Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the USSR. First Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR

The foreign policy of the USSR was headed by a separate department. The official history of the special department for foreign policy began on July 6, 1923. During its existence before the collapse of the USSR, the authority was renamed several times, which did not change the essence of its tasks.

First Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR

Headed Commissar Chicherin George, who was born in 1872 in Tambov province. He received a specialized diplomatic education. Since 1898, Chicherin worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire. The profile activity of the future Soviet diplomat is the creation of a collection on the history of the ministry. Gradually becomes a supporter of socialist views. Since 1904, before the revolution, he lived abroad. He was a member of the socialist parties of Western European states. After the revolution, the USSR Minister of Foreign Affairs returns from exile, enters the active political life of the state already during the Civil War. Officially he heads the Foreign Ministry from July 6, 1923 until July 21, 1930.

At the same time Chicherin actually carried out diplomatic work even before the official status was assigned. To overestimate Chicherin's merit in settling many issues of relations between the Union and Western countries at the Genoa and Lausann conferences (1922 and 1923), and during the signing of the Rappal Peace Treaty is very difficult.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR from 1930 to the formation of the UN

Maksim Maksimovich Litvinov headed the foreign affairs department at the most difficult political time (1930-1939), because it was during this period in the USSR that there were massive political repressions. As minister, he performed several important missions:

• Renewal of diplomatic relations with the United States.
• The USSR was admitted to the League of Nations (a prototype of the UN, the organization existed from 1918 to 1940 in fact, and legally until the creation of the UN). He was a permanent representative of the state in the League of Nations.

The first diplomat, who officially held the post (after all renaming), "Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR", is Vyacheslav Molotov, who headed the department from May 3, 1939 to March 4, 1949. In history, he remained as one of the authors of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. This document actually divided Europe into zones of influence of the USSR and Germany. After signing the pact of obstacles to start World War II, Hitler no longer existed.

From March 1949 to 1953, the ministry was headed by Andrei Vyshinsky. Historians still have to evaluate its role in Soviet foreign policy. After the war ended, he took an active part in the Potsdam Conference, in the creation of the UN. Actively defended the political interests of the USSR in the foreign arena. Also do not forget that it was in those years that there was a war in Korea that split this country into two states: communist and capitalist. Undoubtedly, this minister has a big role in fomenting a "cold" war between the Union and the United States.

Vyacheslav Molotov is the only foreign minister of the USSR who returned to the post after Stalin's death. True, he did not work for a long time as a minister until the famous 20th congress of the CPSU.

Andrei Gromyko

The ministers of the USSR often worked in the government for a long time. But none of them could hold out as much as Andrey Gromyko (from 1957 to 1985), a professional diplomat, to whose word many Western leaders listened. About this, politics can be said a lot, because if it were not for his consistent weighted position on many issues of relations with the US, the "cold war" could easily grow into this. The most important achievement of the Minister is the conclusion of the SALT-1 contract.

The last Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR

Eduard Shevardnadze also had the honor of heading the Foreign Ministry of the USSR. In fact, he was the chief diplomat of the country before the collapse of the Union, although he left this post for a short time in 1991. As is known, since 1985 the state of perestroika began in the state.

Foreign policy priorities have also changed. For example, the important task was the unification of Germany. The solution of this question directly depended on the policy of the USSR. The leaders of the country saw the need for change, so the course of foreign policy could not remain the same. Eduard Shevardnadze was an outstanding diplomat.