Opening Remarks by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia at the UN premiere of a documentary "Anatoly Dobrynin. 24 Years and 14 Days in the Life of An Ambassador"
This year the world marks the 100th anniversary of Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin who was a prominent Soviet, then Russian diplomat and statesman with a globe-spanning role in the Cold War era.
From the very beginning, he found himself amidst the most important developments in the international relations being appointed as Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations. He constructively worked with Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld for 3 years and left his office to be appointed Soviet Ambassador to Washington. His tenure in the United States began in the critical year of 1962 with the most dangerous confrontation of the nuclear age known as Cuban Missile crisis. The Ambassador played a crucial role in saving the world from a nuclear disaster at that time.
Anatoly Dobrynin earned a fond respect of all his partners as a tough negotiator with a high professionalism and a great intellectual capital. Those qualities helped him become one of the key players in the Soviet-American relations and contribute to prevention and resolutions of a significant number of international and regional disputes around the globe. He served 6 Soviet leaders and worked with 6 American presidents as well as 7 secretaries of state during his 24-year mission to Washington D.C.
Today we are proud to present at the UN a documentary ‘Anatoly Dobrynin. 24 Years and 14 Days in the Life of An Ambassador’ filmed to mark the centenary of the diplomat’s birth. We are happy that Mikhail Gusman, film’s director and first Deputy Director General of TASS News Agency, has specially come to New York to talk about his documentary and bring it to wider audiences.
We are living in difficult times, which are marked by very unpredictable developments that might take place, and I often cite President Kennedy in the midst of the Cuban crisis, when he called his military chiefs and asked them: “Can we launch a devastating blow on the Soviet Union so that we ensure the Soviet Union is destroyed?” They said: “Yes we can. We have the potential”. And he asked them: “How many lives will it cost to the United States?” And his Chief of the US Military said: “Approximately 6 hundred thousand”. And President Kennedy said: “I cannot afford it.” And that was the beginning, from where the Cuban crisis started to be decided and solved.
So, I will not go any further. Let’s enjoy the film together.
Thank you.
