Sergei Alexeyevich Ryabkov (; born 8 July 1960) is a Russian diplomat, currently serving as the Deputy Foreign Minister of the

Russian Federation 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 ...

since 2008.

Early life and education

Ryabkov was born in Leningrad in 1960. At age 22, in 1982, he graduated from the

Moscow State Institute of International Relations Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) (, also known as MGIMO University) is an higher education, institute of higher education located in Moscow, Russia. The institute is run by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Russia), Russian ...

. Upon graduation, he immediately joined the

Russian Foreign Ministry The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation (MFA Russia; , МИД РФ) is the central government institution charged with leading the foreign policy and foreign relations of Russia. It is a continuation of the Ministry of Foreig ...

Career

In 1995, he worked in the Foreign Ministry's Department of European Co-operation. In 2002, he worked as Minister-Counselor at the Russian Embassy in Washington, DC. In 2006, he returned to Moscow and was appointed head of his former department (the Department of European Co-operation). He was designated Deputy Foreign Minister in 2008. In January 2022 when asked about the possibility of Russian military deployment to

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, Ryabkov said "it all depends on the actions by our US counterparts". On 28 December 2021, U.S. and Russia announced bilateral talks would take place in

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on 10 January 2022, to discuss concerns about their respective military activity and to confront rising tensions over Ukraine. The talks were led by Ryabkov and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State,

Wendy Sherman Wendy Ruth Sherman (born June 7, 1949) is an American diplomat who served as the United States Deputy Secretary of State, United States deputy secretary of state from April 2021 to July 2023. She was a professor of the practice of public leaders ...

. Ryabkov said Russia has "no intention of attacking, staging an offensive on or invading Ukraine." In 2024, he said that Russia was considering all options when it came to nuclear testing in response to President-elect Donald Trump's position on the issue.

Personal life

Ryabkov speaks English fluently and frequently gives interviews to English-speaking media organizations. Ryabkov, for example, often appears on the channel RT. He often speaks for the Foreign Ministry in commenting on nuclear and other disarmament negotiations, specifically such things as the

New START New START (Russian language, Russian abbrev.: СНВ-III, ''SNV-III'' from ''сокращение стратегических наступательных вооружений'' "reduction of strategic offensive arms") is a Nuclear disarmament, ...

treaty. He is married and has two children.

References

External links

"Spotlight: Russia-US: Setting a new agenda"
published on 1 April 2009

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryabkov, Sergei 1960 births Living people Moscow State Institute of International Relations alumni Deputy foreign ministers of Russia Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary (Russian Federation) Politicians from Saint Petersburg