The ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the French Republic is the official representative of the president and the government of the Russian Federation to the president and the government of France.
The ambassador and his staff work at large in the Embassy of Russia in France. There are consulates general in Strasbourg and Marsailles, an honorary consul in Lyon, and a vice-consulate in Biarritz. The post of Russian ambassador to France is currently held by , incumbent since 23 October 2017. The Russian ambassador to France is concurrently accredited as ambassador to Monaco, where there is an honorary consul general.
History of diplomatic relations
Russian-French contacts began on 9 August 1717, when Hans Christoph Shleynits, the first Russian ambassador to France, was appointed by Tsar Peter I of Russia and presented his credentials to King Louis XV of France. France responded by sending its first ambassador to Russia, Jacques de Campredon, in September 1721. Since then, relations were fairly constant between the two countries, although they were severed and restored many times. Overall, relations between France and Russia have been very close, and French was even considered the unofficial second language of Russia in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Relations between the two countries were severed in 1733 with the start of the War of the Polish Succession and resumed in 1738. Poor relations between the revolutionary government of France and the Russian Monarchy led to relations being severed in 1792. The Napoleonic Wars marked the start of new conflicts between Russia and France, and relations were not restored until the conclusion of the War of the Second Coalition between Russia and France in 1800. The War of the Third Coalition in 1805 led to the disruption of diplomatic relations once again, which were not restored until the signing of the Treaty of Paris on November 20, 1815. Russia and France conflicted over different views on the Revolutions of 1848 and the French support of revolutions in multinational countries. This led to the Crimean War on March 27, 1854, which ended with a Russian defeat on March 30, 1856. Relations between the two countries improved after that, and remained uninterrupted until the October Revolution of 1917.
Diplomatic relations between Russia and France Russian Empire August 5, 1717 – Establishment of diplomatic relations1733 – Diplomatic relations broken off, War of the Polish Succession begins1738 – Restoration of diplomatic relations, War of the Polish Succession ends1748 – Diplomatic relations broken off, Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ends War of the Austrian Succession1755 – Restoration of diplomatic relations1756 - Diplomatic Revolution, alliance for Seven Years' War1799–1800 – War of the Second Coalition1800 – Restoration of diplomatic relationsAugust 28, 1804 – Diplomatic relations broken off, War of the Third CoalitionJune 26, 1807 – Restoration of diplomatic relations, Treaty of Tilsit1812 – Diplomatic relations severed, French invasion of RussiaMay 18, 1814 – Restoration of diplomatic relations, Treaty of Paris (1815)January 23, 1854 – Diplomatic relations severed, Crimean WarMarch 18, 1856 – Restoration of diplomatic relations, Treaty of Paris (1856)August 21, 1891 – Franco-Russian Alliance1904 – Triple Entente formedSoviet Union October 26, 1917 – October Revolution, diplomatic relations severedOctober 28, 1924 – Diplomatic relations establishedMay 2, 1935 – Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual AssistanceJune 30, 1941 – Diplomatic relations severed, Operation BarbarossaOctober 23, 1944 – Restoration of diplomatic relationsRussian Federation February 7, 1992 – France recognizes the Russian Federation as successor to the USSR
French Prime Minister Édouard Herriot sent a telegram to Alexey Rykov, the President of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, on October 26, 1924, informing him of the French recognition of the establishment of the Soviet Union. When Germany declared war on the Soviet Union on June 30, 1941, the Vichy France government broke off diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, but never officially entered a state of war. Relations were reestablished on October 23, 1944, with the Soviet recognition of the new Provisional Government of the French Republic. Since then, relations between the new nations remained unbroken, although they were strained at times during the Cold War.
After the breakup of the Soviet Union, relations between France and the new Russian Federation were warm, and France recognized Russia as the successor of the USSR on February 7, 1992.
List of representatives (1711–present) Tsardom of Russia to the Kingdom of France (1711–1721) NameImageTitleAppointmentTerminationNotesGrigory VolkovChargé d'affaires1 July 1711October 1712Ivan LefortChargé d'affaires17161717Hans Christoph ShleynitsEnvoy9 August 17171720Vasily DolgorukovEnvoy25 September 17202 November 1721 Source: Diplomats of the Russian Empire- France
Russian Empire to the Kingdom of France (1721–1792) NameImageTitleAppointmentTerminationNotesVasily DolgorukovEnvoy2 November 172116 March 1722Alexander KurakinAmbassador4 May 17221724Boris KurakinAmbassador4 May 172217 October 1727Alexander KurakinAmbassador17 October 172711 July 1728Chief of mission (before 1729)Envoy (after 1729)17281731Chargé d'affairesJuly 17311733Antiokh KantemirEnvoy (before 11 December 1738)Ambassador (11 December 1738 - 24 September 1742)Envoy (after 24 September 1742)18 April 173831 March 1744Chargé d'affaires (before 1745)Envoy (after 1745)31 March 1744June 1748Chargé d'affaires175611 July 1757Mikhail Bestuzhev-RyuminAmbassador10 August 175626 February 1760Piotr ChernyshevAmbassador4 July 176026 July 1762Sergei SaltykovAmbassador1762August 1763Dmitri GolitsynAmbassador17621768Nikolai KhotinskyChargé d'affaires17671774AmbassadorAugust 17731785Ivan SimolinAmbassador14 March 17847 February 1792Recalled in 1792Formally ambassador until his death on 19 September 1799 Source: Diplomats of the Russian Empire- France
Russian Empire to the First French Empire (1800–1812) NameImageTitleAppointmentTerminationNotesGeorg Magnus SprengtportenSpecial Envoy18001800Ambassador18001 July 1801Arkady MorkovAmbassador1 July 180126 October 1803Chargé d'affaires15 November 180328 August 1804Special Envoy2 May 18069 July 1806Pyotr TolstoyAmbassador31 August 180719 October 1808Nikolay RumyantsevSpecial Envoy4 October 18082 February 1809Chargé d'affairesOctober 1808November 1808Alexander KurakinAmbassador19 October 180810 November 1812 Source: Diplomats of the Russian Empire- France
Russian Empire to the Kingdom of France (1814–1852) NameImageTitleAppointmentTerminationNotesCarlo Andrea Pozzo di BorgoEnvoy (before 17 February 1821Ambassador (after 17 February 1821)1 April 18145 January 1835Pavel MedemChargé d'affaires31 January 18351835Pyotr PalenAmbassador11 March 18358 April 1851Chargé d'affaires (before 8 April 1851)Special Envoy (8 April 1851 - 6 January 1853)18512 December 1852
Russian Empire to the Second French Empire (1852–1870) NameImageTitleAppointmentTerminationNotesSpecial Envoy (8 April 1851 - 6 January 1853)Envoy (after 6 January 1853)2 December 185213 January 1854Philipp von BrunnowSpecial Envoy6 May 185629 January 1857Pavel KiselyovAmbassador11 July 185615 September 1862Andrey BudbergAmbassador3 November 186210 April 1868Ernest StackelbergAmbassador25 April 186830 April 1870Chargé d'affaires 18701870Philipp von BrunnowAmbassador (nominal)21 May 187028 November 1870 Source: Diplomats of the Russian Empire- France
Russian Empire to the French Third Republic (1871–1917) NameImageTitleAppointmentTerminationNotesNikolay OrlovAmbassador11 December 18718 February 1884Arthur von MohrenheimAmbassador8 February 188418 November 1897Ambassador19 November 18971904Aleksandr NelidovAmbassador19045 September 1910Alexander IzvolskyAmbassador19103 March 1917 Source: Diplomats of the Russian Empire- France
Russian Provisional Government to the French Third Republic (1917) NameImageTitleAppointmentTerminationNotesAlexander IzvolskyAmbassadorMarch 19171917Matvey SevastopuloChargé d'affaires 19171917Vasily MaklakovAmbassador191726 October 1917 (unaccredited after the October Revolution)
Soviet Union to the Republic of France (1924–1991) NameImageTitleAppointmentTerminationNotesLeonid KrasinPlenipotentiary 14 November 192430 October 1925Christian RakovskyPlenipotentiary 30 October 192521 October 1927Valerian DovgalevskyPlenipotentiary 21 October 192714 July 1934Marcel RosenbergChargé d'affaires 1931September 1934Vladimir PotemkinPlenipotentiary 25 November 19344 April 1937Yakov SuritsPlenipotentiary 4 April 193729 March 1940Plenipotentiary (before 9 May 1941)Ambassador (after 9 May 1941)29 March 1940 30 June 1941Representative to the French Committee of National Liberation until 23 October 1944Ambassador after 23 October 194421 September 194325 March 1950Ambassador25 April 19507 July 1953Ambassador7 July 195324 March 1965Valerian ZorinAmbassador24 March 195618 September 1971Peter AbrassimovAmbassador18 September 19719 April 1973Stepan ChervonenkoAmbassador3 May 197320 January 1983Yuli VorontsovAmbassador20 January 198319 June 1986Yakov RyabovAmbassador19 June 198623 May 1990Yuri DubininAmbassador23 May 199025 December 1991 Source: Reference History of the Communist Party and the Soviet Union
Russian Federation to France (1991–present) NameImageTitleAppointmentTerminationNotesYuri RyzhovAmbassador4 January 199218 December 1998Nikolay AfanasevskyAmbassador4 January 199220 February 2002Aleksandr AvdeyevAmbassador21 February 200216 March 2007Ambassador14 October 200823 October 2017Ambassador23 October 2017 Source:
References