Izvolskii, Aleksandr Petrovich

Izvol’skii, Aleksandr Petrovich 

Born Mar. 6 (18), 1856, in Moscow; died Aug. 16, 1919, in Paris. Russian public figure and diplomat.

Izvol’skii was minister-resident in the Vatican from 1894 to 1897; he was envoy to Belgrade in 1897, to Munich from 1897 to 1899, to Tokyo from 1899 to 1903, and to Copenhagen from 1903 to 1906. From 1906 to 1910 he was minister of foreign affairs. He helped conclude the Russo-English agreement of 1907, the Russo-Japanese agreement of 1907, the Austro-Russian agreement in Buchlau in 1908, and the Italo-Russian agreement in Racconigi in 1909. Izvol’skii was ambassador to Paris from 1910 to 1917. He played a prominent role in the consolidation of the Entente and in the preparation for World War I (1914–18). He retired in May 1917, and later, while living in France, he supported the military intervention against Soviet Russia. Izvol’skii wrote his memoirs.