The Soviet diplomat who represented Moscow in all three major Western Allied capitals during the early Cold War
On 27 January 1958 in Washington, Zarubin put his signature alongside William Lacy's on a document that, for the first time in US–Soviet relations, institutionalized the exchange of films, music, science, and sports between the two powers.
A Soviet diplomat who served successively as ambassador to Canada (1944–1946), the United Kingdom (1946–1952), and the United States (1952–1958), acting as Moscow's key transatlantic interlocutor throughout the early Cold War. On 27 January 1958, he and William S.B. Lacy signed the landmark Lacy–Zarubin Agreement, the first intergovernmental US–Soviet cultural exchange framework, which was renewed biennially until the Soviet collapse and produced iconic Cold War cultural moments including tours by the Bolshoi Ballet and the Philadelphia Orchestra. He served as a candidate member of the CPSU Central Committee from 1952 to 1958 and was appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in January 1958, dying in Moscow ten months later.
Career Timeline
- 1918–1924Served in the Red Army
- 1919Joined the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)
- 1931–1935Director of the Industrial Academy
- 1935–1938Head, Main Administration of Educational Institutions, People's Commissariat of Light Industry
- 1938–1940Deputy General Commissioner and Arts Council Chair, Soviet section, New York World's Fair
- 1940–1941Head, Consular Department, People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs
- 1941–1944Head, Latin American Department, People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs
- 1944–1946Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Canada
- 1946–1952Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United Kingdom
- 1952–1958Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United States
- 1952–1958Candidate member, CPSU Central Committee
- 1958Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR