Ivan Abramovich Zalkind (; 1 May Diplomatic Documents of Switzerland 1848–1975:
Salkind, Iwan
' 1885 in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

,Ирошников М.П., Чубарьян А.О.:
Тайное становится явным
'

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

– 27 November 1928 in Leningrad,Архив Александра Н. Яковлева - Альманах "Россия. ХХ век" - Биографический словарь:
Залкинд, Иван Абрамович
'

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

), also known as Ivan Artamonov (), was a Jewish Soviet

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

. Originally a

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

who got his doctorate from the Sorbonne in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, Zalkind took part in the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

on the side of

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...

. When Trotsky 1917 became People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs ('' de facto'': Soviet

foreign minister In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

), he made Zalkind his first deputy (''de facto'': Permanent

Under Secretary of State Under Secretary of State (U/S) is a title used by senior officials of the United States Department of State who rank above the Assistant Secretaries and below the Deputy Secretary. From 1919 to 1972, the Under Secretary was the second-ranking of ...

or Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs).Михайловский, Георгий Николаевич: ''Записки. Из истории российского внешнеполитического ведомства, 1914–1920 гг. Книга 1.'
''Начало саботажа''
/ref> John Reed: '' Zehn Tage, die die Welt erschütterten'', pages 111 and 235. MEHRING, Essen 2011Михайловский, Георгий Николаевич: ''Записки. Из истории российского внешнеполитического ведомства, 1914–1920 гг. Книга 1.'
''Троцкий в министерстве''
/ref> When Trotsky resigned as foreign minister (because of the peace

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a separate peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between Soviet Russia and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria), by which Russia withdrew from World War I. The treaty, whi ...

), Zalkind was sent as

plenipotentiary A ''plenipotentiary'' (from the Latin ''plenus'' "full" and ''potens'' "powerful") is a diplomat who has full powers—authorization to sign a treaty or convention on behalf of a sovereign. When used as a noun more generally, the word can als ...

and

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states thro ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

Diplomatic Documents of Switzerland 1848–1975:
Rapport du Conseil fédéral sur les mesures à prendre contre l’agitation bolchevique.
' from November 6, 1918 (

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

, 1918),

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

(

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, 1922),

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

(

Liepāja Liepāja () (formerly: Libau) is a Administrative divisions of Latvia, state city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea. It is the largest city in the Courland region and the third-largest in the country after Riga and Daugavpils. It is an ...

, 1923) and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

(

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

, 1924, and

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, 1925). Back in the Soviet Union, after Trotsky's downfall he was expelled from the Communist party and shot himself.

Sources

1885 births 1928 suicides 1928 deaths Old Bolsheviks Russian Trotskyists Russian anti–World War I activists Russian biologists Russian communists Russian socialists Russian Marxists Russian revolutionaries Jewish socialists Jewish Soviet politicians Orthodox Marxists People of the Russian Revolution of 1905 People of the Russian Revolution Soviet Trotskyists Russian Social Democratic Labour Party members Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United Kingdom Emigrants from the Russian Empire to France Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Spain Soviet diplomats Scientists from Saint Petersburg Soviet biologists Suicides by firearm in the Soviet Union Diplomats from Saint Petersburg {{USSR-politician-stub