On June 26, 2015, Yevgeny Primakov, Russian Foreign Minister from 1996-1998 and Prime Minister from 1998-1999, died at the age of 85. As one of the only prominent political figures with a leadership role in the Yeltsin regime to also be a close aide to Vladimir Putin, Primakov’s foreign policy ideas and ideological approaches have had a singularly important impact on Russia’s international identity since 1991. In many ways, he was the natural successor to long-time Soviet foreign minister Andrei Gromyko. But unlike Gromyko, who shaped Soviet grand strategy for decades as a loyal servant of the official line, Primakov …read more
Source: The Huffington Post