Sir Anthony Russell Brenton, (born 1 January 1950) is a former British diplomat.

Education

Brenton was educated at Peter Symonds' School, a former

direct grant grammar school A direct grant grammar school was a type of selective secondary school in the United Kingdom that existed between 1945 and 1976. One quarter of the places in these schools were directly funded by central government, while the remainder attracted ...

for boys (which subsequently became

Peter Symonds College Peter Symonds College is a sixth form college in Winchester, Hampshire, England. The college is recognised as the largest sixth form in England and is noted for the high number of its students who progress to Oxbridge. Peter Symonds College tra ...

) in

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

, followed by

Queens' College, Cambridge Queens' College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Queens' is one of the 16 "old colleges" of the university, and was founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou. Its buildings span the R ...

, where he studied Mathematics.

Life and career

Brenton entered the British

Foreign and Commonwealth Office The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is the ministry of foreign affairs and a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom. The office was created on 2 ...

in 1975, where he began his career learning Arabic and spent three years in the British Embassy in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

working on Middle East disputes. He later worked in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

on the development of European Community Foreign and Energy Policy and, also in Brussels, he worked on European Environment Policy for the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

, dealing with energy issues, the

Chernobyl Chernobyl, officially called Chornobyl, is a partially abandoned city in Vyshhorod Raion, Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. It is located within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, to the north of Kyiv and to the southwest of Gomel in neighbouring Belarus. ...

crisis and the birth of European environment policy. Brenton took a sabbatical at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

to write ''The Greening of Machiavelli – The History of International Environmental Politics'' after setting up and leading (1990–92) the Foreign Office unit that negotiated for the 1992 Rio "Earth Summit", and in particular the first global agreement on climate change. In 1989–90, he headed a UN Department in the Foreign Office in London. From 1994–98 he worked as a Counsellor in the

British Embassy This is a list of diplomatic missions of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, excluding honorary consulates. The UK has one of the largest global networks of diplomatic missions. UK diplomatic missions to capitals of other Co ...

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, responsible for the British aid programme to Russia, analysis of the Russian economy, and UK policy towards Russia in the major international economic fields. In 1998 he was nominated to the position of Director on Global Issues in the FCO. Within the sphere of his responsibilities was the policy towards the UN, human rights, the environment and international economy and development. Brenton served as British Ambassador to Russia from 2004 to 2008. In 2007, he was made a

Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III ...

(KCMG). From 2008 to 2017, he was a fellow of

Wolfson College, Cambridge Wolfson College () is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The majority of students at the college are postgraduates. The college also admits "mature" undergraduates (aged 21 and above), with around ...

. He was director at the

Russo-British Chamber of Commerce Russo-British Chamber of Commerce (RBCC) is a trade association, which promotes trade between the United Kingdom and Russia. History The Russo-British Chamber of Commerce (RBCC) was founded in 1916 as a not-for-profit organisation to promote tra ...

.Putin on the march. Tony Brenton. The Times. 5 November 2024.

Selected works

* Tony Brenton (1994
The Greening of Machiavelli: The Evolution of International Environmental Politics
* Tony Brenton (2016
Historically Inevitable? Turning Points of the Russian Revolution
* Tony Brenton (2017
Was Revolution Inevitable?: Turning Points of the Russian Revolution

References

Sources

Sir Anthony Russell Brenton, KCMG from British Embassy, Moscow.
Retrieved 15 January 2008.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brenton, Tony 1950 births Living people Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Russia Fellows of Wolfson College, Cambridge Place of birth missing (living people) Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George