Russia

Question 1

Vladimir Vladimirovich Kara-Murza

Answer 1

Vladimir Vladimirovich Kara-Murza (Russian: Влади́мир Влади́мирович Кара́-Мурза́, born 7 September 1981) is a Russian politician and journalist and, since 2012, Senior Policy Advisor at the Institute of Modern Russia. An elected member of the Coordinating Council of the Russian Opposition, he serves on the federal council of the Republican Party of Russia – People’s Freedom Party and the Solidarnost pro-democracy movement. Kara-Murza holds an M.A. in history from Cambridge University.

Kara-Murza is a coordinator of Open Russia, a NGO founded by Russian businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky, which promotes civil society and democracy in Russia.

Question 2

Andrei Karlov

Answer 2

Andrei Gennadyevich Karlov (Russian: Андре́й Генна́дьевич Ка́рлов; 4 February 1954 – 19 December 2016) was a Russian career diplomat who served as the Russian Ambassador to Turkey and earlier as the nation’s ambassador to North Korea.[1]

On the evening of 19 December 2016, while speaking at an art gallery exhibition in Ankara, Turkey, Karlov was assassinated by Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş, an off-duty Turkish policeman.[2][3]

Question 3

Alexander Kadakin

Answer 3

Alexander Mikhailovich Kadakin (Russian: Александр Михайлович Кадакин; 22 July 1949 – 26 January 2017) was a Russian diplomat and the Russian Ambassador to India from 2009 until his death in 2017. He had earlier served as the ambassador to India between 1999 and 2004.[1][2][3] He died from heart failure while in service in New Delhi in 2017. Russia is probing death of Ambassador Alexander Kadakin in New Delhi.

Question 4

Mikhail Lesin

Answer 4

Mikhail Yuriyevich Lesin (Russian: Михаил Юрьевич Лесин; July 11, 1958 – November 5, 2015) was a Russian political figure, media executive and an adviser to president Vladimir Putin.[1] In 2006 he was awarded the Order “For Merit to the Fatherland”, one of Russia’s highest state decoration for civilians. Mikhail Lesin was nicknamed the Bulldozer (Russian: Бульдозер) because of his ability to get virtually all Russian media outlets under The Kremlin’s control.[2]

Lesin died in a Washington DC hotel room under unusual circumstances. His family initially said the cause of death was a heart attack but, after a year-long investigation, Washington’s chief medical examiner and federal authorities released a joint statement saying he died of blunt-force trauma to his head sustained in his hotel room, induced by falls amid acute ethanol intoxication.

Question 5

Vitaly Churkin

Answer 5

Vitaly Ivanovich Churkin (Russian: Виталий Иванович Чуркин; IPA: [vʲɪˈtalʲɪj ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ ˈtɕurkʲɪn]; 21 February 1952 – 20 February 2017) was a Russian diplomat and former child actor.[1] Churkin served as Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 2006 until his death in 2017.

Previously he was Ambassador-at-Large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation (2003–2006), Ambassador to Canada (1998–2003), Ambassador to Belgium and Liaison Ambassador to NATO and WEU (1994–1998), Deputy Foreign Minister and Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation to the talks on Former Yugoslavia (1992–1994), Director of the Information Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR/Russian Federation (1990–1992). Churkin was fluent in English, French and Mongolian.

Question 6

Andrey Malanin

Answer 6

Head of the consular department at Russia’s embassy in Greece. Died 7 Jan 2017