From Foreign Minister to Foreign Agent
Andrei Kozyrev was Russia's first post-Soviet foreign minister. In January 1993 he signed the Kirkenes declaration, a document highlighting that "partnership is now replacing the confrontation and division of the past." This Friday, Kozyrev was declared "foreign agent" by Moscow.
Andrei Kozyrev is one of the highest ranking former officials being declared foreign agent by the Justice Ministry.
The branding stigmatises and places heavy burdens on the individuals or organisations listed. More than 500 people are so far included to the list.
Andrei Kozyrev is a well known strong critic of the Kremlin. Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Kozyrev has pinned a top-tweet (X) where he "call on all Russian diplomats to resign in protest."
Kozyrev was foreign minister in the last year of the Soviet Union and Russia's first foreign minister from 1992 to 1996.
After the failed Soviet coup attempt in August 1991, Andrei Kozyrev became part of Boris Yeltsin's team of young reformers. In 1992, he approved an initiativ from Norway's foreign minister Thorvald Stoltenberg, the father of Jens Stoltenberg, to establish a national and regional level cross border cooperation in northernmost Europe.
The formal document, the so-called Kirkenes declaration, was signed on 11 January 1993, paving the way for what became known as the Barents Euro-Arctic cooperation.
Andrei Kozyrev is the second former minister to declared foreign agent. Such status is also given to former Prime Minister and opposition figure Mikhail Kasyanov. Kasyanov was the first Prime Minister appointed by Vladimir Putin. He served from January 2000 to 2004 and left Russia in 2022.
Andrei Kozyrev today lives in the United States.
