# List of ambassadors of Russia to France

The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the French Republic is the official representative of the President and the Government of the Russian Federation to the President and the Government of France.
The ambassador and his staff work at large in the Embassy of Russia in France. There are consulates general in Strasbourg and Marsailles, an honorary consul in Lyon, and a vice-consulate in Biarritz. The post of Russian Ambassador to France is currently held by Aleksey Meshkov [ru], incumbent since 23 October 2017. The Russian ambassador to France is concurrently accredited as ambassador to Monaco, where there is an honorary consul general.

## History of diplomatic relations

Russian-French contacts began on August 9, 1717, when Hans Christoph Shleynits, the first Russian ambassador to France, was appointed by Tsar Peter I of Russia and presented his credentials to King Louis XV of France. France responded by sending its first ambassador to Russia, Jacques de Campredon, in September 1721. Since then, relations were fairly constant between the two countries, although they were severed and restored many times. Overall, relations between France and Russia have been very close, and French was even considered the unofficial second language of Russia in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Relations between the two countries were severed in 1733 with the start of the War of the Polish Succession and resumed in 1738. Poor relations between the revolutionary government of France and the Russian Monarchy led to relations being severed in 1792. The Napoleonic Wars marked the start of new conflicts between Russia and France, and relations were not restored until the conclusion of the War of the Second Coalition between Russia and France in 1800. The War of the Third Coalition in 1805 led to the disruption of diplomatic relations once again, which were not restored until the signing of the Treaty of Paris on November 20, 1815. Russia and France conflicted over different views on the Revolutions of 1848 and the French support of revolutions in multinational countries. This led to the Crimean War on March 27, 1854, which ended with a Russian defeat on March 30, 1856. Relations between the two countries improved after that, and remained uninterrupted until the October Revolution of 1917.
* Diplomatic relations between Russia and France
* Russian Empire
* August 5, 1717 – Establishment of diplomatic relations
* 1733 – Diplomatic relations broken off, War of the Polish Succession begins
* 1738 – Restoration of diplomatic relations, War of the Polish Succession ends
* 1748 – Diplomatic relations broken off, Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ends War of the Austrian Succession
* 1755 – Restoration of diplomatic relations
* 1756 - Diplomatic Revolution, alliance for Seven Years' War
* 1799–1800 – War of the Second Coalition
* 1800 – Restoration of diplomatic relations
* August 28, 1804 – Diplomatic relations broken off, War of the Third Coalition
* June 26, 1807 – Restoration of diplomatic relations, Treaty of Tilsit
* 1812 – Diplomatic relations severed, French invasion of Russia
* May 18, 1814 – Restoration of diplomatic relations, Treaty of Paris (1815)
* January 23, 1854 – Diplomatic relations severed, Crimean War
* March 18, 1856 – Restoration of diplomatic relations, Treaty of Paris (1856)
* August 21, 1891 – Franco-Russian Alliance
* 1904 – Triple Entente formed
* Soviet Union
* October 26, 1917 – October Revolution, diplomatic relations severed
* October 28, 1924 – Diplomatic relations established
* May 2, 1935 – Franco-Soviet Treaty of Mutual Assistance
* June 30, 1941 – Diplomatic relations severed, Operation Barbarossa
* October 23, 1944 – Restoration of diplomatic relations
* Russian Federation
* February 7, 1992 – France recognizes the Russian Federation as successor to the USSR
French Prime Minister Édouard Herriot sent a telegram to Alexey Rykov, the President of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, on October 26, 1924, informing him of the French recognition of the establishment of the Soviet Union. When Germany declared war on the Soviet Union on June 30, 1941, the Vichy France government broke off diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, but never officially entered a state of war. Relations were reestablished on October 23, 1944, with the Soviet recognition of the new Provisional Government of the French Republic. Since then, relations between the new nations remained unbroken, although they were strained at times during the Cold War.
After the breakup of the Soviet Union, relations between France and the new Russian Federation were warm, and France recognized Russia as the successor of the USSR on February 7, 1992.

## List of representatives (1711 – present)
### Representatives of the Tsardom of Russia to the Kingdom of France (1711 – 1721)

| Name | Title | Appointment | Termination |
| Grigory Volkov | Chargé d'affaires | 1 July 1711 | October 1712 |
| Ivan Lefort | Chargé d'affaires | 1716 | 1717 |
| Hans Christoph Shleynits | Envoy | 9 August 1717 | 1720 |
| Vasily Dolgorukov | Envoy | 25 September 1720 | 2 November 1721 |
| Source: Diplomats of the Russian Empire- France ||||||

### Representatives of the Russian Empire to the Kingdom of France (1721 – 1792)

| Name | Title | Appointment | Termination | Notes |
| Vasily Dolgorukov | Envoy | 2 November 1721 | 16 March 1722 | |
| Alexander Kurakin | Ambassador | 4 May 1722 | 1724 | |
| Boris Kurakin | Ambassador | 4 May 1722 | 17 October 1727 | |
| Alexander Kurakin | Ambassador | 17 October 1727 | 11 July 1728 | |
| Aleksandr Golovkin [ru] | Chief of mission (before 1729) Envoy (after 1729) | 1728 | 1731 | |
| Ernst Johann Graf von Münnich [ru] | Chargé d'affaires | July 1731 | 1733 | |
| Antiokh Kantemir | Envoy (before 11 December 1738) Ambassador (11 December 1738 - 24 September 1742) Envoy (after 24 September 1742) | 18 April 1738 | 31 March 1744 | |
| Aleksey Gross [ru] | Chargé d'affaires (before 1745) Envoy (after 1745) | 31 March 1744 | June 1748 | |
| Fyodor Bekhteyev [ru] | Chargé d'affaires | 1756 | 11 July 1757 | |
| Mikhail Bestuzhev-Ryumin | Ambassador | 10 August 1756 | 26 February 1760 | |
| Piotr Chernyshev | Ambassador | 4 July 1760 | 26 July 1762 | |
| Sergei Saltykov | Ambassador | 1762 | August 1763 | |
| Dmitri Golitsyn | Ambassador | 1762 | 1768 | |
| Nikolai Khotinsky | Chargé d'affaires | 1767 | 1774 | |
| Ivan Baryatinskiy [ru] | Ambassador | August 1773 | 1785 | |
| Ivan Simolin [ru] | Ambassador | 14 March 1784 | 7 February 1792 | Recalled in 1792 Formally ambassador until his death on 19 September 1799 |
| Source: Diplomats of the Russian Empire- France ||||||

### Representatives of the Russian Empire to the First French Empire (1800 – 1812)

| Name | Title | Appointment | Termination |
| Georg Magnus Sprengtporten | Special Envoy | 1800 | 1800 |
| Stepan Kolychyov [ru] | Ambassador | 1800 | 1 July 1801 |
| Arkady Morkov | Ambassador | 1 July 1801 | 26 October 1803 |
| Pyotr Ubri [ru] | Chargé d'affaires | 15 November 1803 | 28 August 1804 |
| Pyotr Ubri [ru] | Special Envoy | 2 May 1806 | 9 July 1806 |
| Pyotr Tolstoy | Ambassador | 31 August 1807 | 19 October 1808 |
| Nikolay Rumyantsev | Special Envoy | 4 October 1808 | 2 February 1809 |
| Grigory Gagarin [ru] | Chargé d'affaires | October 1808 | November 1808 |
| Alexander Kurakin | Ambassador | 19 October 1808 | 10 November 1812 |
| Source: Diplomats of the Russian Empire- France ||||||

### Representatives of the Russian Empire to the Kingdom of France (1814 – 1852)

| Name | Title | Appointment | Termination |
| Carlo Andrea Pozzo di Borgo | Envoy (before 17 February 1821 Ambassador (after 17 February 1821) | 1 April 1814 | 5 January 1835 |
| Pavel Medem | Chargé d'affaires | 31 January 1835 | 1835 |
| Pyotr Palen | Ambassador | 11 March 1835 | 8 April 1851 |
| Nikolai Kiselyov [ru] | Chargé d'affaires (before 8 April 1851) Special Envoy (8 April 1851 - 6 January 1853) | 1851 | 2 December 1852 |

### Representatives of the Russian Empire to the Second French Empire (1852 – 1870)

| Name | Title | Appointment | Termination |
| Nikolai Kiselyov [ru] | Special Envoy (8 April 1851 - 6 January 1853) Envoy (after 6 January 1853) | 2 December 1852 | 13 January 1854 |
| Philipp von Brunnow | Special Envoy | 6 May 1856 | 29 January 1857 |
| Pavel Kiselyov | Ambassador | 11 July 1856 | 15 September 1862 |
| Andrey Budberg | Ambassador | 3 November 1862 | 10 April 1868 |
| Ernest Stackelberg | Ambassador | 25 April 1868 | 30 April 1870 |
| Grigory Okunev [ru] | Chargé d'affaires | 1870 | 1870 |
| Philipp von Brunnow | Ambassador (nominal) | 21 May 1870 | 28 November 1870 |
| Source: Diplomats of the Russian Empire- France ||||||

### Representatives of the Russian Empire to the French Third Republic (1871 – 1917)

| Name | Title | Appointment | Termination |
| Nikolay Orlov | Ambassador | 11 December 1871 | 8 February 1884 |
| Arthur von Mohrenheim | Ambassador | 8 February 1884 | 18 November 1897 |
| Lev Urusov [ru] | Ambassador | 19 November 1897 | 1904 |
| Aleksandr Nelidov | Ambassador | 1904 | 5 September 1910 |
| Alexander Izvolsky | Ambassador | 1910 | 3 March 1917 |
| Source: Diplomats of the Russian Empire- France ||||||

### Representatives of the Russian Provisional Government to the French Third Republic (1917)

| Name | Title | Appointment | Termination |
| Alexander Izvolsky | Ambassador | March 1917 | 1917 |
| Matvey Sevastopulo | Chargé d'affaires | 1917 | 1917 |
| Vasily Maklakov | Ambassador | 1917 | 26 October 1917 (unaccredited after the October Revolution) |

### Representatives of the Soviet Union to the Republic of France (1924–1991)

| Name | Title | Appointment | Termination |
| Leonid Krasin | Plenipotentiary | 14 November 1924 | 30 October 1925 |
| Christian Rakovsky | Plenipotentiary | 30 October 1925 | 21 October 1927 |
| Valerian Dovgalevsky | Plenipotentiary | 21 October 1927 | 14 July 1934 |
| Marcel Rosenberg | Chargé d'affaires | 1931 | September 1934 |
| Vladimir Potemkin | Plenipotentiary | 25 November 1934 | 4 April 1937 |
| Yakov Surits | Plenipotentiary | 4 April 1937 | 29 March 1940 |
| Aleksandr Bogomolov [ru] | Plenipotentiary (before 9 May 1941) Ambassador (after 9 May 1941) | 29 March 1940 | 30 June 1941 |
| Aleksandr Bogomolov [ru] | Representative to the French Committee of National Liberation until 23 October 1944 Ambassador after 23 October 1944 | 21 September 1943 | 25 March 1950 |
| Aleksey Pavlov [ru] | Ambassador | 25 April 1950 | 7 July 1953 |
| Sergey Vinogradov [ru] | Ambassador | 7 July 1953 | 24 March 1965 |
| Valerian Zorin | Ambassador | 24 March 1956 | 18 September 1971 |
| Peter Abrassimov | Ambassador | 18 September 1971 | 9 April 1973 |
| Stepan Chervonenko | Ambassador | 3 May 1973 | 20 January 1983 |
| Yuli Vorontsov | Ambassador | 20 January 1983 | 19 June 1986 |
| Yakov Ryabov [ru] | Ambassador | 19 June 1986 | 23 May 1990 |
| Yuri Dubinin | Ambassador | 23 May 1990 | 25 December 1991 |
| Source: Reference History of the Communist Party and the Soviet Union ||||||

### Representatives of the Russian Federation to France (1991 - present)

| Name | Title | Appointment | Termination |
| Yuri Ryzhov | Ambassador | 4 January 1992 | 18 December 1998 |
| Nikolay Afanasevsky | Ambassador | 4 January 1992 | 20 February 2002 |
| Aleksandr Avdeyev | Ambassador | 21 February 2002 | 16 March 2007 |
| Alexander Orlov [ru] | Ambassador | 14 October 2008 | 23 October 2017 |
| Aleksey Meshkov [ru] | Ambassador | 23 October 2017 | |
| Source: ||||||