Russia Appoints Vasily Nebenzya as Ambassador to UN, UNSC

Vasily Nebenzya, the former Russian deputy foreign minister, has been appointed as the Russian permanent representative to the United Nations and the UN Security Council, according to a Kremlin decree.

By a separate decree published on the Kremlin's site on Thursday, Nebenzya was relieved of his post as the deputy foreign minister.

Nebenzya, the Russian deputy foreign minister, was announced to become a candidate for the post of the Russian envoy to the UN in May.

Former Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin, who had occupied the post since 2006, passed away in February on the eve of his 65th birthday. His deputy temporarily took over as the envoy to the United Nations.

Nebenzya is a career diplomat, who was born in 1962. He graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO University) in 1983. The Russian diplomat speaks English and Spanish. From 1996 to 2000, he worked as a senior adviser to the Russian Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York, in 2006-2012 he was deputy permanent representative of the Russia to the United Nations in Geneva, and from 2013 Nebenzya served as the deputy foreign minister.