List of ambassadors of Russia to Lithuania

Last updated

Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Lithuania
MID emblem.png
Emblem of the Russian Foreign Ministry
Incumbent
vacant
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Embassy of Russia in Vilnius
Style His Excellency
The Honourable
Reports to Minister of Foreign Affairs
Seat Vilnius
Appointer President of Russia
Term length At the pleasure of the president
Website Embassy of Russia in Lithuania

The ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Lithuania is the official representative of the president and the government of the Russian Federation to the president and the government of Lithuania.

Contents

Before the downgrade of diplomatic relations between Russia and Lithuania following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the ambassador and his staff used to work at large in the Embassy of Russia in Vilnius. [1] Since the withdrawal of the Russian ambassador in April 2022, representation has been by chargé d'affaires . [2]

History of diplomatic relations

The territory occupied by Lithuania had been part of the Russian Empire since the eighteenth century. In the aftermath of the First World War and the collapse of the empire following the Russian Revolution in 1917, Lithuania declared independence on 16 February 1918. Diplomatic relations were established between Lithuania and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic on 12 July 1920, and Aleksandr Akselrod  [ ru ] was appointed the first Plenipotentiary representative on 26 August that year. [3] Representation continued until the Soviet occupation of Lithuania in 1940, after which Lithuania was de facto part of the USSR for the remainder of the existence of the Soviet Union, with the exception of a period of occupation by Nazi Germany between 1941 and 1944 during the Second World War. Soviet forces re-occupied Lithuania in 1944, after which Lithuania became a constituent part of the Soviet Union as the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic. [3]

As part of the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Lithuania's secession was recognized by the State Council of the Soviet Union on 6 September 1991. Diplomatic relations with Russia were established on 9 October 1991. Following growing diplomatic tensions in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Lithuanian government expelled the Russian ambassador on 4 April 2022, and closed the consulate in Klaipėda. [4] Representation has since been by chargé d'affaires . [2]

List of representatives (1920–present)

Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic to Lithuania (1920–1923)

NameTitleAppointmentTerminationNotes
Aleksandr Akselrod  [ ru ]Plenipotentiary representative26 August 19201 March 1921
Pavel Mostovenko  [ ru ]Plenipotentiary representative1 March 19219 May 1921
Semyon Aralov Plenipotentiary representative9 May 19211922
Yakov Davydov Plenipotentiary representativeFebruary 192215 September 1922
Aleksandr Paykes  [ ru ]Plenipotentiary representative9 November 19227 February 1923
Innokentiy Kozhevnikov Plenipotentiary representative7 February 192323 July 1923

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to Lithuania (1923–1940)

NameTitleAppointmentTerminationNotes
Innokentiy Kozhevnikov Plenipotentiary representative23 July 192328 August 1923
Ivan Lorents Plenipotentiary representative29 August 19239 July 1925
Sergey Aleksandrovsky  [ ru ]Plenipotentiary representative9 July 19253 June 1927
Aleksandr Arosev Plenipotentiary representative21 May 19271 December 1928
S. I. Rabinovich Chargé d'affaires 19281928
Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko Plenipotentiary representative7 February 192919 January 1930
Adolf Petrovsky Plenipotentiary representative31 January 193021 December 1930
Mikhail Karsky  [ ru ]Plenipotentiary representative19 December 193023 December 1936
Boris Podolsky  [ ru ]Plenipotentiary representative30 December 19361 November 1937
Pavel Krapivintsev Plenipotentiary representative30 December 19378 October 1938
Nikolai Pozdnyakov  [ ru ]Plenipotentiary representative8 October 19383 August 1940
Fyodor Molochkov  [ ru ] Chargé d'affaires October 1939October 1939

Russian Federation to Lithuania (1992–present)

NameTitleAppointmentTerminationNotes
Nikolai Obyortyshev  [ ru ] Ambassador 6 August 199214 August 1996
Konstantin Mozel  [ ru ] Ambassador 2 November 199627 August 1999
Yuri Zubakov Ambassador 27 August 19991 August 2003
Boris Tsepov  [ ru ] Ambassador 30 September 20035 May 2008
Vladimir Chkhikvadze  [ ru ] Ambassador 5 May 20081 October 2013
Aleksandr Udaltsov  [ ru ] Ambassador 1 October 201316 October 2020
Aleksey Isakov  [ ru ] Ambassador 16 October 20204 April 2022
Sergey Ryabokon Chargé d'affaires 4 April 2022October 2022
Aleksandr Yolkin Chargé d'affaires October 2022

References

  1. ↑ "Посольство Российской Федерации в Литовской Республике" (in Russian). Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Russia) . Retrieved 20 November 2025.
  2. 1 2 "Дипломаты" (in Russian). Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Russia) . Retrieved 20 November 2025.
  3. 1 2 Полномочное представительство РСФСР - СССР в Литве (in Russian). Справочник по истории Коммунистической партии и Советского Союза 1898 - 1991. Archived from the original on 6 May 2012. Retrieved 20 November 2025.
  4. ↑ "Lithuania expels Russian ambassador over civilian deaths near Kyiv". Reuters. 4 April 2022. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.