Alexander de Somow

Alexander de Somow (1859–1928), or Alexander Sergeyevich Somov, graduated from St. Petersburg University and entered the Foreign Ministry in 1881. He served in Belgrade and Bucharest before Washington. His Bucharest assignments ran from 1892 to 1895 and from 1897 to 1903. ¹

While acting for Russia in Washington in 1895, Somow transmitted proposals for protecting Pacific fur seals. The Russian commission favored a diplomatic conference with binding decisions over another technical inquiry, and proposed larger protected zones and restrictions on hunting with firearms. Somow asked the State Department to keep the legation informed so that the two governments could coordinate their positions. ²

He also challenged the American interpretation of most-favored-nation treatment. In July 1895 he asked Secretary of State Richard Olney why concessions granted to Hawaii were excluded from Russia’s rights under the 1832 commercial treaty. His concern extended beyond Hawaii: he wanted to know whether Washington would use that exception as a precedent for preferential agreements with other countries. ³

Back in Romania, Somov reported a conversation with Queen Elisabeth in 1902 about her admiration for Leo Tolstoy. His account defended the imperial establishment and criticized the writer’s later attacks on religion, monarchy, and social institutions; the queen rejected his harsh judgment. Somov later served in Tokyo and Tehran, as consul general in Korea, and as Russia’s political agent in Bukhara. He died in Odessa in 1928. ¹