Yakov Malik

Who was Yakov Malik?

Yakov Alexandrovich Malik was a Soviet diplomat. Malik was the Soviet ambassador to the United Nations from 1948 to 1952, and from 1968 to 1972.

At the time of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 82 on 25 June 1950, Malik was boycotting the presence of a Nationalist Chinese representative. His absence enabled the resolution to pass unanimously with a 9-0 vote.

On the floor of the United Nations on 23 June 1951, he proposed an armistice in the Korean War between China and North Korea on one hand, and South Korea, the United States, and other United Nations forces on the other.

Malik told U.S. delegates to the United Nations, apparently without sarcasm, that he wished the United States would invite the Soviet Union to join NATO because he feared it was beginning to become an issue between the two powers.

Malik is also well known to give the USSR reasons for the occupation of Czechoslovakia at the Security Council in August 1968. He vetoed the 2 resolutions regarding the invasion.