List of ambassadors of Russia to Finland

The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Finland is the official representative of the President and the Government of the Russian Federation to the President and the Government of Finland.

Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Finland
Emblem of the Russian Foreign Ministry
Incumbent
Pavel Kuznetsov
since 14 August 2017
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Embassy of Russia in Helsinki
StyleHis Excellency
The Honourable
Reports toMinister of Foreign Affairs
SeatHelsinki
AppointerPresident of Russia
Term lengthAt the pleasure of the President
WebsiteEmbassy of Russia in Helsinki

The ambassador and his staff work at large in the Embassy of Russia in Helsinki.[1] There is a consulate general in Turku, and consuls in Mariehamn and Kuusamo.[2][3][4] Pavel Kuznetsov was appointed Russian Ambassador to Finland on 14 August 2017.[5]

History of diplomatic relations
Main article: Finland–Russia relations

The territory now making up present-day Finland was contested between Russians and Swedes for much of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, until the Finnish War of 1808-1809 established the Grand Duchy of Finland as an autonomous part of the Russian Empire. Finland had her own parliament, the Diet, minted her own currency, and shared a customs border with Russia. The Finnish language was given official status alongside Russian and Swedish.[6]

Finland declared independence on 6 December 1917, after the Russian Revolution that year, a decision which was ratified by the Russian government on 31 December 1917.[6] The declaration soon sparked a civil war between White and Red factions. The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) appointed representatives to the Red faction during the war, until their defeat. Relations were then established between the Finnish government and the RSFSR at the level of missions on 31 December 1920.[6][7] With the formal establishment of the Soviet Union, diplomatic relations were maintained between the USSR and Finland from 23 July 1923 onwards.[7]

Diplomatic relations between the two states were broken off several times during the twentieth century. The first came on 29 November 1939 with the outbreak of the Winter War between the USSR and Finland.[6][7] With the negotiated conclusion to the war, diplomatic relations resumed on 12 March 1940.[8] Relations were once more interrupted on 22 June 1941, with the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union and Finland's participation on the Eastern Front against Soviet forces as part of the Continuation War.[6][7] With the defeat of the Axis powers in the Second World War, diplomatic relations were once more reestablished on 6 August 1945, and on 18 July 1954 the mission was upgraded to the level of an embassy.[6][9] Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Finland recognized the Russia Federation as its successor state on 30 December 1991, and ambassadors have continued to be exchanged between the two countries.[6]

List of representatives (1917 – present)

Representatives of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic to Finland (1917 – 1923)
Name Title Appointment Termination Notes
Ivar Smilga Representative 16 February 1918 1918 To the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic only
Konstantin Kovanko Representative 9 April 1918 23 May 1918 Not recognised by the Finnish government
Jan Berzin Plenipotentiary 16 February 1921 24 June 1921
Aleksey Chernykh Plenipotentiary 31 July 1921 23 July 1923

Representatives of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to Finland (1923 – 1991)
Name Title Appointment Termination Notes
Aleksey Chernykh Plenipotentiary 23 July 1923 9 July 1925
Ivan Lorents Plenipotentiary 9 July 1925 6 July 1927
Sergey Aleksandrovsky Plenipotentiary 6 July 1927 16 May 1929
Ivan Maisky Plenipotentiary 16 May 1929 27 September 1932
Boris Shtein Plenipotentiary 6 January 1933 25 November 1934
Eric Assmus Plenipotentiary 23 January 1935 20 August 1937
Vladimir Derevyansky Plenipotentiary 27 January 1938 29 November 1939
Winter War - Diplomatic relations interrupted (1939 - 1940)
Ivan Zotov Plenipotentiary 6 April 1940 6 April 1941
Pavel Orlov Plenipotentiary
Envoy after 9 May 1941		 11 April 1941 22 June 1941
Continuation War - Diplomatic relations interrupted (1941 - 1945)
Pavel Orlov Envoy 18 August 1945 14 August 1946
Aleksandr Abramov Envoy 14 August 1946 13 January 1948
Grigory Savonenkov Envoy 13 January 1948 8 April 1951
Viktor Lebedev Envoy
Ambassador after 5 August 1954		 8 April 1951 10 October 1958
Night Frost Crisis - Diplomatic relations interrupted (1958 - 1959)
Aleksey Zakharov Ambassador 4 February 1959 23 January 1965
Andrey Kovalyov Ambassador 23 January 1965 25 June 1970
Aleksey Belyakov Ambassador 25 June 1970 16 May 1971
Viktor Maltsev Ambassador 16 May 1971 27 December 1973
Vladimir Stepanov Ambassador 27 December 1973 11 June 1979
Vladimir Sobolev Ambassador 11 June 1979 17 June 1988
Boris Aristov Ambassador 17 June 1988 25 December 1991

Representatives of the Russian Federation to Finland (1991 – present)
Name Title Appointment Termination Notes
Boris Aristov Ambassador 25 December 1991 10 February 1992
Yuri Deryabin Ambassador 10 February 1992 2 November 1996
Ivan Aboimov Ambassador 2 November 1996 6 August 1999
Aleksandr Patsev Ambassador 25 August 1999 21 April 2003
Vladimir Grinin Ambassador 21 April 2003 21 April 2006
Alexander Rumyantsev Ambassador 21 April 2006 14 August 2017
Pavel Kuznetsov Ambassador 14 August 2017

References
  1. "Посольство Российской Федерации в Финляндии" (in Russian). Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Russia). Retrieved 19 October 2019.
  2. "Russian Consulate General in Turku, Finland". embassypages.com. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
  3. "Russian Consulate in Mariehamn, Finland". embassypages.com. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
  4. "Russian Honorary Consulate in Kuusamo, Finland". embassypages.com. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
  5. "Посол" (in Russian). Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Russia). Retrieved 12 May 2023.
  6. "История двусторонних отношений" (in Russian). Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Russia). Retrieved 19 October 2019.
  7. "00617" Полномочное представительство РСФСР - СССР в Финляндии (in Russian). Retrieved 19 October 2019.
  8. Полномочное представительство - Миссия СССР в Финляндии (in Russian). Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
  9. Миссия - Посольство СССР в Финляндии (in Russian). Archived from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
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