Oral history interview with Vladimir Petrovsky, 2000
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- Name
- Petrovskiĭ, Vladimir Fedorovich (Interviewee)
- Weiss, Thomas G. (Thomas George), 1946- (Interviewer)
- Title
- Oral history interview with Vladimir Petrovsky, 2000
- Abstract
- Born 1933 in Stalingrad, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Volgograd, Russia). Education: Moscow State Institute of International Relations. Career: Soviet Union mission to the UN; chief of protocol for prime minister of USSR; personal secretary of USSR foreign minister; assistant in UN Secretariat; head of American Department of Foreign Policy Planning Staff in Soviet Foreign Ministry; deputy f oreign minister for the USSR; head of political department of UN Secretariat; Director-General of UN Office in Geneva. Themes: early international experiences during World War II, interest in diplomacy and negotiation; Helsinki process (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, OSCE); disarmament and nonproliferation negotiations; belief in importance of democratic, evolutionary change in Russia; importance of multilateralism; problems of USSR militarism and isolation; preventive diplomacy; UN activity in Geneva versus New York; focus on individuals rather than states in UN; challenges of representing unpopular Soviet policy decisions; Non-Aligned movement; personal diplomatic relations; linkages of issues in diplomacy; human rights; changes in USSR in 1980s; legal institutions in international diplomacy; importance of regional organizations; usefulness of diplomatic conferences; relationship between academia and policymaking; problems of UN bureaucracy; role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
- Collection Name
- United Nations intellectual history project (UNIHP)
- Subjects
- Diplomats--Soviet Union; Diplomacy; Non-governmental organizations; Nuclear nonproliferation; Arms control; Nonalignment; Democracy--Russia (Federation); Soviet Union Foreign relations 1945-1991; Petrovskiĭ, Vladimir Fedorovich; United Nations Officials and employees; United Nations History; United Nations Office at Geneva; United Nations; Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
- Format
- oral histories; sound recordings
- Genre
- Interviews
- Date
- 2000
- Note (Biographical)
- Director-General of United Nations Office in Geneva
- Note
- Interviewed by Thomas G. Weiss on November 18, 2000
- Note (Provenance)
- Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, Gift, 2009
- Language
- English
- Library Location
- Columbia Center for Oral History, Columbia University
Browse Location’s Digital Content - Catalog Record
- 13684771
- Also In
- Oral History Archives at Columbia
- Time-Based Media
- Time-Based Media
- Persistent URL
- https://dx.doi.org/10.7916/d8-kabe-ff74
- Related URLs
- Available digital content for this interview.