Nazarkin Yury

Nazarkin Yury

Professor, Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations; Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the USSR and Russian Federation (former Representative of the USSR at the Conference on Disarmament; Head of the Soviet delegation at the USSR-US Nuclear and Space Talks (START-1); Deputy Secretary, Security Council of the Russian Federation) (Russia)

Yury Nazarkin was born in 1932.

Mr. Nazarkin graduated from the Moscow Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) in 1956. In 1978, he obtained his Ph.D. in History (doctoral thesis “History of Disarmament”), and in 2010 he was awarded the honorary degree “Doctor of International Relations, Honoris Causa”.

In 1956-1992, he served at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR/Russian Federation.

In 1956-1966, Mr. Nazarkin worked on African issues and served in the Department of Africa of the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs and at the USSR embassy in Tanganyika (present-day Tanzania).

In 1966-1986, Mr. Nazarkin worked in the Department of International Organizations at the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs on issues of disarmament and non-proliferation. He participated in negotiations to develop the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, the Treaty on the Prohibition of the Emplacement of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction on the Seabed and the Ocean Floor, and other treaties. He attended the following fora: sessions of the First Committee of the United Nations General Assembly, special disarmament sessions of the United Nations General Assembly, the Eighteen Nation Committee on Disarmament (ENCD), the Conference of the Committee on Disarmament (CCD), the Conference on Disarmament (CD), the Review Conferences of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT RC), conferences of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and many others.

In 1986, Mr. Nazarkin was appointed Head of the Department for Peaceful Application of Nuclear Energy and Outer Space.

In 1987-1989, he served as the USSR representative at the Conference on Disarmament and as Ambassador. He participated in negotiations to develop the Chemical Weapons Convention.

In 1989-1991, Mr. Nazarkin was the Chief Negotiator at the Soviet-American talks on nuclear and space weapons (START I), which resulted in the signing of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty in 1991.

In 1992, Mr. Nazarkin was Ambassador at large and headed the Russian delegation in negotiations with Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan regarding their participation in START I implementation as non-nuclear countries.

In 1992-1995, he was Deputy Secretary of the Russian Security Council on international security issues. Mr. Nazarkin retired in 1995.

From 1996 to the present, Mr. Nazarkin has taught in Geneva at the Geneva Center for Security Policy, the Geneva Center for Democratic Control of Armed Forces and the Geneva School of Diplomacy and International Relations.