Georgiy Mamedov
Georgiy Mamedov | |
---|---|
Георгий Мамедов | |
Russian Ambassador to Canada | |
In office 5 June 2003 – 24 October 2014 | |
President | Vladimir Putin Dmitry Medvedev Vladimir Putin |
Preceded by | Vitaly Churkin |
Succeeded by | Alexander Darchiev |
Personal details | |
Born | Georgiy Enverovich Mamedov Гео́ргий Энве́рович Маме́дов 9 September 1947 Moscow, Soviet Union (now Russia) |
Alma mater | Moscow State Institute of International Relations |
Georgiy Enverovich Mamedov (Russian: Георгий Энверович Мамедов; born 9 September 1947) 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 and Kosovo.
Mamedov served as Russia's ambassador to Canada between 2003 and 2014.[1]
Biography
Georgiy Mamedov was born on September 9, 1947, in
Georgiy Mamedov graduated in 1970 from the
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. [4]
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.[5]
In 1991, Mamedov became Russia's
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
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."[6]
Georgiy Mamedov holds a
Views on the Iraq war
Prior to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Mamedov declared in an interview with
References
- ^ a b Georgiy Mamedov's official biography and photo, at the site of Russian Embassy in Canada
- ^ Museum of Radio and Television Archived 2008-06-15 at the Wayback Machine (in Russian)
- ^ "Я не совершал больших подвигов" ("I did no great feats"), interview with Enver Nazimovich Mamedov. "Broadcasting. Телевидение и радиовещание", No. 4, 2005 (in Russian)
- ISBN 978-0-8179-8231-7
- ^ a b Biography (in Russian)
- ^ Washington Post Foreign Service article on Mamedov Archived 2006-03-24 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ ITAR-TASS Interview of then Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mamedov, as quoted on the Russian Institute of Strategic Stability Website Archived 2005-01-23 at the Wayback Machine