyevich Avdeyev (; born 8 September 1946 in

Kremenchuk Kremenchuk (; , , also spelt Kremenchug, ) is an industrial city in central Ukraine which stands on the banks of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. The city serves as the administrative center of Kremenchuk Raion and Kremenchuk urban hromada within ...

Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

) is a Russian and

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

politician and diplomat. He was the Ambassador of the Soviet Union to Luxembourg from 1987 to 1990, the Russian Ambassador to Bulgaria from 1992 to 1996 and the Ambassador of Russia to France from 2002 to 2008. He later served as the Minister of Culture from 2008 to 2012. Avdeyev served as the Ambassador of Russia to the Holy See and to the Sovereign Order of Malta from January 2013 until May 2023.

Career

Minister of Culture

On 26 January 2010 he met with

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

(then the

Prime Minister of Russia The prime minister of the Russian Federation, also domestically stylized as the chairman of the government of the Russian Federation and widely recognized as the prime minister, is the head of government of Russia and the second highest ranking ...

) to discuss reconstruction of various Russian theatres, especially

Bolshoi Theatre The Bolshoi Theatre ( rus, Большо́й теа́тр, r=Bol'shoy teatr, p=bɐlʲˈʂoj tʲɪˈat(ə)r, t=Grand Theater) is a historic opera house in Moscow, Russia, originally designed by architect Joseph Bové. Before the October Revolutio ...

so that it will be ready for the 150th anniversary of notable Russian writer

Anton Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; ; 29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer, widely considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his b ...

. During the meeting with he also discussed

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicy ...

system and various ways on how to acquire Russian cultural pieces from abroad. On 19 November 2010 he met with French Minister of Culture Frederic Mitterrand with whom he discussed the foundation of joint Russian and French Film Academy of Motion Picture Arts. On 6 July 2011 he spoke at

State Duma The State Duma is the lower house of the Federal Assembly (Russia), Federal Assembly of Russia, with the upper house being the Federation Council (Russia), Federation Council. It was established by the Constitution of Russia, Constitution of t ...

during the question time where he suggested to expand

state law State law refers to the law of a federated state, as distinguished from the law of the federation of which it is a part. It is used when the constituent components of a federation are themselves called states. Federations made up of provinces, cant ...

regarding Russian monuments. On 11 March 2012 he assured Vladimir Putin that he almost completed remodeling of

Pushkin Museum The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (, abbreviated as , ''GMII'') is the largest museum of European art in Moscow. It is located in Volkhonka street, just opposite the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. The International musical festival Sviatos ...

and the same day issued a concern that Literary Fund did not have enough financing to remodel all Peredelkino museums. During the same meeting he mentioned that he and Olga Okudzhava agreed on building a museum for her deceased husband and bard

Bulat Okudzhava Bulat Shalvovich Okudzhava (; ka, ბულატ ოკუჯავა; ; May 9, 1924 – June 12, 1997) was a Soviet and Russian poet, writer, musician, novelist, and singer-songwriter of Georgian-Armenian ancestry. He was one of the founders o ...

. He also mentioned that as of now the ministry is rebuilding museums in

Tsarskoye Selo Tsarskoye Selo (, , ) was the town containing a former residence of the Russian House of Romanov, imperial family and visiting nobility, located south from the center of Saint Petersburg. The residence now forms part of the Pushkin, Saint Peter ...

Saransk Saransk (, ); ; is the capital city of Mordovia, Russia, as well as its financial and economic centre. It is located in the Volga River, Volga drainage basin, basin at the confluence of the Saranka and Insar Rivers, about east of Moscow. Sar ...

as well as

Vladikavkaz Vladikavkaz, formerly known as Ordzhonikidze () or Dzaudzhikau (), is the capital city of North Ossetia–Alania, Russia. It is located in the southeast of the republic at the foothills of the Caucasus, situated on the Terek (river), Terek River. ...

and is nearly completed reconstruction of Tovstonogov Bolshoi Drama Theater and the second complex of the

Mariinsky Theatre The Mariinsky Theatre (, also transcribed as Maryinsky or Mariyinsky) is a historic opera house in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music theatre of late 19th-century Russia, where many of the stage masterpieces ...

Controversies

On 13 January 2013 he proclaimed the Schneersohn Library to be "the unalienable property of Russia" urging to ignore the decisions of American courts of returning the collection to Library of Agudas Chassidei Chabad as "provocative".

References

External links

Biography at lenta.ru
{{DEFAULTSORT:Avdeyev, Aleksandr 1946 births Living people Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary (Soviet Union) Ambassadors of the Soviet Union to Luxembourg Ambassadors of Russia to France Ambassadors of Russia to Bulgaria Culture ministers of Russia People from Kremenchuk Honorary members of the Russian Academy of Arts Ambassadors of Russia to the Holy See Honored Employee of the Diplomatic Service (Russia)