Page 505 - 100 Reflections that Crafted Geneva International_V-Petrovsky_private special edition

The Departure of a Great Craftsman

of Geneva International

18
By Ambassador François Nordmann
(annotated and abridged)
A mbassador François Nordmann traces the life of Vladimir Petrovsky,

former Director-General of the UNOG:

Vladimir Petrovsky was Director-General of the United Nations
Office at the Palais des Nations in Geneva from 1993 to 2002. He was an
unconditional, effective and powerful advocate of Geneva’s role within the UN
system, a friend of Switzerland and an unequalled diplomat, who made his
th
mark on the history of diplomacy in the last quarter of the 20 century.

Specialising in international security, Mr. Petrovsky was also the one most
knowledgeable about the UN in the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As
Secretary of the Soviet Delegation to the Conference on Security and Co-
operation in Europe from 1972 to 1975, Mr. Petrovsky partnered with the
Swiss representative, Ambassador Edouard Brunner, who became his friend.

In Moscow during the Cold War, Mr. Petrovsky ascended the steps of a
career that brought him to the position of Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of
the Soviet Union, which he held from 1986. In this position, he became one of
the founding fathers of perestroika. Moreover, he finalised the policy of
cooperation, openness and forming closer ties with the West, the policy
announced by President Gorbachev from the UN podium in 1987.

After the break-up of the Soviet Union, in 1992, Mr Petrovsky was called
to the New York by then UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali to take
up the post of Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs.

18 François Nordmann was Ambassador and head of the Permanent Mission of Swizerland

to the United Nations in Geneva from 2002 to 2004, during and after the time that
Mr. Petrovsky was Director-General of the UN Office at Geneva, and during the time of
the historic vote in the referendum of the Swiss accession to the United Nations, as well
as to the factual accession that took place 10 September 2002. The article was published in
Le Temps magazine on 11 March 2014 (in French); and in the book
"Vladimir Petrovsky: The Master Diplomat", edited by S.M. Karlen, ISBN
9781938999804, by The United Nations SRC Society of Writers, 2015 (in English). The
above text is an annotated and abridged version of the article, slightly revised for this book.

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