Alexander Blokhin (diplomat)

Alexander Blokhin
Александр Блохин
Blokhin in 2017
Ambassador of Russia to Turkmenistan
Incumbent
Assumed office 5 May 2011 (2011-05-05)
Preceded by	Igor Blatov
Ambassador of Russia to Australia
In office 10 December 2005 – 29 June 2010
Preceded by	Leonid Moiseyev
Succeeded by	Vladimir Morozov
Ambassador of Russia to Belarus
In office 26 July 2002 – 14 July 2005
Preceded by	Vyacheslav Dolgov
Succeeded by	Aleksandr Surikov
Ambassador of Russia to Azerbaijan
In office 25 June 1995 – 6 January 2000
Preceded by	Valter Shoniya
Succeeded by	Nikolai Ryabov
Personal details
Born	(1951-01-12) 12 January 1951 Ivanovo, RSFSR, Soviet Union)
Alma mater	Ivanovo Power Institute
Awards	Medal of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" First Class, Order of Honour

Alexander Viktorovich Blokhin (Russian: Александр Викторович Блохин; born 12 January 1951) is a Russian diplomat. He served as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Australia between 2005 and 2010. On 5 May 2011 he was appointed Ambassador of Russia to Turkmenistan.

Career

Blokhin graduated from the Ivanovo Power Institute in 1974, and for the next three years worked in various capacities at Fizpribor in Kirov. From 1977 to 1978, Blokhin was attached to the USSR Ministry of Defence, and from 1983 to 1990 was the chief engineer of the Shchelkovo Bioindustrial Complex.

In 1990, Blokhin was elected a member of the Supreme Soviet of Russia, and served until its dissolution in 1993. Since 1992, he has worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Alexander Blokhin's first ambassadorial appointment came in 1995, when he was appointed at ambassador of Russia to Azerbaijan, a post he held until 1999. From January 2000 he was the Minister for Federal Affairs, Nationalities and Migration in Mikhail Kasyanov's Cabinet, until October 2001 when the position was abolished.

In September 2002, he began his next ambassador post as Ambassador of Russia to Belarus, staying in Minsk until July 2005. On 10 November 2005, by decree of President Vladimir Putin, Blokhin was appointed as Ambassador of Russia to Australia. As Russia's ambassador to Australia, Alexander Blokhin was concurrently accredited as the non-resident ambassador to Fiji, Vanuatu and Nauru, in January 2006, February 2006 and March 2006, respectively.

Blokhin speaks Russian and English.