Gennadi (or Gennady) Ivanovich Gerasimov (Russian, ''Геннадий Иванович Герасимов'', 3 March 1930, – 14 September 2010) was the last Soviet, and then Russian ambassador to Portugal from 1990 to 1995. Previously he was foreign affairs spokesman for
Mikhail Gorbachev and press secretary to
Eduard Shevardnadze
Eduard Ambrosis dze Shevardnadze ( ka, ედუარდ ამბროსის ძე შევარდნაძე}, romanized: ; 25 January 1928 – 7 July 2014) was a Soviet and Georgian politician and diplomat who governed Georgia fo ...
.
He is noted for coining the expression "
Sinatra Doctrine
The Sinatra Doctrine was a Soviet foreign policy under Mikhail Gorbachev for allowing member states of the Warsaw Pact to determine their own internal affairs. The name jokingly alluded to the song My Way popularized by Frank Sinatra—the So ...
" in reference to Gorbachev's non-intervention policy with respect to other members of the
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist repub ...
. When asked, during
Mikhail Gorbachev's visit to Prague in 1987, what the difference was between the Prague Spring and
perestroika, Gerasimov replied: "nineteen years".
He was recognized in 1990 as Communicator of the Year by the (American) National Association of Government Communicators (NAGC)
He is mentioned in the
Billy Bragg song "Moving the Goalposts".
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References
1930 births
2010 deaths
Ambassadors of Russia to Portugal
Ambassadors of the Soviet Union to Portugal
Cold War diplomats
{{USSR-bio-stub
Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples
Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour
Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery