Andrei Gromyko
In May 1947, Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko told the United Nations that the Soviets supported the partition of Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state. The Soviet Union and its satellite states voted in November 1947 for the UN Partition Plan for Palestine, which paved the way for the creation of the State of Israel. On 17 May 1948, three days after Israel declared its independence, the Soviets officially recognized Israel.