Alexander Bessmertnykh

Alexander Bessmertnykh was born in Biysk in 1933 and graduated from MGIMO in 1957. His early career included the Soviet Foreign Ministry’s press department, work in the United Nations Secretariat, and service in the foreign minister’s secretariat. He spent much of 1970–1983 at the Washington embassy, advancing to minister-counselor, before directing the ministry’s United States department and becoming a deputy foreign minister. ¹

As ambassador in 1990–1991, he worked on the unfinished strategic arms agreement. In a January 1991 meeting with Under Secretary Reginald Bartholomew, Bessmertnykh pressed for an early meeting between American and Soviet technical specialists to move the negotiations forward. Bartholomew warned that Soviet proposals in Geneva threatened earlier understandings; Bessmertnykh argued that sustained engagement could overcome the remaining obstacles and promised to relay the concerns to Moscow. ²

He became Soviet foreign minister in January 1991. His tenure included the conclusion of START I and preparations for the Madrid Middle East peace conference. Gorbachev dismissed him after the August coup, criticizing his failure to take a clear stand against it. ^{3, 4}

After government service, Bessmertnykh led the Foreign Policy Association, beginning in 1992, and participated in organizations connecting former foreign ministers and Russian and American public figures. His later work also included alumni activities at MGIMO. ³