Pavel Palazhchenko

Pavel Palazhchenko or Palazchenko (, born 17 March 1949) is a former high-level Soviet conference interpreter who was the chief English interpreter for Mikhail Gorbachev and Soviet foreign minister Eduard Shevardnadze from 1985 and 1991.

Biography

Personal Palazhchenko was born on 17 March 1949 in Monino, Moscow Oblast, Russia. He graduated from the Maurice Thorez Moscow Institute of Foreign Languages (Moscow State Linguistic University) in 1972.

Interpreter As one of the leading interpreters of his time, Palazhchenko participated in all US-Soviet summit talks leading to the end of the Cold War. He is the author of a personal and political memoir, My Years with Gorbachev and Shevardnadze: The Memoir of a Soviet Interpreter. Years later, Ray was convicted of sex trafficking, extortion, forced labor, conspiracy, money laundering, and other offenses, and sentenced to 60 years in prison.

Palazhchenko speaks passionately about his trade. In his book, My Unsystematic Dictionary, Palazhchenko writes: This very occupation, to imbibe the air of a foreign (and your own) language, to rake through the throng of words and, having found the right one, feel its texture, its size and then grope for the threads connecting the two languages, has always been my favorite thing to do…

Associate After becoming a long-time associate and aide to Mikhail Gorbachev for several years, Palazhchenko eventually became the head of the International Department of the International Non-governmental Foundation for Socio-Economic and Political Studies (or The Gorbachev Foundation), where he also functioned as an analyst, spokesperson, interpreter and translator.