Andrey Kozyrev, who was Moscow’s top diplomat in the 1990s, had been given the nickname over his pro-Western stance
The Russian Justice Ministry has designated the country’s former foreign minister, Andrey Kozyrev a foreign agent, according to the data on its website.
Kozyrev, who was Russia’s top diplomat between 1990 and 1996, was branded ‘Mr Yes’ by the media over his alleged willingness to agree to any terms suggested to Moscow by the US and its allies. The nickname is a reversal of the one given to long-time Soviet Foreign Minister Andrey Gromyko, who had been called ‘Mr No’ in the West for always firmly standing his ground.
Kozyrev, 74, currently resides in Miami. According to open-source data, he occupies the position of vice president at international drug producer and developer, ICN Pharmaceuticals.
The former foreign minister was among three people added to the list of foreign agents on Thursday. The roster includes persons who receive financial support from abroad or remain under other forms of foreign influence.
The ministry said in a statement that Kozyrev had “disseminated false information about decisions made by the Russian authorities and the policies they pursue, as well as false information aimed at creating a negative image of the Russian Armed Forces.”
He “interacts with foreign platforms and lives outside Russia,” the statement read.
A representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry told Gazeta.ru that Kozyrev becoming a foreign agent is “a logical development.” He reminded that the former FM had inspired a special term “Kozyrevshina” in Russian diplomacy, which is used to describe “a policy of rejection of national interests in favor of foreign countries.”
After Moscow initiated its special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022 – aimed at protecting the Russian-speaking population and countering NATO expansion – Kozyrev called on Russian diplomats around the world to resign in protest, a move widely seen in Russia as undermining national unity during a critical time.
In February, he gave an interview to Ukrainian journalist Dmitry Gordon, in which he stated that Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky should continue calling on the West to deliver more weapons, as Kiev needs to regain the territory it lost to Moscow. Gordon has been sentenced in absentia by a Russian court for inciting terrorism and spreading false information.
A diplomatic source told RIA-Novosti a few years ago that during his time in office, Kozyrev lobbied for Moscow to give the Kuril Islands to Japan.
The Russian Military Historical Society had also blamed the former diplomat for “betraying” his country over making one-sided concessions to the Baltic States during the withdrawal of the Russian military from Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania in 1994.
