List of ambassadors of Russia to the United Kingdom

The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, or formally the Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Court of St James's, is the official representative of the President and the Government of the Russian Federation to the Monarch and the Government of the United Kingdom.

Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the United Kingdom
Ambassador of Russia to the Court of Saint James's
Emblem of the Russian Foreign Ministry
Incumbent
Andrey Kelin
since 5 November 2019
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Embassy of Russia, London
StyleHis Excellency
The Honourable
Reports toMinister of Foreign Affairs
ResidenceHarrington House
SeatLondon
AppointerPresident of Russia
Term lengthNo fixed term
Formation1556
First holderOsip Nepeya [ru]
as ambassador to the Kingdom of England
WebsiteEmbassy of Russia in London

The ambassador and his staff work at large in the Russian Embassy in London, while the official residence of the ambassador is 13 Kensington Palace Gardens. There is a consulate general in Edinburgh.[1]

The post of ambassador to the United Kingdom is currently held by Andrey Kelin, incumbent since 5 November 2019.[2]

History of diplomatic relations

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The United Kingdom established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union in 1924. However, King George V was still upset over the execution of the Romanov family and refused to receive the Soviet ambassador. In a breach of diplomatic protocol, he dispatched the Prince of Wales to accept the Soviet ambassador's credentials.[3][4]

List of representatives (1556–present)

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Representatives of the Tsardom of Russia to the Kingdom of England (1556–1707)

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Name Title Appointment Termination Notes
Osip Nepeya [ru] Chief of embassy 1556 1557
Fyodor Pisemsky [ru] Chief of embassy 1582 1583
Grigory Mikulin [ru] Chief of embassy 1600 1601
Aleksey Zyuzin [ru] Chief of embassy 1613 1613
Pyotr Prozorovsky [ru] Chief of embassy 1662 1662

Representatives of the Tsardom of Russia to the Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1720)

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Name Title Appointment Termination Notes
Andrey Matveyev Chief of mission May 1707 1708
Boris Kurakin Minister Plenipotentiary 1710 1711
Albrecht von der Liet [ru] Resident 1711 1713
Bertram von Shak Resident 1713 1717
Fyodor Veselovsky [ru] Resident 9 June 1717 February 1720
Mikhail Bestuzhev-Ryumin Resident March 1720 14 November 1720
Great Northern War: Diplomatic relations interrupted (1720–1730)

Representatives of the Russian Empire to the Kingdom of Great Britain (1731–1801)

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Name Title Appointment Termination Notes
Antiokh Kantemir Resident (before 17 July 1733)
Envoy (after 17 July 1733)
24 December 1731 April 1738
Sergey Dolgorukov [ru] Envoy 1738 1739
Ivan Shcherbatov [ru] Envoy June 1739 March 1742
Semyon Naryshkin [ru] Envoy 31 December 1741 June 1743
Ivan Shcherbatov [ru] Envoy 20 June 1743 August 1746
Pyotr Chernyshyov Envoy 14 July 1746 20 March 1755
Aleksandr Golitsyn Envoy 1755 1762
Alexander Vorontsov Envoy February 1762 1764
Heinrich Gross [ru] Envoy 9 December 1763 1765
Fyodor Gross [ru] Chargé d'affaires 1765 1766
Aleksey Musin-Pushkin [ru] Envoy December 1765 July 1768
Ivan Chernyshev Envoy 1768 August 1769
Aleksey Musin-Pushkin [ru] Envoy 12 August 1769 5 May 1779
Ivan Lizakevich [ru] Chargé d'affaires 1775 1777
Ivan Lizakevich [ru] Chargé d'affaires 1778 1778
Ivan Simolin [ru] Envoy 5 May 1779 14 March 1784
Semyon Vorontsov Envoy 24 May 1784 4 May 1800
Ivan Lizakevich [ru] Chargé d'affaires 1785 1785
Ivan Lizakevich [ru] Chargé d'affaires 4 May 1800 September 1800
Malta Question: Diplomatic relations by chargé d'affaires (1800–1801)
Yakov Smirnov Chargé d'affaires 29 September 1800 25 May 1801

Representatives of the Russian Empire to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801–1917)

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Name Title Appointment Termination Notes
Semyon Vorontsov Ambassador 25 May 1801 15 May 1806
Pavel Stroganov Chargé d'affaires 10 May 1806 7 December 1806
Maxim Alopeus Special envoy 7 December 1806 2 February 1808
Anglo-Russian War: Diplomatic relations suspended (1808–1812)
Pavel Sukhtelen [ru] Special envoy 30 August 1812 30 September 1812
Pavel Nikolai [ru] Chargé d'affaires 30 August 1812 18 September 1812
Khristofor Liven Ambassador 18 September 1812 22 May 1834
Adam Matushevich [ru] Minister Plenipotentiary 7 July 1830 23 October 1830
Pavel Medem Chargé d'affaires 20 June 1834 31 January 1835
Carlo Pozzo di Borgo Ambassador 5 January 1835 26 December 1839
Nikolai Kiselyov [ru] Chargé d'affaires 1839 1840
Phillip Brunnov Envoy 17 June 1840 18 December 1854
Crimean War: Diplomatic relations suspended (1854–1856)
Mikhail Khreptovich [ru] Envoy 30 June 1856 8 February 1858
Phillip Brunnov Envoy (before 4 December 1860)
Ambassador (after 4 December 1860)
8 February 1858 21 May 1870
Nikolay Orlov Ambassador appointee 21 May 1870 28 November 1870 Was not accredited
Phillip Brunnov Ambassador 28 November 1870 22 July 1874
Pyotr Shuvalov Ambassador 22 July 1874 19 October 1879
Aleksei Lobanov-Rostovskii Ambassador 22 December 1879 13 July 1882
Aleksandr Davydov [ru] Chargé d'affaires 1882 1882
Arthur von Mohrenheim Ambassador 13 July 1882 8 February 1884
Yegor Staal Ambassador 27 March 1884 30 August 1902
Alexander von Benckendorff Ambassador 1902 11 January 1917
Konstantin Nabokov Chargé d'affaires 1917 1917
Sergey Sazonov Ambassador January 1917 3 March 1917
Yevgeny Sablin [ru] Chargé d'affaires 1919 1924 Unaccredited by the post-Imperial Russian government

Representatives of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1918–1923)

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Name Title Appointment Termination Notes
Maxim Litvinov Authorised representative
Plenipotentiary (after June 1918)
January 1918 September 1918 Not accredited
Leonid Krasin Plenipotentiary 1920 July 1923 Not accredited

Representatives of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1923–1991)

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Name Title Appointment Termination Notes
Christian Rakovsky Plenipotentiary July 1923 30 October 1925 Accredited from 1 February 1924
Leonid Krasin Plenipotentiary 30 October 1925 24 November 1926
Arkady Rosengolts Plenipotentiary 1926 26 May 1927
Grigori Sokolnikov Plenipotentiary November 1929 14 September 1932
Ivan Maisky Plenipotentiary (before 9 May 1941)
Ambassador (after 9 May 1941)
8 November 1932 12 August 1943
Fedor Gusev Ambassador 12 August 1943 22 August 1946
Georgy Zarubin Ambassador 28 September 1946 13 June 1952
Andrei Gromyko Ambassador 13 June 1952 May 1953
Yakov Malik Ambassador May 1953 11 January 1960
Aleksandr Soldatov [ru] Ambassador 11 January 1960 25 January 1966
Mikhail Smirnovsky Ambassador 25 January 1966 27 April 1973
Nikolai Lunkov [ru] Ambassador 27 April 1973 5 November 1980
Viktor Popov [ru] Ambassador 20 November 1980 10 April 1986
Leonid Zamyatin Ambassador 10 April 1986 18 November 1991
Boris Pankin Ambassador 19 November 1991 25 December 1991

Representatives of the Russian Federation to the United Kingdom (1991–present)

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Name Title Appointment Termination Notes
Boris Pankin Ambassador 25 December 1991 16 September 1993
Anatoly Adamishin Ambassador 5 September 1994 6 June 1997
Yury Fokin [ru] Ambassador 6 June 1997 20 January 2000
Grigory Karasin Ambassador 6 March 2000 9 June 2005
Yuri Fedotov Ambassador 9 June 2005 27 August 2010
Alexander Yakovenko Ambassador 24 January 2011 26 August 2019
Andrey Kelin Ambassador 5 November 2019

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Edinburgh, the United Kingdom". Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Russia). Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  2. ^ "Andrei Kelin appointed as Russia's Ambassador to the UK". Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 5 November 2019. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
  3. ^ Bilainkin, George (1944). Maisky, Ten Years Ambassador. G. Allen & Unwin Limited. pp. 73–74.
  4. ^ Davison, Janet (21 May 2014). "Prince Charles and Vladimir Putin: Can royals wade into politics?". CBC News. King George V, who reigned from 1910 to 1936, was close to his lookalike cousin, Czar Nicholas II, but refused to meet a number of Soviet ambassadors following the revolution there. "He claimed to be unwell and [did] not receive the Soviet ambassador because he blamed the Bolshevik regime for the murder of his cousin, Czar Nicholas II and his family in 1918," says Harris.