Culture & Press Minister

NAME: ALEXANDER ALEXEYEVICH AVDEYEV

BORN: 8 September, 1946 in the town of Kremenchuk, Poltava Region, Ukrainian Soviet Republic

EDUCATION: *In 1968 Avdeyev graduated from Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MID) of the Soviet Union.

CAREER: *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.  *In December 1991 Avdeyev became deputy to Minister of External Relations of the Soviet Union Eduard Shevardnadze.  *In February 1992 Avdeyev was appointed Special Envoy. *In the same year he headed the new 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.  *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.  *On February 21, 2002 Avdeyev was relieved of his duties as first deputy foreign minister and was appointed Russian ambassador to France.  *After five years, on March 16 2007, Avdeyev was also pluralistically appointed Russian Ambassador to the Principality of Monaco.  *On 12 May 2008 Avdeyev was made a part of Vladimir Putin’s governmental cabinet, when he was appointed Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation.

MISCELLANEOUS: *Avdeyev is married, and has one son.  *Apart from his native Russian, he speaks French, Italian, English and Bulgarian.  *Avdeyev is regarded as an advocate of isolationist policy vis-à-vis relations with the West.  *Avdeyev holds the diplomatic rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary.  *On 22 November 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 addition to the aforementioned awards, Avdeyev has also been bestowed with the Order of Honor and the Order of Friendship.