Upon the decree of President of Russia Vladimir Putin on April 6 of 2018, Sergei Kopyrkin was appointed as Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Armenia.

1. Where had Sergei Kopyrkin worked before? 

56-year-old Sergei Kopyrkin will come to Armenia from Brussels, where he held the position of Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the European Union and European Atomic Energy Community.

From 2006 to 2011 Sergei Kopyrkin was Deputy Director of First CIS Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia.

In February of 2017 the diplomat received the rank of First Class Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Envoy.

In December of 2011 President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev expressed gratitude to Sergei Kopyrkin for “significant contribution to the implementation foreign policy of the Russian Federation and years of dedication to his work. ”

2. What was Sergei Kopyrkin saying?

Open sources provide little information about previous activities of Sergei Kopyrkin.

At the Summit of Collective Security Council of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in Minsk in June of 2006, Sergey Kopyrkin said that “CSTO does not oppose itself to NATO”. At the same time he noted: “NATO activities in the area of CSTO responsibility are closely monitored.”

In September of 2006 Sergei Kopyrkin said that Foreign Ministry of Russia agreed with criticism about CIS, but insisted on keeping cooperation within the Commonwealth.

“It is true that CIS hasn’t been able to protect the interests of all its participants in 12-state format. This resulted in formation of narrow groups, such as EurAsEC, CSTO, as well as Union State of Russia and Belarus. Nonetheless, CIS needs reforms to adapt to new reality,” the diplomat said.

Sergei Kopyrkin stressed back then that CIS inefficiency was not caused by bad structures, poor concept of cooperation or insufficient alignment of Russia within the frames of CIS. “Political will of state leaders plays a crucial role here. The destiny of CIS will depend on the willingness of state leaders, participants of CIS, as no one can force them to stay in any structure,” he said.

3. Who was Sergei Kopyrkin’s superior?

At Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the European Union Sergei Kopyrkin was supervised by Vladimir Chizhov, one of the most experienced and tough Russian diplomats, who has led the Mission since September of 2005.

Delivering a  speech at VII Moscow Conference on International Security on April 4 of 2018, Vladimir Chizhov particularly said:

“Very recently the EU tried to convince us that the Eastern Partnership initiative wasn’t directed against the interests of Russia. However, we observe more than deplorable picture in Ukraine, which has to face a choice at certain point: “towards the bright future” with the West or “towards the dark past” with Russia. I wouldn’t like to be too pessimistic, but today they try to press some countries in CIS and Western Balkans to make the same choice. ”