Alexander Kadakin

Alexander Mikhailovich Kadakin (Russian: Александр Михайлович Кадакин; 22 July 1949 – 26 January 2017) was a Russian diplomat and the Russian Ambassador to India from 2009 until his death in 2017. Kadakin had earlier served as the ambassador to India between 1999 and 2004. He was a noted Indophile.[1][2] Kadakin died from heart failure while in service in New Delhi in 2017. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2018.[3]

Alexander Kadakin
Kadakin (right) meeting Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh in New Delhi; March 2010.
Russian Ambassador to India
In office
27 October 2009 – 26 January 2017
President
Preceded byVyacheslav Trubnikov
Succeeded byNikolay Kudashev
In office
1999–2004
Russian Ambassador to Sweden
In office
2004–2009
Russian Ambassador to Nepal
In office
1993–1997
Personal details
Born(1949-07-22)22 July 1949
Chișinău, Moldavian SSR, Soviet Union
Died26 January 2017(2017-01-26) (aged 67)
New Delhi, India
Alma materMoscow State Institute of International Relations

Career

Kadakin was born in Chișinău, USSR to ethnic Russian parents in 1949. He graduated with honours from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in 1972. He began his diplomatic career as a probationer at the Soviet Embassy in India in August 1971. He then joined the embassy as the third secretary before going on to work at different capacities for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[4][5]

Kadakin served as the translator during Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev's official visits to India in the 1970s.[6]

Between 1989 and 1992, he served as the Minister Counselor of the USSR/Russia to India. He was the Russian ambassador to Nepal from 1992 to 1997. His first term as Russian ambassador to India was between 1999 and 2004. He then became the Russian ambassador to Sweden in 2004, and remained in that position till he took over as the ambassador to India for a second term in 2009. He was a member of the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. He was a recipient of the Order of Friendship in 2016 and the Order of Honour in 2009.[7][8]

Personal life

Apart from Russian, Kadakin was also fluent in Hindi, English, Urdu, Romanian and French. He was also fond of Bollywood films, and was known to hum classic Bollywood songs of the 1950s.[6]

Death

Kadakin died from heart failure at a hospital in New Delhi on 26 January 2017, India's 68th Republic Day. He was to have attended, as a top diplomat serving in New Delhi, the annual Republic Day parade in New Delhi later that morning. With a total tenure, in two stints, of over 12 years, he was the longest-serving Russian Ambassador to India and to any nation in the Indian subcontinent. Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup offered condolences saying, "In Kadakin, we lost a valued friend who nurtured India-Russia relationship for many decades as a distinguished Russian diplomat."[9] Prime Minister Narendra Modi also offered his condolences and described Kadakin as a "glorious son of Russia and a great friend of India".[10]

Awards and honours

In a press conference following the 18th India-Russia Annual Summit in Saint Petersburg on 1 June 2017, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi announced that a road in New Delhi would be named in honour of Kadakin. The following day, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) passed a resolution officially declaring that the Officers' Mess Road in Chanakyapuri would now be called Alexander M Kadakin Marg.[11][12] An NDMC official stated that while Kadakin was born in Russia, his "Karma-Bhoomi'' was India.[10]

In January 2018, the Indian third-highest civilian award Padma Bhushan was posthumously conferred upon Kadakin by the President of India.[13]

References
  1. "Russia's ambassador to India: the quotable Alexander Kadakin". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2016-02-14. Retrieved 2016-11-20.
  2. "Another tryst: imagining India & Russia". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 2016-12-21. Retrieved 2016-11-20.
  3. "Padma Bhushan to Alexander Kadakin: Befitting for original Indophile". Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury. The Economic Times. 26 January 2018. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
  4. "FULL RUSSIAN AND 'HALF-INDIAN'". The Pioneer. Archived from the original on 2016-12-21. Retrieved 2016-11-20.
  5. "'Russia is India's only nuclear power partner'". Deccan Herald. 19 February 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-02-21. Retrieved 2016-11-20.
  6. Chaudhury, Dipanjan Roy (2017). "Alexander M Kadakin: An Indophile who mastered Hindi and loved Bollywood". The Economic Times. Archived from the original on 5 February 2017. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  7. "Alexander M. KADAKIN". Russian Embassy in Delhi. Archived from the original on 2016-10-24. Retrieved 2016-11-20.
  8. "Russia's Ambassador to India honoured for work to raise bilateral ties". Russia Beyond the Headlines. Retrieved 2016-11-20.
  9. "Russian Envoy to India Alexander Kadakin Dies at 68". 26 January 2017. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017.
  10. "Chanakyapuri road named after late Russian envoy Kadakin". Press Trust of India. New Delhi. 2 June 2017. Archived from the original on 2 June 2017. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  11. "NDMC renames Officers Mess Road after former Russian ambassador Alexander Kadakin". Hindustan Times. 2 June 2017. Archived from the original on 3 June 2017. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  12. "Delhi street named after Russia's late envoy Alexander Kadakin: PM Modi". The Indian Express. 1 June 2017. Archived from the original on 1 June 2017. Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  13. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-01-26. Retrieved 2018-01-25.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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