Konstantin Kosachev | |
|---|---|
Константин Косачев | |
.jpg) Kosachev in 2021 | |
| Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of theFederation Council | |
| Assumed office 25 December 2015 | |
| Russian Federation Senator from theMari El Republic | |
| Assumed office 21 September 2015 | |
| Preceded by | Svetlana Solntseva |
| Russian Federation Senator from theChuvash Republic | |
| In office 15 December 2014 – 15 September 2015 | |
| Preceded by | Galina Nikolayeva |
| Succeeded by | Nikolay Fyodorov |
| Head ofRossotrudnichestvo | |
| In office 5 March 2012 – 22 December 2014 | |
| Member of theState Duma | |
| In office 19 December 1999 – 21 December 2011 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Konstantin Iosifovich Kosachev (1962-09-17)17 September 1962 (age 63) Moscow Oblast, USSR |
| Nationality | Russian |
| Party | United Russia |
| Spouse | Lyudmila Kosachev |
| Children | 3 |
| Alma mater | MGIMO MFA Diplomatic Academy |
| Profession | Politician, diplomat |
Konstantin Iosifovich Kosachev (Russian:Константин Иосифович Косачев; born 17 September 1962) is a Russian politician and former diplomat. He is a senator at theFederation Council (Russian parliament's upper house) and chairs its Foreign Affairs Committee. He has been on the US sanctions list since 2018.
After graduating from theMoscow State Institute of International Relations, Kosachev was a diplomat at the Russian Embassy in Sweden. Hewas elected to theState Duma in 1999. He was appointed head ofRossotrudnichestvo in 2012. In December 2014, he became a member of the Federation Council.
Konstantin Kosachev was born in the Pushkin district ofMoscow Oblast on 17 September 1962 to Nina G. and Joseph Artemyevitch Kosachev, a diplomat who worked in theMinistry of Foreign Affairs of theUSSR.[1][2] He lived in Sweden eight years and attended school there. He later studied in Moscow, graduating in 1979.[3]
In 1984, Kosachev graduated from theMoscow State Institute of International Relations. He is fluent in Swedish and English. As a translator, Kosachev worked in various diplomatic posts in the central and foreign offices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR and Russia. In 1991 he graduated from training at theDiplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[4]
Kosachev became first secretary of Russian embassy in Sweden in 1991. He was named advisor to the embassy in 1994. Kosachev participated in several international conferences on European security and disarmament. He was part of an advisory group to Russia's minister of foreign affairs. He was also deputy director of the 2nd European Department of the Russian foreign ministry, in charge of implementing Russian foreign policy in the Nordic area.[citation needed]
From May 1998 Kosachev was first an adviser, then an assistant for international affairs to the prime minister (underSergey Kiriyenko,Yevgeny Primakov, andSergei Stepashin). He also served as secretariat of the chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation.[citation needed]
From 19 December 1999 to December 2003, Kosachev was a deputy of the3rd State Duma of the Russian Federation, the first deputy head of theFatherland – All Russia political faction, and deputy chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee. Kosachev was a member of the Commissions to assist theFederal Republic of Yugoslavia in overcoming the consequences of theNATO bombing, to implement theAnti-Ballistic Missile Treaty between the Russian Federation, theComprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) and to conclude a new treaty on further reduction and limitation of strategic offensive arms (New START).[4]
In 2003, Kosachev defended his Ph.D. thesis on "The concept of development of international law in the fight against nuclear terrorism" at theDiplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[5][6]
From 2003 to 2007, Kosachev was deputy of the4th State Duma of the Russian Federation and part of the United Russia party. He served as Chairman of the State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee. In 2005, Kosachev wrote an article entitled "Why Would a Bear Need Wings", challenging then-Chairman of the State DumaBoris Gryzlov's position that the United Russia party did not need working groups.[7]
On 2 December 2007, he was elected deputy of the5th State Duma of the Russian Federation and continued to chair the State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee.
On 4 December 2011, Kosachev was elected deputy of the6th State Duma of the Russian Federation. He was elected deputy chairman of the State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee.
On 5 March 2012,Vladimir Putin appointed Kosachev head ofRossotrudnichestvo, the federal agency for theCommonwealth of Independent States, Compatriots Living Abroad and International Humanitarian Cooperation and the Russian president's special envoy for relations with CIS member-states.[8]
On 18 December 2014, Kosachev was appointedFederation Council representative by the heads of theChuvash Republic.[9] A week later, on 25 December 2014, he was elected Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs.
On 21 September 2015, Kosachev was named representative of the Government of theMari El Republic in the Russian Federation Council.[10]
In September 2015 Kosachev was included in the sanctions list of individuals and entities adopted theNational Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.[11]
In April 2018, the United States imposed sanctions on him and 23 other Russian nationals.[12][13]
He was sanctioned by theUK government in 2022 in relation to theRusso-Ukrainian War.[14]
Kosachev headed the State Duma's delegation to theParliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) from 2004 to 2012. He served as vice-speaker of PACE and coordinated a deputy group for relations with theSwedish Parliament. When considering the 2006 resolution condemning communist regimes, Kosachev declared it inadmissible to equate communism and Nazism: "It is impossible to equate the communist ideology and the ideology of Nazism".[15]
_02.jpg)
In June 2010, Kosachev wrote an article for theEcho of Moscow website proposing that the Russian Federation devise set of principles or a historical doctrine whereby it could disclaim any financial, legal, political or moral responsibility for USSR's actions in former territories while still acting as a successor state.[16][17]
In November 2011, he expressed the view that theEuropean Monetary Union (euro zone) exclude Greece, Hungary, Portugal, Ireland, Spain, Italy and Latvia, because these countries have a huge government debt.[18][clarification needed] At that time, neither Latvia nor Hungary were part of the Eurozone.
Kosachev opposes Russian ratification of Article 20 of theUnited Nations Convention against Corruption. He believes that the 20th article contradicts Article 49 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation and could deprive millions of Russian citizens of the presumption of innocence.[citation needed]
In February 2017, following the resignation ofMichael T. Flynn asnational security adviser, Kosachev opined thatRussophobia waspandemic inDonald Trump's administration.[19]
Kosachev spread theUkraine bioweapons conspiracy theory, claiming without evidence that Ukrainians were being turned intogenetically modified super soldiers in the alleged laboratories in Ukraine.[20]
In September 2022, Kosachev warned that after theannexation referendums in Russian-occupied Ukraine, "protecting people in this region will not be our right, but our duty. An attack on people and territories will be an attack on Russia. With all the consequences."[21]
In March 2025, Kosachev responded to US President Donald Trump's attempts to negotiate aceasefire in the Russo-Ukrainian war, saying that "Russia is advancing [on the battlefield], so it will be different with Russia. Any agreements should be on our terms, not American."[22]
Kosachev is a member of theAlexander Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Fund's Management Board.[36]
Kosachev met his wife, Lyudmila Muranova (b. 1958) in Sweden.[3] They have three children.[4]
