When
the USSR crashed, so did its foreign ministry and its well-trained
employees, who leached away into international commercial employment.
Now they have regained some state support and a clear objective.
by Yann Breault
The
27-storey Russian foreign ministry on Moscow’s Smolensk Square was
built after the Great Patriotic War (1941-45), its Stalinist bulk a
reminder of Russia’s superpower past. It was put up between 1948 and
1953, when the Communist cause was gaining ground and the USSR’s
diplomatic activities extended around the globe.
There
was no more prestigious career in the Soviet Union then than the
diplomatic service. New recruits were picked among academic high-flyers
who had been active in the Communist youth movement. They were trained
at the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (founded
in 1934) or the Moscow State Institute of International Relations
(founded in 1944). Their knowledge of foreign languages was excellent;
that was rare in other Soviet ministries.
Το Λιοντάρι της Τρεμπεσίνας αναπαύεται στο Κοιμητήριο Ζωγράφου από την
26 Αυγούστου 2009. Ένας έφηβος 95 ετών, ένας ψυχωμένος Έλληνας, ο
Βετεράνος του Βου Παγκοσμίου Πολέμου. Ο Ησίοδος Τσίγκος, ο έφεδρος ανθυπολοχαγός, διμοιρίτης και διοικητής του 11ου λόχου του 14ου Συντάγματος πεζικού Χανίων της 5ης Μεραρχίας Κρητών.
