Semyon Grigoryev

Semyon Vyacheslavovich Grigoriyev (Russian: Семён Вячеславович Григорьев) (born 1960 in Moscow),^[1] is a Russian diplomat and was the first Russian ambassador to Abkhazia, serving between 2008 and 2018. He has served as ambassador to Tajikistan since 2022.^[2]

Career

Grigoriyev graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in 1983, and went on to work at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a position at the Soviet embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan.^[1]

From 1990 – 1997 he was third, second and first secretary at the Soviet and Russian embassies in Tehran, Iran.^[1]

From 2003 – 2006, he was Deputy Director of the Fourth Department of the CIS Countries at the Russian foreign ministry, and from 2006 – 2008, he was an adviser-envoy at the Embassy of Russia in Kabul.^[1]

From February 2008, he was again Deputy Director of the Fourth Department of the CIS Countries, specialising in issues relating to Abkhazia and South Ossetia.^[1] On 25 October 2008, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev appointed Grigoriyev as the first Ambassador of Russia to Abkhazia,^[3] after Russia recognised Abkhazian and South Ossetian independence following the war in August 2008. Grigoriyev presented his Letters of Credence to President of Abkhazia, Sergey Bagapsh on 16 December 2008.^[4]

Grigoriyev speaks Russian, English, Dari and Pashtu.^[1]