Ivan Mayski

Ivan Mikhailovich Maisky (also spelled Maysky; Russian: Ива́н Миха́йлович Ма́йский) (19 January 1884 – 3 September 1975) was a Soviet diplomat, historian and politician, notable as the Soviet Union's Ambassador to the United Kingdom during much of the Second World War.

Ivan Maisky was born Jan Lachowiecki in Kirillov to a Russified Polish family living in Imperial Russia. His early revolutionary activities led to his expulsion from St. Petersburg University in 1902. After internal exile in Siberia, he travelled in Western Europe, where he learned English and French. In 1912, he settled in London until 1917. There, he met and befriended Georgii Chicherin and Maxim Litvinov. As his English improved his circle of friends expanded to include George Bernard Shaw, H.G. Wells and Beatrice Webb.

At the outbreak of the Russian Civil War and the revolt of the Czechoslovak Legion in Siberia, Maisky returned to Russia and settled in Samara, where he joined the local Komuch government, for which he was banished by the Mensheviks.

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