The ambassador of Russia to Switzerland is the official representative of the president and the government of the Russian Federation to the president and the government of Switzerland.
The ambassador and his staff work at large in the Russian Embassy in Bern. There is a consulate-general in Geneva. The current Russian ambassador to Switzerland is , incumbent since 9 December 2016. Since 1995, the ambassador to Switzerland has had dual accreditation as the non-resident ambassador to Liechenstein.
History of diplomatic relations
Diplomatic relations between Russia and Switzerland, and their antecedents, date back to the late seventeenth century, with the first official establishment of relations taking place on 4 February 1687 between the Tsardom of Russia and the Republic of Geneva. It was not until 19 August 1799 that the exchange of envoys were agreed, between what was by then the Russian Empire and the Helvetic Republic, a sister republic of the First French Republic. Gustav Ernst von Stackelberg was the first envoy, though he was withdrawn in 1802 and not replaced, after which time Russia was alternately allied with or at war with the First French Empire under Napoleon I. The Helvetic Republic was dissolved in the 1803 Act of Mediation, and thereafter Switzerland was closely tied with France. Following the defeat of France in the War of the Sixth Coalition, Russian minister Ioannis Kapodistrias acted as representative to Switzerland, and helped in the drafting of the Federal Treaty and in defining the position of Switzerland amongst the great powers at the Congress of Vienna. Under the terms decided at the congress, Russia became one of the guarantors of Swiss neutrality, affirmed in the 1815 Treaty of Paris.
Diplomatic envoys continued to be exchanged during this time, lasting throughout much of the First World War and after the February Revolution in 1917, when the Russian Provisional Government replaced the Imperial regime. While not immediately recognising the Bolshevik government following the October Revolution, Swiss authorities gave permission in May 1918 for a mission headed by Jan Antonovich Berzin as a diplomatic representative to maintain relations. Berzin and his mission were expelled from Switzerland in November 1918, on charges of conducting revolutionary propaganda. The final rupture occurred with the assassination of the Soviet diplomat Vatslav Vorovsky, the official representative to the Lausanne Conference, in 1923. When the assassin, Maurice Conradi, was acquitted by a Swiss jury in a controversial decision, the Soviet Union broke off diplomatic relations. Relations were not restored until shortly after the Second World War, on 18 March 1946. was appointed as the first envoy in over twenty years. The Soviet mission to Switzerland was upgraded to an embassy on 31 December 1955, with the Swiss mission to the Soviet Union also upgraded to an embassy on 27 March 1957. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Switzerland was one of the first countries to recognise Russia as its successor state, and the incumbent Soviet ambassador, , continued to represent Russia until 1992. Since then ambassadors have continued to be exchanged between the two countries.
Diplomatic relations were established with the Principality of Liechtenstein in 1994, and the incumbent ambassador to Switzerland, Andrei Stepanov was given dual accreditation as the non-resident ambassador on 28 February 1995. The practice of the Russian ambassador to Switzerland being concurrently ambassador to Liechtenstein has continued since then.
Representatives of Russia to Switzerland (1799–present) Russian Empire to the Helvetic Republic (1799–1802) NameTitleAppointmentTerminationNotesGustav Ernst von StackelbergEnvoy12 August 17991 January 1802
Russian Empire to Switzerland (1814–1917) NameTitleAppointmentTerminationNotesIoannis KapodistriasEnvoy25 January 181430 August 1815Credentials presented on 22 February 1814 Paul von KrüdenerChargé d'affaires22 March 181515 July 1826Chargé d'affaires before 7 April 1836Envoy after 7 April 183622 August 182616 March 1837Paul von KrüdenerEnvoy16 March 183729 January 1858Camille LabenskyEnvoy22 July 185810 August 1858Without accreditationEnvoy5 August 18587 November 1860Envoy25 October 18611 January 1869Nikolay GirsEnvoy6 January 18694 March 1872 Mikhail GorchakovEnvoy4 March 1872 10 May 1878Envoy10 May 187825 September 1879Envoy25 September 18797 October 1896 Envoy16 January 189721 May 1900Aleksandr VestmanEnvoy24 May 19001902Envoy19021906Envoy19061916EnvoyOctober 19163 March 1917
Russian Provisional Government to Switzerland (1917) NameTitleAppointmentTerminationNotesChargé d'affaires19171917
Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic to Switzerland (1918) NameTitleAppointmentTerminationNotesYan BerzinDiplomatic representative5 April 1918November 1918
Soviet Union to Switzerland (1946–1991) NameTitleAppointmentTerminationNotesEnvoy30 April 194620 December 1950Credentials presented on 16 September 1946Envoy20 December 195030 March 1955Credentials presented on 27 February 1951Envoy before 21 January 1956Ambassador after 21 January 195630 March 19557 September 1957Credentials presented as envoy on 2 June 1955Credentials presented as ambassador on 2 March 1956 Dmitri PozhidaevAmbassador7 September 195711 October 1958Credentials presented on 11 October 1957Ambassador1 January 195910 June 1960Credentials presented on 20 March 1959Joseph KuzminAmbassador10 June 196019 February 1963Credentials presented on 8 July 1960 Ambassador19 February 196322 December 1965Credentials presented on 5 April 1963Ambassador22 December 196524 September 1968Credentials presented on 7 February 1966 Ambassador24 September 196829 March 1973Credentials presented on 29 October 1968 Ambassador29 March 197315 October 1977Credentials presented on 24 May 1973Vladimir LavrovAmbassador15 October 197722 November 1983Credentials presented on 27 October 1977Ambassador8 January 19847 July 1987 Credentials presented on 27 February 1984Ambassador7 July 1987 25 December 1991
Russian Federation to Switzerland (1991–present) NameTitleAppointmentTerminationNotesAmbassador25 December 19912 March 1992 Andrei StepanovAmbassador21 September 199221 October 1999Ambassador1 February 200112 September 2007Ambassador12 September 200721 February 2012Alexander GolovinAmbassador21 February 20129 December 2016Credentials presented on 27 March 2012Ambassador9 December 2016Credentials presented on 12 January 2017
References