The position of Soviet ambassador to Yugoslavia lasted from the first establishment of relations between theSoviet Union and theKingdom of Yugoslavia in 1940, until thedissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. This encompassed the period of theYugoslav government-in-exile between 1941 and 1945, and the establishment of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia in 1945. Relations were briefly broken off between 1949 and 1953, and continued thereafter, including after the renaming of the state as theSocialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1963 until 1992. Representation was maintained between the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union's successor, the Russian Federation, until thebreakup of Yugoslavia in 1992. Thereafter the Russian Federation maintained relations with many of Yugoslavia's successor states, includingSerbia and Montenegro, otherwise known as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia between 1992 and 2003, and the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro from 2003 and 2006. After the separation of this union into the independent countries ofSerbia andMontenegro in 2006, the Russian Federation continues to appoint representatives to both of them.
Vasily Valkov, Soviet ambassador to Yugoslavia after theTito–Stalin split had caused the breaking of diplomatic relations between 1949 and 1953
Diplomatic exchanges between the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia began with the formal establishment of relations on 24 June 1940, towards the very end of the existence of theKingdom of Yugoslavia, and shortly beforeits invasion andoccupation by Axis forces the following year. The first Soviet representative,Viktor Plotnikov [ru], was appointed on 26 June 1940, andpresented his credentials on 12 July 1940.[1] With the invasion and occupation of Yugoslavia in 1941, aYugoslav government-in-exile was established, eventually settling in London. TheSoviet ambassador to the Allied governments [ru]Aleksandr Bogomolov [ru], representative to many of the governments-in-exile that were based in London during the occupation of their countries, was accredited to the Yugoslav government-in-exile from 21 August 1941 onwards.[2] During the war, power shifted to the hands of thePartisan movement, led byJosip Broz Tito, and with the expulsion of Axis forces towards the end of the war, Tito formed a government to which the Soviet Union duly accreditedIvan Sadchikov [ru] as its first ambassador.[2] Sadchikov was succeeded byAnatoly Lavrentiev in 1946, butrelations between Titov and Stalin soured during the second half of the 1940s, anddiplomatic relations were broken off in 1949. They were only restored in 1953 following Stalin's death in March that year, and in June 1953Vasily Valkov was appointed the new Soviet ambassador.[2] Relations were maintained thereafter, including during the changing of the country's name to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1963, with the last Soviet ambassador,Gennady Shikin, being appointed in September 1991. With thedissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991, Shikin remained as ambassador of the Russian Federation, and continued to serve during thebreakup of Yugoslavia in 1992.[2]
With the breakup of Yugoslavia, many of the former constituent republics declared independence and established themselves as separate nations. The Russian Federation duly established relations and appointed ambassadors to them:to Croatia in 1992,to Slovenia in 1994,to Bosnia and Herzegovina andto Macedonia in 1996. The former republics of Serbia and Montenegro combined to form theFederal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1992, and Shikin continued as ambassador in Belgrade to this state until 1996.[2] In 2003 the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was officially renamed the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, and three years later was dissolved to form the separate states ofSerbia, andMontenegro. The incumbent ambassador to Serbia and Montenegro,Aleksandr Alekseyev [ru], continued asambassador to Serbia, while a new ambassador,Yakov Gerasimov [ru], was appointedambassador to Montenegro in 2007.[3]
