Vladimir Stepanov (politician)
{{Short description|Soviet diplomat and intelligence officer (1927–2022)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Vladimir Stepanov
| native_name = {{nobold|Владимир Степанов}}
| native_name_lang = ru
| office = First Secretary of the Karelian Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
| term_start = 18 April 1984
| term_end = 30 November 1989
| office1 = Ambassador of the Soviet Union to Finland
| term_start1 = 27 December 1973
| term_end1 = 11 June 1979
| predecessor1 = Viktor Maltsev
| successor1 = Vladimir Sobolev
| awards = Order of Lenin
Order of the Red Banner
Grand Cross of the White Rose of Finland
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1927|3|21|df=y}}
| birth_place = Kovgora, Kondopozhsky District, Karelian ASSR, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2022|6|14|1927|3|21|df=y}}
| death_place =
}}
Vladimir Sevastyanovich Stepanov ({{langx|ru|Владимир Севастьянович Степанов}}; 21 March 1927 – 14 June 2022) was a Soviet diplomat and intelligence officer. He served as ambassador to Finland from December 1973 to June 1979.{{cite web | url=http://www.proza.ru/2009/03/27/637 | title=Сп - Ся - Свод персоналий | accessdate=10 June 2011}}
Biography
Vladimir Stepanov was born in 1927 in Kovgora, Kondopozhsky District, to a Karelian family. He spoke Finnish with a strong Karelian accent. He graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in 1950. In 1952 he was elected secretary of the regional Central Committee of Komsomol in Karelia.
From 1963 he was on the staff of the Soviet embassy in Helsinki and was appointed ambassador ten years later. Stepanov was fired in 1979 after a controversial article published in Pravda during the 1979 Finnish parliamentary election. The National Coalition Party was branded by Soviet government newspaper as "unreliable" in foreign policy. This was considered interference in the internal affairs of Finland.{{cite book|author=Jakobson, Max|title=Vallanvaihto. Havaintoja ja muistiinpanoja vuosilta 1974−92|language=fi|page=208|location=Helsinki|publisher=Otava|year=1992|isbn=951-1-12288-6}} Past Finnish foreign minister Keijo Korhonen named Stepanov the "worst enemy of Finland's neutrality".{{cite book|author=Korhonen, Keijo|title=Sattumakorpraali|language=fi|pages=102–121|location=Helsinki|publisher=Otava|year=1999|isbn=951-1-15315-3}}
After returning to the USSR, Stepanov was appointed first vice-premier of the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. He was one of the initiators of the Soviet-Finnish Kostomuksha mine project in the north of Karelia. From 1984 Stepanov served as the first secretary of the Karelian Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.{{cite web|url=http://www.gov.karelia.ru/Karelia/2274/16.html|title=Дипломат и первый секретарь|language=ru|website=Republic of Karelia. Official website|date=22 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701023321/http://www.gov.karelia.ru/Karelia/2274/16.html|archive-date=1 July 2017}} In 1984 he was elected to the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, and from 1986 to 1990 he was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. After his retirement in 1989 he resided in Moscow.{{cite web|url=https://ptzgovorit.ru/shortread/vladimir-stepanovne-hochu-uchastvovat-v-razvale-partii-i-gosudarstva|title=Владимир Степанов: Не хочу участвовать в развале государства|language=ru|date=21 March 2017|website=PTZ Govorit}}{{cite web|url= http://www.yle.fi/elavaarkisto/artikkelit/stepanov_-_kekkosen_paras_kaveri_31112.html#media=31114 |title=Stepanov - Kekkosen paras kaveri?|language=fi|website = Yle Elävä Arkisto|date=30 January 2014}}
Stepanov died on 14 June 2022 at the age of 95.{{cite web|url=https://mid.ru/ru/activity/shots/vnutrivedomstvennye_novosti/nekrologi_pamyati_kolleg/1817588/|title=О кончине В.С.Степанова|publisher=Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs|language=Russian|date=14 June 2022|accessdate=14 June 2022}} He was buried in the Troyekurovskoye Cemetery on 17 June 2022.{{cite web|url=http://rk.karelia.ru/accident/skonchalsya-urozhenets-karelii-chrezvychajnyj-i-polnomochnyj-posol-sssr-vladimir-stepanov/|title=Скончался уроженец Карелии, Чрезвычайный и Полномочный посол СССР Владимир Степанов|website=karelia.ru|language=Russian|date=14 June 2022|accessdate=21 June 2022}}
References
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Category:People from the Republic of Karelia
Category:Russian Karelian people
Category:Moscow State Institute of International Relations alumni
Category:Eleventh convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union
Category:Ambassadors of the Soviet Union to Finland
Category:Recipients of the Order of Lenin
Category:Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner
Category:Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour