AP News, December 13th, 2007
Veteran diplomat Yuli Vorontsov, who served the Soviet Union and Russia as ambassador to Afghanistan and the United States in a career spanning the Cold War and the Gulf War, has died at age 78, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday.
Vorontsov died Wednesday in Moscow, the ministry said, ending a "glorious diplomatic path" that also included stints as ambassador to the United Nations, France and India, and as the U.N. envoy overseeing the return or repatriation of the remains of Kuwaitis and others missing after the 1990-91 Gulf War, a job he held until his death.
"Yuli Vorontsov's diplomatic talent shone in everything he was entrusted with," the ministry said. Wherever he worked, it said, "his sharp intellect, high professionalism, gift as a negotiator, encyclopedic knowledge, fine knowledge of the countries where he worked and remarkable intelligence were brightly displayed."
A 1952 graduate of the main Soviet diplomatic academy, the Moscow State Institute of Foreign Relations, Vorontsov rose through the diplomatic ranks, from lowly assistant to the post of deputy foreign minister.
He played roles in some of the watershed events of the Cold War, from arms talks with Washington to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, where he was ambassador when Soviet troops withdrew in 1988-89.
Before his 1988 Afghan appointment, Vorontsov was ambassador to India and France and then chief negotiator in arms control talks with the United States.
He was appointed Soviet representative to the United Nations in 1990 and became Russia's ambassador after the Soviet Union collapsed a year later, serving at the world body until President Boris Yeltsin named him ambassador to Washington in 1994.
In 2000, Vorontsov returned to the United Nations as special U.N. envoy in charge of coordinating international efforts aimed at the repatriation or return of all Kuwaiti and third-country nationals missing after the Gulf War, as well as the return of Kuwaiti property.
Vorontsov's death came just a few days after he returned from a mission to Kuwait, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said.
"Throughout his career ... he showed dedication and tireless effort. He enjoyed the deep respect of all his colleagues," Okabe said.
"He will be mourned with profound respect and affection by friends around the world," Okabe said.
Funeral arrangements were not immediately available.
