In 1992, Churkin became the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs under his university course mate, Andrey Kozyrev. He was subsequently appointed Third Secretary at the Soviet Embassy in Washington.įrom 1989 to 1990, Churkin served as press secretary to Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze (who was later president of Georgia) before being promoted to the post of Director of the Foreign Ministry’s Information Department. From 1979 to 1982, Churkin worked at the Soviet Foreign Ministry’s department covering the United States. In 1974, he joined the diplomatic service as a translator, where his language skills proved invaluable during the SALT-2 talks in Geneva. In addition to English, Churkin also spoke French and Mongolian. In 1974, Churkin graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations and in 1981 obtained a Ph D in History. His natural charisma led him to a brief career as a child actor and at the age of 11, he appeared in several movies, including the 1963 film “Blue Notebook” about Vladimir Lenin. From child actor to UN ambassadorĬhurkin was born on Februin Moscow and did well in school, excelling at English, taking acting classes and mastering speed skating. In the 2000s he was ambassador at large at Russia's Foreign Ministry, while in the early 1990s he served as the special representative of the Russian president to the talks on the former Yugoslavia. RIP- Matthew Rycroft February 20, 2017īefore he was appointed to represent Russia at the UN in May 2006, the diplomat served as ambassador to Belgium, ambassador to Canada, and liaison ambassador to NATO and the Western European Union (WEU). A diplomatic giant & wonderful character. Russian troops are still facing Ukrainian resistance and are making more progress in the south of Ukraine than elsewhere in the country, according to a senior US defense official.Absolutely devastated to hear that my friend & colleague Vitaly Churkin has died. Shelling from heavy artillery, air raids and fire on residential districts has left the key northeastern city devastated but it has not yet fallen to the Russians. Russian forces have been launching sustained strikes on Kharkiv for in recent days. He suggested that such an approach could lead to other reports of high-ranking military deaths. Gady also said it was an indication that senior Russian officers “need to be leading from the front to regroup and consolidate their forces,” and to “push their soldiers forward to attack,” amid low troop morale. The executive director of the open source investigative outlet Bellingcat, Christo Grozev, detailed in a Twitter thread that the information of the general’s death may have been gleaned from an intercept of a phone call on an unsecured network.ĬNN has been unable to confirm those details.įranz Stefan Gady, research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), told CNN the reported death of the general is “testimony to the ferocity of the fighting near Kharkiv,” though he added that Ukrainian reports of the deaths of senior Russian officers remained murky. The Ukrainian ministry also alluded in its statement to communication problems that it says Russia’s army is facing. 'He said he was going towards Kyiv.' Russian families turn to Ukrainian hotline in desperate search for lost soldiers Kristina, a psychologist by training, takes calls from Russians seeking information about their relatives in the Russian Army. “A number of senior Russian army officers were also killed and wounded,” the Ukrainian defense ministry statement said. Ukraine identified Gerasimov as “a Russian military commander, major general, chief of staff and first deputy commander of the 41st Army of the Central Military District of Russia” and said he was a veteran of Russian campaigns in Chechnya and Syria. The United States also cannot confirm the Ukrainian claims, a senior US defense official said Tuesday. Russian state media said nothing Tuesday about Gerasimov, although it did name other Russians killed in Ukraine.ĬNN has not been able to independently verify Ukraine’s claim, and Russia’s defense ministry did not immediately respond to CNN’s questions about Gerasimov on Tuesday, which is a national holiday in Russia. Vitaly Gerasimov, and gave no details of when he was killed. The short statement on Monday offered no proof of the death of Maj. The Ukrainian defense ministry has claimed that a Russian general was killed in battle near Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv.
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