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Georgy Arkadyevich Arbatov (; 19 May 1923 – 1 October 2010) was a Soviet–Russian political scientist. He served as an adviser to five General Secretaries of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and was best known in the West during the Cold War era as a representative for the policies of the Soviet Union in the United States, where his fluent English helped make him a frequent guest on American television.
He was the founding director and later emeritus director of the Institute for US and Canadian Studies of the Soviet Academy of Sciences (ISKRAN), the Soviet and Russian think tank for the study of the US and Canada. Arbatov died on 1 October 2010, at the age of 87. Arbatov is regarded as one of the leading Jewish figures in the Soviet Union and Russia.
While recuperating from tuberculosis in 1944, Arbatov was in a hospital and read an item in a newspaper report stating that a state institute of international relations was being created in Moscow. He applied to attend the school and graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in 1949, he was awarded a Ph.D. from the same institute in 1954. АРБАТОВ Георгий Аркадьевич , Institute for US and Canadian Studies. Accessed 4 October 2010. (Russian Language). He worked as a journalist and commentator on foreign affairs between 1953 and 1963 at Kommunist and the English language publication The New Times.
Arbatov became the face of the Soviet Union in the West, where he used his strong, though heavily accented, command of the English language to help foster ties with American officials and to present Soviet views to the American public, sparring on American television with such individuals as General Bernard Rogers, the former commander of NATO regarding the military deterrent in Western Europe to Soviet forces.Corry, John. "TV REVIEW; Speaking for, and Speaking to, the Russians", The New York Times, 10 December 1987. Accessed 4 October 2010. Billy Graham, who had called communism "satanic", said that he had "met a very wonderful official here" after spending three hours together during Graham's 1982 visit to Moscow. Arbatov expressed sharp criticism of the Reagan administration, saying that it conducted a "campaign of demonization, of dehumanization of the other side", remarks that led to difficulties for Arbatov in obtaining visas to enter the United States during that period.Levy, Clifford J. "Georgi A. Arbatov, a Bridge Between Cold War Superpowers, Is Dead at 87", The New York Times, 2 October 2010. Accessed 4 October 2010.
In his 1992 autobiography The System: An Insider's Life in Soviet Politics, Arbatov credited himself as one of those individuals who had worked to implement reform "from the inside, and not from the outside, of the system" that laid the groundwork for the reforms implemented in the 1980s by Mikhail Gorbachev. Sergey Rogov, who succeeded him in 1995 as director of the Institute for US and Canadian Studies called Arbatov someone who "was probably willing more than anybody else to stick his neck out" to mitigate the influence of anti-American hard liners in the Soviet regime, though "he knew pretty well what were the red lines that he could not cross publicly, and he was very cautious about it". Arbatov recognized that the Soviet Union had lost the Cold War, but insisted that the United States had suffered too by losing "The Enemy", a main adversary consisting of one country on which to concentrate efforts.
Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Arbatov was an adviser to the State Duma and a member of the foreign policy council of the Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation between 1991 and 1996. He was a supporter of the transfer of the southern Kuril Islands to Japan. Arbatov was a critic of the economic reforms implemented by Boris Yeltsin, saying that they placed too much economic and political power in the hands of an unelected few at the expense of the middle class in Russia. He also was a critic of Vladimir Putin's efforts to suppress the democratic movement in Russia.
Arbatov was a participant in the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs.
Arbatov died at age 87 on 1 October 2010 in Moscow due to cancer. He was survived by his wife, Svetlana, as well as by his son Alexei Arbatov, who also became involved with arms control issues and became a Duma member.
Buried at the Donskoye Cemetery in Moscow.
Personal life and recognition
Arbatov was awarded two Orders of Lenin, an Order of the October Revolution, two Orders of the Red Banner of Labour and other medals.
Published work
Arbatov was the author of over 100 published works:
External links
Categories: 1923 Births, 2010 Deaths, Geopoliticians, Full Members Of The Ussr Academy Of Sciences, Full Members Of The Russian Academy Of Sciences, People From Kherson, Recipients Of The Order "for Merit To The Fatherland", 3rd Class, Recipients Of The Order Of Lenin, Recipients Of The Order Of The Red Banner Of Labour, Recipients Of The Order Of The Red Star, Russian Political Scientists, Soviet Journalists, Male Journalists, Soviet Military Personnel Of World War Ii, Soviet Politicians, Moscow State Institute Of International Relations Alumni, Deaths From Cancer In Russia
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