The last regular Soviet foreign minister
In 1988, after testifying on the INF treaty before the Soviet parliament, Bessmertnykh lingered in a Kremlin corridor to chat with an American journalist in easy English about the treaty's political significance — informality unusual for a top Soviet official.
A career diplomat and the first MGIMO graduate to head the Soviet Foreign Ministry, Bessmertnykh succeeded Shevardnadze in January 1991. A seasoned Americanist shaped by thirteen years at the Soviet embassy in Washington, he oversaw the signing of the START I treaty, laid groundwork for the Madrid Middle East peace conference, and became the first Soviet foreign minister to visit Israel. He advanced a 'belt of friendship and cooperation' concept to reorient Soviet diplomacy toward all perimeter states. Refusing to join the GKChP during the August 1991 coup but declining to publicly condemn it, he was dismissed within days. He later founded Russia's Foreign Policy Association and continued as an analyst.
Career Timeline
- 1991.1–8Minister of Foreign Affairs
The August Coup and Dismissal
During the August 1991 hardliner coup (GKChP), Bessmertnykh refused to join the State Committee on the State of Emergency. Yet he also declined to publicly condemn the coup. Citing illness, he did not lead the Foreign Ministry throughout the three-day crisis and remained invisible. For a reformist appointee who had succeeded Shevardnadze, this was a fatal political misstep. On August 23, immediately after the coup collapsed, Gorbachev signed a decree dismissing him. But the Supreme Soviet never took up the matter. The result was an anomalous situation: Bessmertnykh legally remained Foreign Minister until November 14, 1991, when the ministry was reorganized into the Ministry of External Relations. Boris Pankin handled affairs in practice; Bessmertnykh's ministerial career was effectively over after seven months. He subsequently withdrew from front-line diplomacy and became the first president of the Foreign Policy Association of Russia, pursuing a career as an analyst.