Russian diplomats are dying. Ambassadors cannot be killed. Historical experience. Ambassador is a dangerous profession

The shots in Ankara, which ended the life of Andrei Karlov, our ambassador to Turkey, on December 19, were heard at a time when Putin was preparing to attend the Maly Theater performance “Woe from Wit,” based on the great play by Alexander Griboedov, a writer, musician and diplomat of the highest rank, who died in Persia. This happened on January 30, 1829, during an attack by Islamic fanatics on the Russian embassy in Tehran, where Ambassador Griboyedov was sheltering several Armenians, saving them from massacre.

Türkiye will pay compensation to the family of the Su-24 pilot with the condition

This story is quite widely known: the frightened Shah of Persia, in order to avoid cruel retaliatory measures from the Russian Empire, sent his beloved grandson along with fabulously expensive gifts to St. Petersburg. The famous Shah diamond, which once adorned the throne of the Great Mughals and is now one of the main relics of the Russian Diamond Fund, turned out to be a sufficient redeeming argument for the tsar. Accepting the expensive gifts sent by the Shah along with his humble apologies, Nicholas I told his grandson that he was consigning “the ill-fated Tehran incident to eternal oblivion.” Thus, in a royal manner, the blood of Griboyedov, 37 Russian diplomats and Cossacks guarding the embassy was forgiven. The completely wild story of the attack on the Russian mission in Tehran remained for Persia without any serious consequences.

At the dawn of Soviet power, two more of our ambassadors were killed. In 1923, in Switzerland, Vaclav Vorovsky, the head of the embassy in Italy, was shot dead by a White Guard. The court in Lausanne too easily and quickly acquitted the suspect and his accomplice, declaring the murder of the diplomat an act of retaliation, and the young soviet republic broke off diplomatic relations with Switzerland for 23 years. Four years later, in 1927, the ambassador to Poland Pyotr Voikov was killed (not so long ago, during disputes about renaming the Voikovskaya metro station, this incident was described in some detail by our press).

So, Switzerland paid for the death of Vorovsky and the acquittal of the killers by breaking off relations, and for the death of Voikov, the Soviet Union responded with real internal terror: twenty representatives of Russian aristocratic families were arrested and shot without trial.

Of course, the dark symbolism of the brutal events with our ambassadors, the consequences of these murders suggest some associations and parallels. But now the times have come when Russia no longer trades in the blood and lives of its diplomats and does not respond with terror to terror - and the Turks, presumably, know this well. Almost immediately after the incident was reported to the Turkish leadership, President Erdogan called Putin, announced his personal control over the course of the investigation and promised to strengthen the security of the Russian mission and diplomats.

But is this enough?

A climate of incomplete trust, reticence and even outright suspicion still remains dominant in recent Russian-Turkish relations, and the terrorist attack against Andrei Karlov will certainly aggravate all this. Tragic event in Ankara also exposed huge gaps in the security system protecting our diplomats in a warring state where terrorist attacks occur regularly. Experts in this field have already noted bad job both Turkish and Russian intelligence services.

Whatever the global goals of the killer named Mevlüt Mert Altintas, a former police officer, Turkish official circles and the press immediately rushed to declare him a participant in a semi-mythical terrorist organization FETO. This is how Erdogan now calls almost all of his internal and external enemies, without trial or investigation, adding them to the ranks of accomplices of the notorious political opponent Fethullah Gülen, although the Istanbul court recognized in the spring: there is no court decision confirming the existence of an armed terrorist organization called “FETO”. But under the guise of fighting this semi-mythical structure, a real “witch hunt” has been going on in Turkey for the third year now: in Turkish prisons there are now several thousand opponents of Erdogan, who are accused of organizing a coup attempt or simply aiding Gülen.

All observers unanimously noted that Altintash’s main goal was to deliver a targeted and extremely painful blow to the slowly recovering Russian-Turkish relations. Of course, this goal has been achieved, and much will now depend on Erdogan’s behavior. In the first seconds after the fatal shots, the killer clearly and unequivocally announced on camera that this was revenge for Russia’s actions in Syria, but the Turkish president, without any hesitation, immediately started his favorite song about the hand of Gülen, hiding in America.

Of course, only an open and honest investigation can convince Russian authorities The point is that it is really important for Turkey to preserve the barely emerging positive vector of movement in Russian-Turkish relations. But given the fact that Erdogan recently let slip about his true goals of intervention in the internal Syrian conflict (remember: the Turkish president unexpectedly declared the removal of Bashar al-Assad, his personal enemy, as his priority in Syrian expansion), which are radically at odds with the goals of Russia, it will now be extremely difficult to regain Putin’s trust difficult.

Today, December 20, a trilateral meeting of the heads of the foreign and defense ministries of Russia, Iran and Turkey is scheduled to take place, who will discuss the course of the Syrian conflict and ways to resolve it. Of course, Turkey’s position on these issues will now be key. If the Turks do not find the courage to admit that all traces of the current terror in the Middle East lead to the Islamic quasi-state banned in Russia, and continue to refer to the activities of Gülen in this matter, there will be no talk of any further progress in trust between our countries.

Be that as it may, it can already be stated that yesterday Turkey, at the expense of Russia, placed another bloody sacrifice on the altar of Middle Eastern terror, the adherents of which it had been flirting with for many years. It is obvious that the Russian authorities will continue to try, in conjunction with Turkey, to find both ways to resolve the Syrian conflict and ways to restore multidirectional ties between our two countries, but the reluctance of the Turkish leadership to admit obvious miscalculations in its internal and foreign policy, in the work of the intelligence services, the ambivalent position in relations with Russia is unlikely to lead to anything constructive in the foreseeable future.

In any case, there is no hope that after two years of almost complete downtime, the fairly rusty mechanism of Russian-Turkish relations, now drenched in the blood of our ambassador, will soon be restored and begin working properly. Erdogan now needs to try twice as hard - and he needs to start right now.

Murders and assassination attempts on ambassadors inXXIcentury

03/28/03 Ambassador was killed in the capital of Cote d'Ivoire, Abidjan. Saudi Arabia in Cote d'Ivoire, Mohamed Ahmed Rashid.

12/29/03 Vatican Ambassador Michael Courtney was fatally shot in Burundi.

07/02/05 Egyptian Ambassador to Iraq Ihab al-Sherif was kidnapped in Baghdad. The body has not yet been found.

07/27/05 In Iraq, the Algerian ambassador Ali Belaroussi, who was taken hostage, was executed by Islamists.

08/20/06. Russian Ambassador to Kenya Valery Egoshkin was attacked by bandits. After treatment for stab wound the ambassador returned to fulfill his diplomatic duties.

09/20/08 Czech Ambassador to Pakistan Ivo Ždarek was blown up in a terrorist attack in Islamabad.

29.11.11 Ambassador to Qatar Vladimir Titorenko was attacked. He was struck several times by Doha airport security.

07/27/12 Venezuelan Ambassador to Kenya Olga Fonseca was strangled to death in Nairobi. The incident was filed as a domestic homicide.

Andrei Karlov, killed by a terrorist in Ankara, is not the first Russian ambassador to be dealt with radical islamists. The first was Alexander Griboedov, who was brutally torn to pieces by a crowd in Tehran religious fanatics. Read the story of his murder in Life's material.

"I will lay my head for my compatriots." Alexander Griboyedov left this entry in his diary on August 24, 1819, almost ten years before his death in Tehran. Even then, he foresaw the danger that later turned into an attack by radicals on the Russian embassy in the capital of Persia.

The diplomatic career of Alexander Griboyedov began in 1817 in St. Petersburg. Leaving military service, 22-year-old Griboyedov took the position of provincial secretary, and then a translator at the College of Foreign Affairs. But then he was young and hot, leading a rather wild lifestyle. At the end of 1817, Griboyedov took part in the famous double duel over the dancer Avdotya Istomina. The cavalry guard Sheremetev, Istomina’s lover, who was jealous of the dancer’s friend Griboedov Zavodsky, was shot.

Griboedov was Zavodsky’s second, and Alexander Yakubovich was Sheremetev’s second. All four participants in the duel had to shoot. But Zavodsky seriously wounded Sheremetev in the stomach, which is why the seconds did not have time to fire their shots. Sheremetev eventually died from his wound. And Griboyedov was forced to leave St. Petersburg.

Russia's Charge d'Affaires of Persia, Semyon Mazarovich, invited Griboedov to go with him as secretary of the embassy. Griboedov refused the appointment for a long time, but eventually agreed. He received the rank of titular councilor on June 17, 1818 and became secretary under Mazarovich.

In October, Griboedov was in Tiflis. And there he again became a participant in the duel, meeting his old acquaintance Yakubovich. This time the duel took place. They were shooting. Yakubovich shot the palm of Griboedov’s left hand, which caused the writer’s little finger to cramp.

“The insidious policy that Persia continued to pursue in relation to Russia, the patronage it provided to the fugitive khans of Dagestan and our Transcaucasian possessions that were hostile to us, put our mission in a far from enviable position. There was a lot to do, and Griboyedov’s time was absorbed in them. Moreover, due to the frequent absence of Mazarovich in Tabriz, all the affairs of the mission were concentrated in his hands, and he, on his own initiative, defended the interests of Russia with the energy of an ardent patriot."

Writing down the phrase “I will lay my head for my compatriots,” Griboyedov most likely pointed to his activities in liberating Russian prisoners and relocating them to Russia along with fugitives who had been living in Persia since the campaign of 1803, when Russian troops began to subjugate the lands located to the north Araks River. This was supposed to help ensure the security of Georgia, which suffered from raids by Muslim neighbors.

As Skobichevsky writes in his book, prisoners who agreed to return to Russia were tortured, bribed to stay in Persia, and intimidated with stories of punishments supposedly awaiting them in their homeland. But Griboyedov insisted on his own and personally escorted a detachment of Russian prisoners to Russian borders.

“Griboyedov spent exactly three years in Persia. Having studied Arabic in addition to the Persian language perfectly, having learned to read in both of these languages, he was all the more easily able to become acquainted with the morals and customs of the Persians, to study the character of this people, cruel, treacherous and treacherous.”

- Alexander Skobichevsky. "Griboedov. His life and literary activity"

Tehran massacre

At the beginning of 1823, Griboedov left the service and returned to his homeland. He lived in Moscow, then in St. Petersburg. He returned to diplomatic activity in September 1826, going to serve in Tiflis. He took part in the conclusion of the Turkman peace treaty, beneficial for Russia, which ended the Russian-Persian War of 1826–1828. After this, Griboedov was appointed ambassador to Tehran.

On October 7, Griboyedov arrived in Tabriz. As Skobichevsky writes, from the first days of travel through Persian territory, “misunderstandings began that did not promise anything good.” In particular, Griboyedov himself argued with the Shah and his ministers, and his servants had clashes with the Persians. For example, the servants of one Persian beat Griboyedov’s uncle, Alexander Gribov, and one Cossack’s bottle of vodka was broken, for which the culprit was severely punished.

“The drop that overflowed the cup was the clash with the Persian government over the Armenian Mirza-Yakub, who had already for a long time lived in Persia, managing the Shah's harem as chief eunuch. A few days before the scheduled departure date, Mirza-Yakub came to the embassy and declared his desire to return to Russia. Griboedov took part in it, but the Persian government opposed Yakub’s return to Russia all the more energetically because the latter had been treasurer and chief eunuch for many years, knew all the secrets of the harem and family life Shah and could announce them"

- Alexander Skobichevsky. "Griboedov. His life and literary activity"

This angered the Shah. They tried to keep Yakub by all means: they declared that a eunuch was almost the same as the wife of the Shah, they demanded huge amounts of money from Yakub, claiming that he had robbed the Shah’s treasury and therefore could not be released. Moreover, it came to the attention of the head of the clergy, Mujtehid Messikh Mirza, that the eunuch was allegedly scolding the Muslim faith.

“How?!” said the mujtehid. “This man has been in our faith for twenty years, read our books, and now he will go to Russia and outrage our faith; he is a traitor, unfaithful and guilty of death!

- Alexander Skobichevsky. "Griboedov. His life and literary activity"

Griboyedov's comrade-in-arms Maltsov wrote that on January 30, from the very morning, people gathered in the mosque, where they were told: “Go to the house of the Russian envoy, take prisoners, kill Mirza-Yakub and Rustem!” - a Georgian who was in the service of the envoy.

“Thousands of people with drawn daggers invaded our house and threw stones. I saw how at that time the collegiate assessor Prince Solomon Melikov, sent to Griboedov by his uncle Manuchehr Khan, ran through the yard; the people threw stones at him and rushed after him to the second and third courtyards, where the prisoners and the envoy were located. All the roofs were filled with ferocious mobs, who expressed their joy and triumph with fierce cries. Our guard sarbaz (soldiers) did not have charges with them, they rushed for their guns, which were stored in the attic and already stolen by the people.

For an hour our Cossacks fired back, and then bloodshed began everywhere. The envoy, believing at first that the people only wanted to take away prisoners, ordered the three Cossacks standing on his watch to fire blank charges, and then only ordered the pistols to be loaded with bullets when he saw that our people were being slaughtered in the yard. About 15 officials and servants gathered in the envoy's room and bravely defended themselves at the door. Those who tried to invade by force were cut down by sabers, but at that very time the ceiling of the room, which served as the last refuge for the Russians, was on fire: everyone there was killed by stones thrown down from above, rifle shots and dagger blows from the mob that burst into the room. The robbery began: I saw how the Persians carried the booty into the courtyard and, with shouting and fighting, divided it among themselves. Money, papers, mission journals - everything was looted..."

37 Russians and 19 Tehranians were killed in the massacre. On the next or third day after this massacre, the mutilated corpses of the dead were taken outside the city wall, thrown into one heap and covered with earth. A little later, Griboyedov was found among the piles of bodies. His body was identified only by the same injury once received during a duel with Yakubovich.

Griboyedov's body was sent to Tiflis, where he was buried, according to his wishes, on June 18, 1829. Griboyedov's wife, Nina Aleksandrovna, whom he married shortly before the tragedy, erected a chapel at the grave, and in it - a monument. The monument was decorated with the inscription: “Your mind and deeds are immortal in Russian memory; but why did my love survive you?”

For the murder of Griboyedov, the Persians handed over a generous offering to Emperor Nicholas I with an apology. Among the gifts was one of the greatest treasures of the Persian Shahs - the Shah Diamond.

There are different versions of the assassination attempt on Andrei Karlov. The consequences are also predicted to be one more serious than the other. CEO analytical center "East-West Strategy" Dmitry Orlov suggests remembering why in different time cited the murders of diplomats.
Violated prohibitions The first murder of ambassadors recorded in Asian history occurred in 1218. As Persian and Arab historians write, on the orders of the Shah of Khorezm Ala ad-Din Muhammad II, the envoys of Genghis Khan - Usun and ibn Kefredzh Bogra - were killed. Since the killing of ambassadors is a prohibition observed in Great Steppe strictly even in those cruel times, this became the reason for Genghis Khan’s campaign against Khorezm and led to the inglorious end of the empire, which included a vast territory - from the borders of China to present-day Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Southern Kazakhstan.
The famous battle of Russian princes with the Mongols at Kalka in 1223 was also preceded by the murder of ambassadors. As you know, Genghis Khan’s commanders Jebe and Subudai, pursuing the retreating Khorezm Polovtsians, went to the Black Sea steppes. Polovtsian Khan Kotyan tried to give them battle, but the Mongols defeated him and drove him to the Dnieper. Then Kotyan turned to his son-in-law, the Galician prince Mstislav Udatny, and other Russian princes for help, supporting his request with rich gifts. The Mongols sent ambassadors to the Russians, who informed the princes that they had nothing against Rus' - they only needed Kotyan. “The First Novgorod Chronicle” writes that the ambassadors said this: “We heard that you are coming against us, having listened to the Polovtsians, but we did not touch your land, nor your cities, nor your villages. They did not come against you, but they came by the will of God against the slaves and grooms of your Polovtsians. You take peace with us; if they run to you, drive them away from you and take away their property. We heard that they did a lot of harm to you too; we beat them for that."
However, the princes killed the ambassadors. After this, the Mongols sent a second embassy to the Russians with the following words: “You listened to the Polovtsians and killed our ambassadors. Now you’re coming at us, well, go ahead. We didn’t touch you: God is above us all.” They did not kill the second ambassadors, but they rejected the peace proposals. Afterwards, the Battle of Kalka took place, which ended in defeat for Kotyan and the Russian princes - out of 21 princes, only nine returned home alive. It is noteworthy that during Batu Khan’s invasion of Rus', which some historians forget to mention, those Russian cities whose princes participated in the murder of ambassadors were raided...
In 1829, the poet Alexander Griboedov, Russia's envoy to Persia, was killed. This happened after an attack by fanatics (according to one version, incited by the British) on the Russian embassy in Tehran. Official story considers the reason for the attack to be that Griboyedov hid on the territory of the diplomatic mission two concubines from the harem of the Shah’s relative Allahyar Khan Qajar and a eunuch from the Shah’s harem.
All those who defended the embassy died, and there were no direct witnesses left. Secretary Ivan Maltsov, the only one who survived, did not mention the death of Griboyedov. According to him, 15 people were defending at the door of the envoy's room. Returning to Russia, he wrote that 37 embassy employees (all except him) and 19 residents of Tehran were killed. He himself hid in another room and, in fact, could only describe what he heard. The grandson of the Persian Shah, Khozrev Mirza, came to St. Petersburg to settle the scandal, and gave Nicholas I many rich gifts, including the famous Shah diamond, as payment for the murder of Griboyedov. The Emperor allegedly told Khozrev: “I consign the ill-fated Tehran incident to eternal oblivion.”
From conspiracy to conspiracy On July 6, 1918, employees of the Cheka arrived at the German embassy in Moscow - left Socialist Revolutionaries Yakov Blyumkin and Nikolai Andreev. They were received by the ambassador, Count Wilhelm Mirbach. During the conversation, Andreev pulled out a revolver and shot at the diplomat, then also threw a grenade. Mirbach was killed by the last bullet. Blyumkin and Andreev ran out of the embassy and drove by car to the headquarters of the Cheka detachment under the command of the left Socialist Revolutionary Dmitry Popov, which was located in the center of Moscow - in Trekhsvyatitelsky Lane. The chairman of the Cheka, Felix Dzerzhinsky, came there for Blumkin and Andreev, who was taken hostage. This is how the Left Socialist Revolutionary rebellion began on July 6, which, however, the Bolsheviks quickly eliminated. By killing Mirbach, the Left Socialist Revolutionaries hoped to provoke a war between Germany and Soviet Russia, but they failed.
Tellingly, a month later the security officers uncovered the so-called “ambassador conspiracy”, in which diplomats from England, France and the USA participated - Robert Bruce Lockhart, Joseph Nulans and David Rowland Francis. Lockhart tried to bribe the Latvian riflemen who were guarding the Kremlin in Moscow in order to carry out a military coup, arresting the meeting of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee along with Lenin and occupying key points. The conspiracy was discovered. Without going into details, let's say that on August 30, 1918 - after the murder of the chairman of the Cheka there, Moisei Uritsky, in Petrograd and the Moscow assassination attempt on Lenin - the security officers detained all the conspirators at the British embassy. Only the naval attache, Francis Allen Cromie, was killed.
Researchers Michael Sayers and Albert Kahn wrote about this: “On the top floor, embassy employees under the leadership of Captain Cromie were burning documents incriminating them. Cromie rushed down and slammed the door in the face of the Soviet agents. They broke the door. The English spy met them on the stairs, holding them in both " However, the violation of the extraterritoriality of the embassy by the security officers does not lead to any consequences on the part of Britain for Soviet Russia did not lead.
On May 10, 1923, in the restaurant of the Cecil Hotel in Lausanne, Switzerland, the USSR Plenipotentiary Envoy to Italy, Vaclav Vorovsky, who arrived in Switzerland as a delegate of the Lausanne Conference to prepare a peace treaty with Turkey and establish a regime for the Black Sea Straits, was killed. The participants in this murder - former White Guards Maurice Conradi (the direct perpetrator) and Arkady Polunin - were acquitted by the jury. In response, the USSR broke off diplomatic relations with Switzerland.
On February 5, 1926, on the stretch between Ikskile and Salaspils stations on the Moscow-Riga train, Soviet diplomatic couriers Theodor Nette and Johann Makhmastal were shot at. Nette was killed, Makhmastal was wounded. Two of the attackers were also wounded and retreated. They were later found dead and identified as the Lithuanian citizens of the Gavrilovich brothers. The police investigation yielded no results...
On June 7, 1927, at the Warsaw train station, former White Guard Boris Koverda shot and killed the USSR Plenipotentiary Representative in Poland Pyotr Voikov. For this murder he was sentenced to life imprisonment, but 10 years later he was released under an amnesty.
In October 1933, in Lviv, which was then part of Poland, a militant of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, Nikolai Lemik, shot and killed the secretary of the USSR Consulate General, Alexei Mailov. Later it became known that Mailov turned out to be an accidental victim - Lemik was supposed to kill the Consul General himself, but he was not there that day, so the reception of visitors was conducted by Mailov, who was also a legal resident of the Foreign Department of the OGPU.
Thus, Mailov became the first citizen of the USSR to be killed by OUN militants, who previously preferred to carry out terrorist attacks only against Polish officials. The Lviv court sentenced Lemik to death, which was later commuted to life imprisonment. After the outbreak of World War II, Lemik escaped from prison and later became the organizer of the Marching OUN. In October 1941, he was arrested by the Gestapo and shot.
Having received news of Mailov's death, the chairman of the OGPU, Vyacheslav Menzhinsky, ordered the development of a plan to combat Ukrainian nationalists. It was according to this plan that in 1938, NKVD employee Pavel Sudoplatov eliminated OUN leader Yevgeny Konovalets, giving him a mine in a box from chocolates at the Atlant Hotel in Rotterdam.
There are 13 more known to history serious crimes against Soviet and Russian diplomats different levels. Of course, this includes the murder of Andrei Karlov. In general, practice shows that diplomats are killed for a reason, but for specific purposes. The short-term goal of the murder in Ankara is obvious - to create a rift between Russia and Turkey. As for long-term goals, they are in the light of " great game"can be anything...

During the first quarter of the 19th century between Russian Empire and Persia there were two wars that ended in serious failure for the Persians. As a result of the war of 1804–1813, the Persians were forced to recognize the inclusion of the territories of present-day Georgia, Abkhazia and part of Azerbaijan into Russia. In addition, the Russian navy received the right to be based in the Caspian Sea.

This defeat seriously undermined Persia's traditionally strong position in Transcaucasia. For a decade and a half they were preparing revenge, hoping to wait for the right moment to strike back. After the accession to the throne of Nicholas I, which was accompanied by a speech by the Decembrists, as well as a sharp deterioration in relations with the Ottoman Empire, when the Turks broke all agreements in Russia, expelled its subjects and closed the Black Sea straits to Russian ships, the Persians considered that now was the most opportune moment to start the war.

It is worth noting that they were right: this was indeed the least fortunate moment for Russia. Her troops in the Caucasus were very small and, in addition, were subject to regular raids by detachments of warlike highlanders, in addition, there was a very serious risk of military conflict with the Turks. Emperor Nicholas realized that the situation was difficult and Russia would probably not be able to reliably cover the southern border and resist the invasion of a large Persian army. He was determined to resolve the issue peacefully and even cede part of the territory of present-day Azerbaijan in exchange for guaranteed neutrality. But the Persians believed in their luck and refused a diplomatic settlement, starting a war. As it turned out, in vain.

The Persians did not take into account that among the generals of the Russian army was General Ivan Paskevich, one of the most famous military leaders in Russian history. Paskevich's ten-thousand-strong detachment in the battle of Elizavetpol defeated the Persian army, which was three times larger in number. At the same time, only 46 soldiers died on the Russian side.

Paskevich, who became the commander-in-chief of the troops in the Caucasus, inflicted several sensitive defeats on the Persians. As a result, instead of returning its former influence in Transcaucasia, Persia lost what it had. Under the terms of the peace treaty, the Persians handed over Eastern Armenia to Russia, confirmed their renunciation of claims to those lands that had passed to Russia earlier, and paid a fairly large indemnity.

The new Russian envoy to Persia, Alexander Griboyedov, was directly involved in the development of this peace treaty. This promising writer was a real child prodigy from childhood: back in early age he knew three foreign languages, and by the time he grew up, he knew almost all European languages. Later, he learned several more Eastern languages ​​for work. Knowledge of languages ​​predetermined his diplomatic career.

It is interesting that Griboyedov could well have ended up in the United States, where a position as a diplomatic mission employee was vacant, but he chose to go to Persia, which was much closer to Russia. Griboedov's teacher of oriental languages ​​was the former translator of the Persian embassy, ​​Mirza Topchibashev, one of the first Russian orientalists.

Since 1818, Griboedov served as secretary of the Russian embassy in Persia, with interruptions for constant trips to Russia on various matters. Thanks to his participation in drawing up a peace treaty with Persia that was extremely beneficial for Russia, Griboyedov was promoted and became the new Russian ambassador. At the end of 1828 he arrived in Tehran.

Griboedov managed to remain ambassador for only a few months. The environment in which he had to work was too unfavorable. Persia experienced the catastrophic failure in the war very hard. Until recently, an influential and powerful state has now lost almost all of its power in the Caucasus (it is believed that it was this military defeat that marked the beginning of the decline of Persia), and in addition, it had to pay such a large indemnity that the Shah ordered the confiscation of gold and jewelry from his subjects and even sacrifice the jewels of your own harem.

It is believed that the main inspirer of the ensuing massacre was the Grand Vizier (head of government) of Persia, Allayar Khan, whose people began systematic propaganda against the Russian infidels. In squares, bazaars, and mosques, Allayar Khan's people passionately preached about the infidels, who not only became the cause of all the sorrows of the Persians, but also insulted their thousand-year-old customs. Ordinary people, for whom a much more significant factor was not so much the crushing defeat coupled with the loss of Transcaucasia, but rather the sharp deterioration in the quality of life, easily and uncritically accepted this propaganda.

It was alleged that the Russian embassy staff allegedly ridiculed and mocked the Persian traditions of harems and eunuchs. This, of course, sounded somewhat doubtful; Griboyedov and the rest of the embassy staff knew where they were going, and they were unlikely to openly mock and provoke the already angry Persians. However, the embassy staff actually did something that caused indignation among the Persians.

It was about sheltering and transporting fugitive Armenians and Georgians to Russia. Georgians, and often Armenians, were forcibly converted to Islam, and some were castrated and turned into eunuchs. There was no talk of wholesale conversion, but this was practiced and was not uncommon. But after Georgia and Armenia became part of Christian Russia, the Christian minorities of Persia, suffering from religious oppression, began to actively flee to Russia, and the Persians, of course, created all sorts of obstacles for them. When it came to ordinary people, they could still close their eyes, but often people fled from harems, taking refuge in the Russian embassy and taking advantage of its support. At the same time, Griboedov stood up for those hiding in front of the Persians, who demanded their extradition. After several similar conflicts, anger towards the new Russian envoy only increased.

It was no longer a secret frankly hostility to the Russian diplomatic mission, she began to receive threats; loyal local residents also warned about the possible danger. A few days before the attack, Griboedov even tried to get the Shah to evacuate the diplomatic mission due to the impending danger, but did not have time.

On February 11, a crowd of thousands, inflamed by new calls to punish the infidels who had brought so much evil to Persian soil, burst into the embassy building. He was guarded by 35 Cossacks, who entered into an unequal battle. However, the number of attackers was so great that they were crushed almost immediately. The circumstances of Griboedov's death remain unclear to this day. According to one version, he was killed in a battle at the door, where he fought alongside the Cossacks. According to another version, he locked himself in his office and fired guns for a long time. The attackers were unable to get to him through the door, so they broke through the roof and burst into the room through a hole in the ceiling. The dead were literally torn to pieces; Griboyedov was identified only by a scar on his hand (according to another version, by his long nails, which he grew in the fashion of that time).

The investigation into Griboedov's death is complicated by the fact that there is not a single living witness to the massacre. The only surviving embassy employee, secretary Maltsov, claimed that during the attack one of the servants helped him hide by wrapping him in a carpet, so Maltsov did not see what was happening in the building and heard only isolated screams.

However, many researchers rightfully question Maltsov’s explanations, pointing out that the embassy was looted and it is unlikely that the Persian mob would have passed by the rich carpets, in one of which Maltsov was hidden. Therefore, according to the most common version, Maltsov simply hid in the house local resident next door to the embassy. They were in friendly relations, and the neighbor hid the diplomatic worker at home, which saved him from the crowd.

Having learned about the incident, the Shah ordered the bodies of the dead to be hidden. He feared responsibility for the death of the diplomatic mission and wanted to make it seem like a crowd attacked the embassy, ​​but the staff managed to escape, so their whereabouts are now unknown. However, one of the Shah's advisers was able to convince him, explaining that in this case Russia would suspect the Shah of covering up the incident and would decide that he was personally involved in it.

In Persia, they feared that in response to the murder of Griboyedov, Russia would declare war on Persia and the country’s position would worsen even further. Therefore, the Shah tried in every possible way to appease the Russian side and demonstrate that he was not involved in what happened. He was very lucky, just at that time another Russian-Turkish war was going on, and starting another one was not in the interests of St. Petersburg.

The governor of the Caucasus and the commander-in-chief of the army in this region, Paskevich, wrote an analytical note in which he honestly admitted that new war not in Russia's interests:

“To do this, it will be necessary to declare an irreconcilable war on the Shah, but in the current war with the Turks there is no way to undertake this with the hope of success. There are not enough troops even to wage a defensive war with both powers.

Having started an offensive war with Persia, it is necessary to carry with you huge reserves of provisions, artillery charges, etc. to the very heart of Persia, but this region has been in a state of war since 1826, and therefore all methods of supplying troops and especially transportation have been completely exhausted to the point that even in the current war with the Turks, with great effort, I can hardly lift all the burdens I need for offensive movements."

For this reason, Emperor Nicholas was not in a militant mood and made it clear that if a proper apology was made, Persia would be forgiven.

The Shah sent a special apologetic delegation to the Russian capital, led by his grandson Khozrev-Mirza and several of his secretaries. The mission was heading to St. Petersburg, but on the way it stopped in Moscow, where Khozrev-Mirza met with the mother of the deceased Griboyedov and, according to eyewitnesses, crying, asked her for forgiveness.

Then the delegation went to the Russian capital, where it was received by the emperor. On behalf of the Shah, the head of the delegation handed over a letter of apology and assurances that the Shah was not involved in the tragic incident. As an apology for the death of the ambassador, the delegation brought numerous gifts, the crown of which was a magnificent diamond weighing 88.7 carats. Once he adorned the throne of the Great Mughals, and now he was the pride of the Persian Shahs. Currently, the throne is kept in the Diamond Fund in Moscow.

Emperor Nicholas, already peaceful for objective reasons, was pleased with the apology and announced that he considered the ill-fated incident to be settled. Indeed, there were no more wars between Russia and Iran. After that very defeat in the war of 1826–1828, which was perceived so hard in Persia, a long period of decline of this country began.

By the end of the 19th century, Persia had transformed from a once formidable rival to a junior partner, becoming a Russian sphere of influence. Pre-revolutionary Russia had very significant property in Northern Iran; there was even a Persian Cossack brigade, subordinate to Russian officers and instructors. All this property was later donated by the Bolsheviks after they came to power, but that’s another story.

On Monday evening in Ankara, policeman Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş committed Andrei Karlov. The diplomat died from his injuries. The Russian Foreign Ministry called the incident a terrorist attack, and Investigative committee The Russian Federation opened a criminal case, regarding the murder as an act of international terrorism that resulted in the death of a person.

Who should be held responsible for what happened, were there similar precedents in history, and how did they end?

The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961 and the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of 1963 establish unambiguous rules on the status of a foreign embassy and its employees.

Thus, Article 22 of the 1961 Convention establishes that the receiving State has a special duty to take all appropriate measures to protect the premises of the mission from any intrusion or damage and to prevent any disturbance to the peace of the mission or insult to its dignity.

Articles 29 and 40 state that the person of a diplomatic agent is inviolable. The receiving State is obliged to treat him with due respect and to take all appropriate measures to prevent any attacks on his person, freedom or dignity.

Even before the status of ambassador was consolidated, international legal customs were in effect in the Conventions, which most civilized states had to tacitly adhere to. However, despite all the guarantees, the position of ambassador was fraught with many dangers.

The host states were not always able to provide the required level of security, and often specifically created conditions for an attack. For criminals, extremists and terrorists of all stripes, a foreign embassy and ambassador represented a foreign state.

It is impossible to attack the state, since the forces are not comparable, but you can attack the ambassador, thereby hitting the state.

Massacre of the Griboyedov mission in Tehran

Main historical event, which is remembered in connection with the murder of Ambassador Andrei Karlov - a massacre at the Russian embassy in Tehran, which resulted in the death of the Russian Ambassador to Persia, diplomat and poet Alexander Griboedov.

In 1829, a diplomat was sent to Persia to ensure the implementation of a recently concluded lucrative peace treaty and the payment of indemnities under it.

The abundance of fanatics dissatisfied with the peace treaty at the court of the Persian Shah made Griboyedov’s mission extremely dangerous. The last straw was Griboyedov’s decision to shelter two Armenian women of the Christian faith who asked for asylum in the Russian mission in Tehran. Guided by the terms of the peace treaty between Russia and Persia, Griboyedov accepted the women under protection.

On January 30, 1829, a crowd of thousands of religious fanatics surrounded the embassy. The Cossacks guarding the embassy and Griboyedov himself entered into an unequal battle, but were all killed. The bodies of the dead were dragged through the streets of Tehran. All this happened with the connivance of the Shah.

However, then the scandal that broke out had to be resolved: the Shah was forced not only to severely punish the instigators of the massacre, but also to present Nicholas I with the famous “Shah” diamond - one of the most precious stones in the world (remained in the ownership of Russia to this day).

Murder of Count Mirbach by the Socialist Revolutionaries

After the Bolsheviks concluded a separate peace with Germany and Russia’s withdrawal from the First World War, a split emerged in the ranks of the socialist coalition. At the 5th All-Russian Congress, the Left SRs openly opposed the Bolsheviks, but remained in the minority. The leadership decided to switch to armed uprisings. A number of government agencies, Chairman of the Cheka F.E. was arrested. Dzerzhinsky.

An integral part of the plan of the Left Social Revolutionaries was an attack on the German ambassador, with the aim of resuming the war with Germany.

On July 6, 1918, in Moscow, the Socialist Revolutionaries Andreev and Blumkin killed the ambassador of Kaiser Wilhelm II, Count Wilhelm von Mirbach-Harff. Cheka employee Yakov Blyumkin came personally to the embassy under the cover of his official ID, and then shot at the ambassador and threw a bomb at him.

For the murder of the ambassador, Blumkin was sentenced to death by a military tribunal, but his extradition of his former Socialist-Revolutionary comrades and close acquaintance with Trotsky helped him obtain an amnesty. It also played a cruel joke on Blumkin a little later: he entered into negotiations with Trotsky, who had fled the country, as reported by his mistress Lisa Rosenzweig. Blyumkin tried to escape and fired back, but was arrested and on November 3, 1929 sentenced to death under Articles 58-10 and 58-4 of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR.

“On the path of progress”: the murders of Vorovsky and Voikov

On May 10, 1923, in Lausanne, Switzerland, the White Guard Maurice Conradi, guided by motives of revenge for relatives repressed by the Soviet authorities, shot and killed the USSR Plenipotentiary Representative in Italy Vaclav Vorovsky. Switzerland refused to assist in the investigation of the incident, citing the fact that it was not obliged to provide security to Vorovsky. At the trial, Conradi stated: “I believe that with the destruction of every Bolshevik, humanity moves forward along the path of progress. I hope that other brave souls will follow my example!”

Despite overwhelming evidence, the jury acquitted the defendants in a speedy trial, finding Maurice Conradi "to have acted under the pressure of circumstances arising from his past."

On June 20, 1923, the USSR issued a decree “On the boycott of Switzerland”, denounced diplomatic and trade relations and banned all Swiss citizens who did not belong to the working class from entering the USSR.

For similar ideological reasons, the USSR Plenipotentiary Envoy to Poland, Pyotr Voikov, was killed. On June 7, 1927, at a train station in Warsaw, the White Pole emigrant Boris Koverda shot the plenipotentiary, declaring that he had “avenged Russia, for millions of people.”

The murder of the plenipotentiary caused unprecedented anger from both the Soviet government and ordinary citizens. Poland categorically did not want to quarrel with the strengthened USSR. The court sentenced Coverda to life imprisonment, and 10 years later he was granted amnesty by the new Polish government.

Lebanon, Israel and USA

After acceptance Vienna Conventions The ambassadors received a number of official security guarantees. However, this did not stop the attackers.

Thus, on September 30, 1985, an event occurred in Lebanon that had many similarities with the terrorist attack in Ankara. Four Soviet diplomats were captured near the USSR Embassy by Muslim fundamentalists. The terrorists made demands on Soviet Union stop supporting the Syrian army, which carried out military operation at the invitation of the official Lebanese government.

One of the kidnapped diplomats, Andrei Katkov, was executed, and the operation Syrian army was suspended. However, the remaining hostages were never released, which forced Soviet intelligence services go to extreme measures. As a result, the remaining embassy employees were released. In the conditions, the activities of employees of Russian embassies in neighboring countries becomes extremely dangerous. This especially applies to Turkey, where only Last year Several dozen major terrorist attacks were carried out.

The murder of Ambassador Karlov is notable for the ease with which the terrorist, who was also an officer, was able to get close to the ambassador special service police. It is clear that this is a serious failure of the Turkish security services.

Meanwhile, an attack on diplomats is primarily disadvantageous for the Turkish leadership, showing its inability to fulfill its obligations under the Vienna Convention.

The life, liberty and dignity of Russian diplomats must be the first priority for any country with which Russia maintains diplomatic relations.