Nikolai Shishkin

Nikolai Shishkin began in the Yaroslavl governor’s office before joining the Foreign Ministry’s Asian Department in 1853. Consular work in Bucharest, Adrianople, and Belgrade introduced him to the competing interests of Russia, the Ottoman Empire, and the Balkan principalities. He became Russia’s diplomatic agent in Serbia before receiving the Washington appointment in 1875. ¹

In the United States, Shishkin assisted Russia’s participation in the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition and supported Dmitri Mendeleev’s visit to study the American petroleum industry. His other interests included naval purchases and cooperation in the Pacific. ¹

During the Russo-Turkish War, he formally notified Secretary of State William M. Evarts of the conflict in May 1877. The following month he asked Washington to respond to Russia’s complaint about the Ottoman blockade of Black Sea ports. Russia argued that an unenforced blockade should not restrict neutral commerce. His accompanying circular also raised the danger posed to navigation by mines in the Danube. ^{2, 3}

Shishkin subsequently represented Russia in Greece and at the Swedish-Norwegian court, then became deputy foreign minister in 1891. He temporarily headed the ministry after the death of Nikolai Giers in 1895 and again after Aleksei Lobanov-Rostovsky’s death in 1896. The latter assignment included accompanying Nicholas II abroad and unsuccessful talks with France over influence in Ottoman territory. He entered the State Council in 1897 and died in 1902. ⁴