Oleg Khlestov

Oleg Nikolayevich Khlestov (; 6 June 1923 – 31 August 2021) was a Soviet diplomat and academic. He served in various diplomatic roles from 1945 onwards, and was Permanent Representative of the USSR to International Organizations in Vienna between 1979 and 1988.

Entering the diplomatic service after 1945, Khlestov spent the early stage of his career with the Soviet Union's diplomatic mission in Bulgaria, before returning to the central offices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and becoming a leading expert on international law and affairs. By the 1960s he was taking part in international conferences and negotiations, helping to draft bilateral treaties, and by the 1970s he led delegations to discuss matters of military deployments and disarmament, and the application of space and maritime law in international settings. Retiring shortly before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, he continued to participate in scientific and teaching activities.

Khlestov became an influential academic, teaching at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and Moscow State Linguistic University. He wrote over 170 publications on international law and relations, and was vice-president of the Russian Association for the Assistance of the United Nations, and the Russian Association of International Law. He also assisted in the preparation of Russian laws as a representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Federation Council, and a member of the Expert Council on International Law under the Chairman of the State Duma. He was part of the team of authors writing the Diplomatic Academy's "International Law" textbook, was head of the Security Council's Expert Group on International Law, and was a member of the editorial boards of the journals "International Lawyer" and "Diplomatic Service". He received numerous awards over his career, including the Order of the Red Banner of Labour and the Order of Friendship of Peoples, prior to his death in 2021.

Career Khlestov was born in Moscow on 6 June 1923. 24 January 1966. Khlestov (seated, right) signs a Soviet-Finnish consular convention. His counterpart, Finnish diplomat Veli Helenius, is seated left. Khlestov was often involved in heading delegations at negotiations between the Warsaw Pact countries and NATO to discuss the reduction of armed forces in Central Europe, as well as at the Vienna conferences on the codification of the law of international treaties (1968-1969) and consular law (1963). He participated in the SALT II talks in Moscow in 1977, where United States ambassador to the Soviet Union Malcolm Toon reported to the United States Department of State that "The fact that Ambassador Khlestov will be leading the Soviet team does not seem to us to indicate either rapid or dramatic movement by the Soviets towards presenting a detailed, specific draft declaration or other substantive proposal. Khlestov, while affable, able, patient (witness his years in MBFR), is a mechanic, not a policy innovator."

Retirement After his retirement at the diplomatic rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, to which he had been appointed in 1973, Khlestov continued to participate in scientific and teaching activities, becoming a professor at the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. He held the titles of Honored Lawyer of the Russian Federation and Honorary Doctor of the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry, and was vice-president of the Russian Association for the Assistance of the United Nations until 1997, and vice-president of the Russian Association of International Law.

Over his career Khlestov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour and the Order of Friendship of Peoples, as well as various medals, by the Soviet Union, and received honours from Bulgaria and Mongolia. In addition to his native Russian, he was fluent in English and Bulgarian.

Khlestov died on 31 August 2021 at the age of 98. His obituary by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs described him as "a brilliant, professional, hardworking and responsible person, who was distinguished by a sharp mind, encyclopedic knowledge, intelligence and benevolence."