Boris Pankin

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Boris Dimitrievich Pankin (Russian: Борис Дмитриевич Панкин) (born 20 February 1931) was the last Foreign Minister of the Soviet Union.

A reformer and journalist, Pankin had only 100 days to serve as Foreign Minister before the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991. In that short period, he established diplomatic relations with the State of Israel, managed the collapse of the GDR, began the Soviet-US disarmament process, brought the Soviet Union closer to the European Union and purged the KGB from the ranks of the Soviet Foreign Ministry.

Pankin is best known for being the highest-ranking diplomat to stand against the putsch which sought to bring down Mikael Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader and promulgator of Glasnost and Perestroika.

Pankin was Soviet Ambassador to Sweden for eight years from 1982-1990. He was brought-in to clean-up after the Soviet Union's reputation was seriously tarnished in the aftermath of a diplomatic scandal in which a Soviet Whiskey class submarine became marooned in Swedish territorial waters outside of Stockholm. The incident became widely-known as "Whiskey on the Rocks." Pankin became, and remains, very popular in Sweden, and was the Soviet Union's longest-serving Swedish envoy.

Pankin was the last Soviet Ambassador to Czechoslovakia (1990-1991). Pankin is credited with preventing the Communist-Czechoslovak government from interfering in the Velvet Revolution- which led to playwright and dissident Vaclav Havel's rise to the presidency. Pankin was later recalled to Moscow to become Gorbachev's Foreign Minister after standing against the putsch which attempted to topple the reform-minded Soviet leader.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Pankin was named Russian Ambassador to the Court of St. James (UK), where he served until 1994. He resigned in protest over Russia's invasion of Chechnya.

Pankin now lives in Bromma borough outside Stockholm, Sweden and works as a lecturer and writer.

In January 2005 he was given the "Stockholm Citizen of the Month Award" by the city government, recognizing his dedication and loyalty to his adopted home - the city of Stockholm.

Boris Pankin sits on the Board of Advisors of the Global Panel Foundation.