Nikolai Sharonov

Who is Nikolai Sharonov?

Nikolai Ivanovich Sharonov was a Soviet diplomat.

Plenipotentiary on a shared basis, sometimes via third countries, in Greece, Albania, Poland and Hungary.

He was the last Soviet ambassador in the Second Polish Republic. He took this post in May 1939. Officially, in light of growing Polish-German tensions, he supported the Polish government, offering to discuss Soviet economic and military aid; In fact the Soviets were pressured by Nazi Germany to act upon their alliance; Soviet propaganda was already accusing Poland of border violations and mistreatment of Belorussian and Ukrainian minorities, and mobilization was ordered on September 7. It is not certain whether Sharonov was aware of larger Soviet policy and was acting in good faith, without consulting with the Soviet government, or whether he was trying to divert Polish government attention from Soviet preparations. Sharonov and his military attaché, Pavel Rybalko, left Poland on 11 or 12 September 1939, less than a week before the Soviet Union invaded Poland.