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AVDEYEV, Alexander Alexeyevich

Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation

Early life and career

Alexander Avdeyev (Александр Алексеевич Авдеев) was born on September 8, 1946 in the town of Kremenchuk, Poltava Region, Ukrainian Soviet Republic.

In 1968 Avdeyev graduated from Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MID) of the Soviet Union. In the same year after his studies he joined the Soviet Union diplomatic corps, his first posting as advisory secretary of the general consul division of the Soviet Union in Annaba, Algeria. From 1971 Avdeyev worked in the Soviet Union embassy in Algiers and received the diplomatic rank of attaché. In 1973 he returned to Moscow and began to work in the central body of MID.

From 1977 to 1985 Avdeyev served as Second and First Secretary in the Embassy of the Soviet Union in France. In 1985 he received the rank of Counselor and became chief of the First European Division of MID.

In 1987 Avdeyev was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary in the Soviet Union Embassy in Luxembourg.

In 1990 Avdeyev was named First Deputy Chief of the First European Directorate of MID. That year, the redistribution of powers between MID of the Soviet Union and the ministeries of foreign affairs of the consituent Soviet republics began. In October 1991 representatives of foreign affairs' departments from eleven Soviet republics (there were no representatives from Georgia or the Baltic states) met to make a decision regarding the union of MID. In November 1991 the State council of the Soviet Union decided on renaming MID as the Ministry of External Relations (MVS) of the Soviet Union.

In December 1991 Avdeyev became deputy to Minister of External Relations of the Soviet Union Eduard Shevardnadze. On December 23, 1991 it was decided at a joint session with the boards of MVS of the Soviet Union and MID of the Russian Soviet Republic that the united ministeries would be absorbed into the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry. Thus the head of the Russian foreign policy department Andrei Kozyrev underlined that, according to the decree of Russian president Boris Yeltsin, all of Shevardnadze's deputies would temporarily retain their posts but only diplomats of MID of the Russian Soviet Republic would be obliged to take charge of political leadership. In February 1992 Avdeyev was appointed Special Envoy. In the same year he headed the nascent Department of CIS affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, a section which experienced a shortage in personnel, as there were no specialists prepared for work with representatives from the CIS countries.

On July 28, 1992 President Yeltsin appointed Avdeyev as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at the Russian Embassy in Bulgaria. In obtaining this post Avdeyev replaced former KGB general-major Viktor Sharapov who worked in Bulgaria since 1988, became the last ambassador of the Soviet Union and first ambassador of Russia in Bulgaria. On November 2, 1996 Avdeyev was released from his ambassadorial duties in Bulgaria.

On December 20, 1996 Avdeyev was made deputy to Minister of Foreign Affairs Yevgeniy Primakov. At the end of October 1998, following Primakov's appointment as prime minister, Avdeyev was named First Deputy to Minister of Foreign Affairs Igor Ivanov.

In June 1999 Avdeyev joined a small command of experts developing a plan for Russia's active peacekeeping mission in war-torn Kosovo. As a result a report was prepared, which Defense Minister Marshal Igor Sergeyev presented to President Yeltsin. In accordance with the plan, Russian peacekeepers would be dispatched to Kosovo at the same time as NATO forces. What followed was a successful transfer of Russian paratroopers from Bosnia-Herzegovina to the Slatina airdrome in Prishtina, Kosovo.

On November 22, 1999 Avdeyev was awarded the order of honor "For Services to the Fatherland" of the 4th Degree for his contribution to the political stabilization of the Kosovo crisis and for his participation in the conducting of Russian-led operations in the Balkans.

In December 1999, Avdeyev was made the laureate of the award "Best Feathers of Russia", founded by the Russian Trade Union of Television Employees, House of Russian Press, Professional Writers' Union and the union of journalists and international association of journalists ASMO-press. A year later Avdeyev was the laureate of the foreign policy and relations journal "Mezhdunarodnaya Zhizn" (International Life) for the publication of his articles "International and Foreign Economic Relations of the Russian Regions" and "Russia-Lithuania: Some Results of the Last Few Years and A Look into the Future".

On February 21, 2002 Avdeyev was relieved of his duties as first deputy foreign minister and was appointed Russian ambassador to France, replacing the outgoing Nikolai Afanasevsky who took an ambassadorial role in Poland. After five years, on March 16 2007, Avdeyev was also pluralistically appointed Russian Ambassador to the Principality of Monaco. Official diplomatic relations between Russia and Monaco were established only in July 1996.

Avdeyev was involved in many cultural events organized in France. In particular, in 2002 Avdeyev, as one of the members of a tutorial committee, appeared in reports on setting up Russian-French cultural events dedicated to the 300 year anniversary celebration of St. Petersburg. As part of the celebration, Avdeyev helped to organize a Russian and French art exhibition entitled "When Russia Spoke French (Paris - St. Petersburg, 1800-1830)".

On May 12, 2008 Avdeyev was made a part of Vladimir Putin's governmental cabinet, when he was appointed Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation. Under the new structure of government, former head of the Federal Agency for Culture and Cinematography Mikhail Shvydkoy was removed from office, with this agency liquidated. In its place the new Ministry of Culture has been created, with Avdeyev at the helm. Former Minister of Culture and Mass Communications Alexander Sokolov was also relieved of his ministerial duties (his powers were transferred to new Minister of Communications and Mass Media Igor Shchyogolev). Moreover, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has expanded the functions of the Ministry of Culture by assigning it with the service on supervising the observance of legislation relating to protection of cultural artifacts and the Archival Agency, as well as the activities of the now defunct Federal Agency for Culture and Cinematography.

Avdeyev holds the diplomatic rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary. Apart from his native Russian, he speaks French, Italian, English and Bulgarian. Aside from the aforementioned awards, Avdeyev has also been bestowed with the Order of Honor and the Order of Friendship.

Avdeyev is married, has one son.

Career philosophy

In terms of his political leanings, the newspaper Kommersant noted that Avdeyev is regarded as an advocate of isolationist policy vis-à-vis relations with the West. Avdeyev is said to have supported anti-Western and former head of the directorate of the international military co-operation of the Defense Ministry General-Colonel Leonid Ivashov. Kommersant further underlined that Avdeyev endorsed antagonistic propositions to the Western-orientated Foreign Affairs Minister Igor Ivanov regarding the crisis in the Balkans [1], [2]. According to the newspaper, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was divided along political lines, with Minister Ivanov looking to the West, and First Deputy Avdeyev - to the East [3].

Despite his purported isolationist/nationalist ideology during his time at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the late 1990s, members of the cultural community in France spoke of Avdeyev's sense of cosmopolitanism, erudition and liberal views during his diplomatic mission there [2]. The newspaper Izvestiya commented on his popularity as ambassador in Paris and his valued support and knowledge of art (Avdeyev reportedly possessed the finest collection of prints devoted to Russian-French and Russian-Bulgarian relations) [4]. As ambassador, Avdeyev held strong ties with the French political and intellectual elite [4], as well as representatives of the Russian émigré community in France [5].

Contact Information

Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation,
7 Kitaygorodskiy proezd
Moscow 109074 Russia
tel.: + 7 (495) 928 38 72; + 7 (495) 625 11 95
fax: + 7 (495) 628 17 91
email: apd@mkmk.ru

Related Sources

Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, Home Webpage (In Russian)

[1] Kommersant.Ru, "MID Finds Official with Belorussian Past," February 26, 2002 — №33 (2402)   

[2] Kommersant.Ru, "Ambassador on Cultural Mission," May 13, 2008 — № 79(3896)

[3] Kommersant.Ru, "Man from New York," March 10, 2004 — № 42(2881) 

[4] Izvestiya.Ru, "Ambassador of Russian Culture Becomes Its Minister," May 14, 2008 — № 79(3896) 

[5] Rossiyskaya Gazeta (rg.ru), "Ambassador in the ministry," 14.05.2008. — №4658 

Last updated July 8, 2008