35 Facts About Andrei Kozyrev

Andrei Vladimirovich Kozyrev is a Russian politician who was the Minister of Foreign Affairs under President Boris Yeltsin, during the Russian SFSR from 1990 and during the Russian Federation from 1992, in office until 1996.

Towards the end of his tenure Andrei Kozyrev took a more conservative position, arguing to Western diplomats that hardline nationalists were the alternative to the Yeltsin administration, and that NATO expansion risked encouraging nationalist politics within Russia.

Andrei Kozyrev had graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations with a PhD in history before joining the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1974, holding various positions in it before being appointed foreign minister.

Andrei Kozyrev was born in Brussels in 1951, the son of a Soviet engineer temporarily working there.

Andrei Kozyrev was educated at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, a school for diplomats operated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Andrei Kozyrev entered the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a speech writer and researcher in the Department of International Organizations, which was responsible for issues concerning the United Nations and arms control, including biological and chemical warfare issues.

Andrei Kozyrev became an attache in the Department of International Organizations in 1979 and third secretary the next year.

The next year Andrei Kozyrev became chief of the administration, replacing a man 20 years his senior.

Andrei Kozyrev became Russian foreign minister at the age of 39 and gained and kept the confidence of Boris Yeltsin as Russia became an independent state and, in many ways, the successor to the Soviet Union.

Andrei Kozyrev tried to make Russia a partner with the West in the formation of the post-Cold War world.

Andrei Kozyrev emphasized cooperation over conflict with the United States while insisting that Russia be treated as a great power in international politics rather than as a fallen superpower.

Andrei Kozyrev favored major arms control agreements with the United States and the nonproliferation of nuclear arms.

Andrei Kozyrev was viewed by many as one of the most important voices for liberalism and democracy in post-communist Russia.

Andrei Kozyrev was one of the drafters of the Belovezh Accords.

On 15 December 1992, Andrei Kozyrev underlined his opposition to conservative, nationalistic forces in Russia with a dramatic and unprecedented diplomatic maneuver.

Andrei Kozyrev stunned the foreign ministers of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Russian delegation alike with a speech that echoed many of the positions of the nationalist opposition in Russia, and seemed to threaten a return to anti-Western policies.

Andrei Kozyrev tried to promote the idea of dual nationality in the former Soviet empire but was unsuccessful.

Andrei Kozyrev wrote that the continued insistence on seeing Russia as a security threat in Europe implies to Russians that it does not matter what ideology or views their government has.

The Budapest Memorandum, which was co-written by Andrei Kozyrev, provided security assurances to the three minor ex-Soviet countries in exchange for their accession to the Nuclear non-proliferation treaty and security guarantees from Russia, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

Andrei Kozyrev took a seat as a representative from Murmansk when the State Duma met in January 1994, having won 60 percent of the vote in a field of 10.

Andrei Kozyrev had been blamed for the international controversy over the conflict in Chechnya.

Andrei Kozyrev had been targeted as a scapegoat for failing to stop North Atlantic Treaty Organization bombing of the Bosnian Serbs and of NATO plans to expand into Eastern Europe.

Andrei Kozyrev was criticized by the Russian State Duma for capitulating to the West, which led to Russia's loss of "superpower" status, as well as for the alleged failure to support the Bosnian Serbs during the Bosnian War.

Andrei Kozyrev was succeeded as head of the MFA by Yevgeny Primakov.

Andrei Kozyrev was a member of the Duma until the year 2000 elections.

Andrei Kozyrev feels that some of the problems in Chechnya stem from the particular brand of Wahhabi Islam supplied through international propagation of Salafism and Wahhabism by Saudi Arabia.

Andrei Kozyrev was a distinguished fellow at the Wilson Center's Kennan Institute in 2016.

Andrei Kozyrev has been an outspoken critic of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, and of Russian President Vladimir Putin's attitude towards the west, stating,.

In March 2022, Andrei Kozyrev said he anticipated that Kremlin officials may oust Putin following failures in the invasion.

Andrei Kozyrev stressed that Putin will not stop his westward conquest with Ukraine if he is not stopped there, and lamented the fact that the Ukrainians had been improperly armed until after the invasion began.

Andrei Kozyrev, who wrote the Budapest Memorandum, calls the invasion "a flagrant violation" of its terms and finds the conduct of Putin in this regard shameful.

Andrei Kozyrev observes that Putin was fearful of COVID-19 and hence he surmises that Putin is so attached to this life that he will not risk nuclear war; he finds Putin to be the anti-Russian epitome.

Andrei Kozyrev opined that Putin thought the West weak and decadent.

Andrei Kozyrev wrote in May 2022 an essay for the Journal of Democracy entitled "Why Putin Must Be Defeated" that he and Andrey Vladimirovich Kolesnikov remark the parallels between the post-1933 Gleichschaltung that Nazified German society and the several laws passed by the Russians and executive orders signed by Putin "basically [to] criminaliz[e] all forms of dissent" and to dismiss the remnants of independent Russian media.

Andrei Kozyrev chased that goal like that firebird of the Russian fairy tale, after which the book is titled, though unlike the hero of the Russian fairy tale, he never managed to catch it.