title: List of ambassadors of the Soviet Union to Czechoslovakia
text: # List of ambassadors of the Soviet Union to Czechoslovakia
  
  The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to Czechoslovakia was the official representative of the General Secretary and the Government of the Soviet Union to the President and the Government of Czechoslovakia.
  
  The position of Soviet ambassador to Czechoslovakia lasted from the first establishment of relations in 1922, until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Representation was maintained between the Czechoslovakian state and the Soviet Union's successor, the Russian Federation, until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993. Thereafter the Russian Federation has maintained relations with both successor states, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and has ambassadors to both.
  
  ## History of diplomatic relations
  
  Diplomatic exchanges between the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia began with the formal establishment of relations on 5 June 1922, after the formation of the First Czechoslovak Republic, which had declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918. The first Soviet representative, Pavel Mostovenko [ru], was appointed on 9 December 1922. On 9 June 1934 relations were upgraded to the level of missions, with Sergey Aleksandrovsky [ru] serving as plenipotentiary from that date. Relations were interrupted on 16 March 1939 with the German occupation of Czechoslovakia.
  
  With the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, the USSR entered the Second World War on the side of the Allies. Following the reestablishment of relations on 18 July 1941, Viktor Lebedev [ru] was duly accredited to the Czechoslovak government-in-exile in London on 24 October 1943 . Relations were maintained after the war, during which period the Third Czechoslovak Republic and then the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic were formed. With the repudiation of communism, the country officially became the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic in 1990. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, a new ambassador, Aleksandr Lebedev [ru], was appointed as representative of the Russian Federation. He continued as ambassador until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia and its separation into the states of the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Lebedev continued to as representative to the Czech Republic until 1996, while a new ambassador, Sergey Yastrzhembsky, was appointed Russian ambassador to Slovakia in June 1993.
  
  ## List of representatives (1922– 1993)
  
  ### Representatives of the Soviet Union to Czechoslovakia (1922 – 1991)
  
  | Name | Title | Appointment | Termination |
  | - | - | - | - |
  | Pavel Mostovenko [ru] | Diplomatic representative | 9 December 1922 | 14 February 1923 |
  | Konstantin Yurenev | Diplomatic representative | 14 February 1923 | 3 March 1924 |
  | Otto Aussem [ru] | Diplomatic representative | 1924 | 1924 |
  | Vladimir Antonov-Ovseyenko | Diplomatic representative | 23 June 1924 | 13 December 1928 |
  | Aleksandr Arosev | Diplomatic representative | 2 March 1929 | 4 June 1933 |
  | Sergey Aleksandrovsky [ru] | Diplomatic representative Plenipotentiary (after 9 June 1934) | 4 June 1933 | 16 March 1939 |
  | Viktor Lebedev [ru] | Ambassador | 24 October 1943 | 6 January 1945 |
  | Valerian Zorin | Ambassador | 22 March 1945 | 7 March 1948 |
  | Mikhail Silin [ru] | Ambassador | 7 March 1948 | 26 October 1951 |
  | Anatoly Lavrentiev | Ambassador | 26 October 1951 | 7 July 1952 |
  | Aleksandr Bogomolov | Ambassador | 7 July 1952 | 23 January 1954 |
  | Nikolay Firyubin | Ambassador | 23 January 1954 | 23 August 1955 |
  | Ivan Grishin [ru] | Ambassador | 11 December 1955 | 20 February 1960 |
  | Mikhail Zimyanin | Ambassador | 20 February 1960 | 8 April 1965 |
  | Stepan Chervonenko | Ambassador | 8 April 1965 | 27 April 1973 |
  | Vladimir Matskevich | Ambassador | 27 April 1973 | 6 February 1980 |
  | Aleksandr Botvin [ru] | Ambassador | 6 February 1980 | 26 April 1984 |
  | Viktor Lomakin [ru] | Ambassador | 26 April 1984 | 14 May 1990 |
  | Boris Pankin | Ambassador | 14 May 1990 | 29 August 1991 |
  
  ### Representatives of the Russian Federation to Czechoslovakia (1991 – 1993)
  
  | Name | Title | Appointment | Termination | Notes |
  | - | - | - | - | - |
  | Aleksandr Lebedev [ru] | Ambassador | 25 December 1991 | 1 January 1993 | |
  