Andrey Smirnov

Who was Andrey Smirnov?

Andrey Andreyevich Smirnov, was a Soviet career diplomat.

Smirnov graduated from the Leningrad Institute of Planning in 1934, and joined the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs in 1936. From 1940 until diplomatic relations were broken off with Nazi Germany on 22 June 1941, he was an adviser at the Embassy of the USSR in Germany.

He was appointed as Ambassador of the Soviet Union to Iran on 28 June 1941, awarded the diplomatic rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary on 14 June 1943, and served in Tehran until 1 September 1943.

At the conclusion of his mission to Iran, he returned to Moscow and worked in the European Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and was promoted to Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1946, and held this position under 1949. On 31 March 1956, he began his mission as Ambassador of the Soviet Union to Austria, serving in Vienna only until 14 October 1956.

He began his mission as Ambassador of the Soviet Union to West Germany on 14 October 1956, and held the post for 10 years, until 19 May 1966.