The well-known Russian politician, former Russian Prime Minister, Yevgeny Primakov, died at the age of 85, Interfax cited a source as saying
“The president was delivered the mournful news of Yevgeny Maximovich Primakov’s death and the president has expressed deep condolences to the family and friends of Yevgeny Maximovich,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. According to him, Putin and Primakov knew each other well. “He was a government person, a scientist, a politician, and has left behind him a huge legacy," RIA Novosti cited Peskov as saying.
The professor of the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Sergei Ivanov, told Vestnik Kavkaza that Primakov was not only a great Russian politician, but a patriarch of Russian Arabic studies and Oriental studies. "He's always spoke about the Arab world with sympathy and warmth and believed that we made a big mistake 90 years ago, which complicated our relations with them, though they could help us to solve many internal and economic problems," he said.
The vice-president of the Russian Council on International Affairs, the former head of North Ossetia, Alexander Dzasokhov, described today as a truly sad day. "Our great contemporary has passed away. He did a lot for our country, both during the Soviet era and modern Russian history, going through this path with great wisdom and dignity," he said. "I want to emphasize that his activity was always associated with the Caucasus. Primakov knew the history of the Caucasus and the problems of each Caucasian nation, so on this sad day I remember the days of his visits of Ossetia. His advice to us is not only memorable, but also useful," Dzasokhov said.
The deputy head of the Council of the Russian Diplomats Association, Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador Andrey Baklanov, said that the contribution of Primakov in the modern history of Russia is invaluable. "He showed his political qualities to the greatest extent during the most difficult period of Russian history, when the situation in the Soviet Union deteriorated sharply and a crucial period came after the emergence of the Russian Federation," he said.
"I knew him from 1968 and we have lost our senior comrade, friend, colleague and teacher in corporate relations," the diplomat pointed out. "We will always remember him, both as a prominent politician and as a famous Arabist," Baklanov concluded.
Yevgeny Primakov was born on October 29th 1929 in Kiev. In 1953 he graduated from the Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies and graduated from Moscow State University in 1956. Primakov served as foreign minister from January 1996 until September 1998.
Yevgeny Primakov served as the Prime Ministerr from September 1998 to May 1999. On March 24, 1999, Primakov was heading to Washington for an official visit. Flying over the Atlantic Ocean, he learned that NATO had started to bomb Yugoslavia. He served as the head of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry from 2001 to 2011.
