Yevgeny Primakov
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Yevgeny Primakov |
Yevgeny Maksimovich Primakov (Евгений Максимович Примаков) (born
October 29,
1929) is a former
Chairman ('predsedatel') of the government of the
Russian Federation. He was the last chairman of an upper chamber of the Soviet parliament, and the
Russian Foreign Minister responsible for changing the foreign policy from largely unconditional support of the
United States to a more nationalist defence of Russia's interests.
Primakov was born in
Kiev,
Ukrainian SSR and grew up in
Tbilisi,
Georgian SSR. He was educated at
Moscow State Institute of Oriental Studies, graduating in
1953 and did postgraduate work at
Moscow State University. From
1956 to
1970, he worked as a journalist for Soviet radio and a
Middle Eastern correspondent for
Pravda newspaper. From 1970 to 1977, he served as Deputy Director of Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the
USSR Academy of Sciences. From 1977 to 1985 he was Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences. In 1985 he returned to the Institute of World Economy and International Relations, serving as Director until 1989.
Primakov became involved in politics in 1989, as the chairman of the
Union Soviet, one of two houses of the Soviet parliament. From 1990 until 1991 he was a member of Soviet leader
Mikhail Gorbachev's Presidential Council. He served as Gorbachev's special envoy to
Iraq in the run-up to the
Gulf War, in which capacity he held talks with President
Saddam Hussein. After the failed August 1991
putsch attempt, Primakov was appointed First Deputy Chairman of the
KGB. After the formation of the
Russian Federation, Primakov was appointed Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service
SVR, serving in that position from 1991 until 1996.
Primakov served as
foreign minister from January
1996 until September
1998. As foreign minister, he gained respect at home and abroad as a tough but pragmatic supporter of Russia's interests, and an opponent of
NATO's expansion into the former
Eastern bloc, though on
May 27,
1997, after 5 months of negotiation with NATO Secretary general
Javier Solana, Russia signed the
Foundation Act, which is seen as marking the end of cold war hostilities.
He was also famously an advocate of
Multilateralism as an alternative to US global hegemony following the collapse of the USSR and the end of the Cold War. Primakov called for a Russian foreign policy based on low-cost mediation while expanding influence towards the Middle East and the former Soviet republics. This policy became known as the "Primakov doctrine". Primakov has promoted Russia,
China, and
India as a "strategic triangle" to counterbalance the United States,
Samuel Huntington calls this an anti
hegemonic coalition in an essay titled 'The Lonely Superpower".
After Yeltsin's bid to reinstate
Viktor Chernomyrdin as Russian prime minister was blocked by the
Duma in September 1998, the President turned to Primakov as a compromise figure whom he rightly judged would be accepted by the parliament's majority. As prime minister, Primakov was given credit for forcing some very difficult reforms in Russia, most of them, such as the tax reform, became major success. While his opposition to the US
Unilateralism was popular among Russians, it also led to a disastrous breach with the West during
NATO's campaign in
Kosovo, which ultimately left Russia alone in subsequent developments in the
former Yugoslavia. Analysts ascribed Yeltsin's
12 May 1999 firing of Primakov as a fear to lose power to more successful and wildly more popular professional. Primakov also refused to dismiss Communist ministers as the
Communist Party of the Russian Federation was leading process of preparing impeachment proceedings against the president.
Primakov supported
Fatherland-All Russia electoral faction (at the time the major opponent to pro-Putin
Unity Party of Russia) and launched his presidential bid. Initially considered the man to beat, Primakov was rapidly overtaken by the factions loyal to
Vladimir Putin in the Duma elections in December 1999. Primakov officially abadoned the presidential race in his TV address on
February 4 2000 [
1] less than two months before the
March 26 presidential elections. Soon he became an adviser and a political ally to Putin.
In
March 2003, he visited
Iraq and talked with
Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein, hoping to help prevent the
2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, a move which received some support from several nations opposed to the war.
In
November 2004, Primakov testified in defense of the former
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević, on trial for war crimes.
*
Yevgeny Primakov's Project Syndicate op/eds
