Alexander Vladimirovich Yakovenko

Alexander Yakovenko
Yakovenko (left) at the 2006 G8 summit.
Ambassador of Russia to the United Kingdom
Personal details
Born	(1954-10-21) October 21, 1954 (age 62) Homel, Belarusian SSR, Soviet Union

Alexander Vladimirovich Yakovenko (Russian: Алекса́ндр Влади́мирович Якове́нко, born October 21, 1954 in Homel) has served as the Ambassador of Russia to the United Kingdom since January 2011. He is a former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia. While working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow, he was in charge of multilateral diplomacy (UN, UNESCO and other international organizations, economic and humanitarian cooperation, human rights, environmental cooperation, climate change, education, culture and sport issues). Graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in 1976. Holds a degree of Doctor of Law. Has the diplomatic rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary. Yakovenko speaks Russian, English and French.

Yakovenko began his diplomatic career in 1976 and has occupied various positions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, including the Department of International Organizations, the Permanent Mission of the USSR to the United Nations in New York, the Foreign Policy Planning Department, the Department of International Scientific and Technical Cooperation, the Department of Security and Disarmament, the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to International Organizations in Vienna, and the Information and Press Department. Participated in numerous sessions of the UN Security Council and General Assembly, the UNESCO General Conference, various OSCE forums, negotiations on conventional armed forces in Europe and confidence building measures, the IAEA Board of Governors meetings, the Russian-American Joint Commission on Economic and Technological Cooperation, and the G8 expert meetings. Headed the Russian delegation at the International Space Station negotiations (1993–1998).

In January 2011, Yakovenko was appointed by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to the post of Ambassador of Russia to the United Kingdom, replacing Yury Fedotov.