Árni Þór Sigurðsson (born 30 July 1960) is an Icelandic diplomat and former member of the

Althing The Alþingi (''general meeting'' in Icelandic, , anglicised as ' or ') is the supreme national parliament of Iceland. It is one of the oldest surviving parliaments in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at (" thing fields" or "assemb ...

. He is currently serving as Iceland's Ambassador to the Russian Federation, also accredited to Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

Career

Árni Þór received a

cand.mag. Candidatus magisterii (male), or candidata magisterii (female), abbreviated as cand.mag., is an academic degree An academic degree is a qualification awarded to students upon successful completion of a course of study in higher education, usual ...

degree in Economics and Russian from the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

in 1986 and subsequently pursued graduate studies in Slavic languages at the

University of Stockholm Stockholm University ( sv, Stockholms universitet) is a public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, soci ...

and the

University of Moscow M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

. He received a master's degree in international relations from the

University of Iceland The University of Iceland ( is, Háskóli Íslands ) is a public research university in Reykjavík, Iceland and the country's oldest and largest institution of higher education. Founded in 1911, it has grown steadily from a small civil servant ...

in 2015. From the early 1990s until his election to the Althing in 2007, he served in various roles at the Icelandic Teachers' Union, the Icelandic Ports Association, and on the Reykjavík City Council. At the Althing, Árni Þór represented Reykjavík Constituency North as a member of the

Left-Green Movement The Left-Green Movement ( is, Vinstrihreyfingin – grænt framboð), officially the Left Movement – Green Candidature and also known by its short-form name ''Vinstri græn'' (VG), is an eco-socialist political party in Iceland. The Left-Gree ...

until 2014. He served on a variety of committees and chaired the Foreign Affairs Committee from 2009 to 2013 and the Parliamentary Delegation to

European Free Trade Association The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is a regional trade organization and free trade area consisting of four European states: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. The organization operates in parallel with the European U ...

from 2009 to 2013. He co-chaired the Iceland-EU Joint Parliamentary Committee and was a delegate to the

Nordic Council The Nordic Council is the official body for formal inter-parliamentary Nordic cooperation among the Nordic countries. Formed in 1952, it has 87 representatives from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden as well as from the autonomou ...

from 2010 to 2013 where he chaired the Standing Committee of Culture and Education. He was Deputy Speaker of the Althing twice in 2009-2010 and 2012–2013. He was chair, vice-chair, or acting chair of the Left-Green Movement's parliamentary group from 2009 to 2012. Árni Þór was appointed to the Icelandic foreign service in 2014. From 2015 he was Ambassador for Arctic Affairs, representing Iceland in the

Arctic Council The Arctic Council is a high-level intergovernmental forum that addresses issues faced by the Arctic governments and the indigenous people of the Arctic. At present, eight countries exercise sovereignty over the lands within the Arctic Circle, ...

and from 2018 he was Iceland's Ambassador to Finland, also accredited to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Ukraine. He became Ambassador to Russia in 2020. He has been decorated a Commander of the Grand Cross of the

Order of the Lion of Finland The Order of the Lion of Finland ( fi, Suomen Leijonan ritarikunta; sv, Finlands Lejons orden) is one of three official orders in Finland, along with the Order of the Cross of Liberty and the Order of the White Rose of Finland. The President ...

Klaustur Affair

During the

Klaustur Affair The Klaustur Affair, also known in Iceland as Klaustur Recordings ''(Klaustursupptökurnar)'' or Klausturgate was a political affair in Iceland that sparked public debate and protests in Iceland since late November 2018. It was triggered by aud ...

, it was revealed that

Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson (born 9 June 1968) is an Icelandic politician for the Center Party. He is a member of the Althingi (Iceland's parliament) for the Centre Party for the Northwest of Iceland constituency since 2017. He was the Chairman o ...

had appointed Árni Þór as an ambassador in order to draw attention away from

Geir Haarde Geir Hilmar Haarde (; born 8 April 1951) is an Icelandic politician, who served as prime minister of Iceland from 15 June 2006 to 1 February 2009 and as president of the Nordic Council in 1995. Geir was chairman of the Icelandic Independence Pa ...

, whose simultaneous appointment was a political favour to the Independence Party. Árni Þór responded with a public statement emphasizing that his experience made him a good candidate for the role.

Personal life

Árni Þór was born in Reykjavík. He and his wife Sigurbjörg Þorsteinsdóttir have three children.

References

External links