Peter Vladimirov

Who was Peter Vladimirov?

Peter or Pyotr Parfenovich Vladimirov was a Soviet diplomat and journalist. He is best known for The Vladimirov Diaries, in which he recounted the events in Yan'an during the Second World War, particularly information on Mao Zedong.

From May 1938 through to November 1945, he served as a correspondent for the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union. At the same time, from May 1942 to 1945, Vladimirov also acted as a liaison officer for Comintern to the headquarters of the Communist Party of China in Yan'an, the capital of the so-called Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region.

In The Vladimirov Diaries, he recounted events in Yan'an during the Second World War. The diary, published after his death by his son Yury Vlasov, and full of criticism of Mao's government, has been criticized as having been edited for Soviet propaganda purposes.

Vladimirov's last appointment was as a Soviet ambassador to Burma; but, due to illness and death, he was unable to start working at that position.