Anatoly Dobrynin

Anatoly Fyodorovich Dobrynin (, 16 November 1919 – 6 April 2010) was a Soviet statesman, diplomat, and politician. He was the Soviet ambassador to the United States for more than two decades, from 1962 to 1986.

He attracted notoriety among the American public during and after the Cuban Missile Crisis at the beginning of his ambassadorship, when he denied the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba. However, he did not know until days later that Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev had already sent the missiles and that the Americans already had photographs of them. Between 1968 and 1974, he was known as the Soviet end of the Kissinger–Dobrynin direct communication and negotiation link between the Nixon administration and the Soviet Politburo.

Early life and education Dobrynin was born in the village of Krasnaya Gorka, near Mozhaisk in the Moscow Oblast, on 16 November 1919. His father was a locksmith. He attended the Moscow Aviation Institute and after graduation went to work for the Yakovlev Design Bureau. He entered the Higher Diplomatic School in 1944 and graduated with distinction.

Career

Dobrynin joined the diplomatic service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1946. His tenure lasted until 1986.

Dobrynin developed an especially close relationship with Henry Kissinger with whom he often met and dined with up to four times a week. They had a direct line to each other's office; they exchanged gifts, shared inside jokes, and even met each other's parents. Following President Ford's defeat in the 1976 presidential election, Dobrynin called Kissinger to say, "I am going to miss you." Kissinger returned the sentiment: "I will miss you too. If it is possible to have a Marxist friend." It was the last transcribed telephone conversation between the two during Kissinger's White House tenure.

In 1971, he was elected to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU).

Honours and awards Hero of Socialist Labour Five Orders of Lenin Order of the Red Banner of Labour Order of Honour (18 August 2009) – for his great contribution to the foreign policy of the Russian Federation and many years of diplomatic service Honored Worker of the Diplomatic Service of the Russian Federation Honorary Doctor of the Diplomatic Academy of Russia