Anatoly Dobrynin

Anatoly Fyodorovich Dobrynin (Анатолий Фёдорович Добрынин, 16 November 1919 – 6 April 2010) was a Russian statesman and a Soviet diplomat and politician. He was Soviet Ambassador to the United States for more than two decades, from 1962 to 1986.

He attracted notoriety among the American public during and after the Cuban Missile Crisis at the beginning of his ambassadorship, when he denied the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba although, unbeknownst to him until days later, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev had already sent them and the Americans already had photographs of them. Between 1968 and 1974, he was known as the Soviet end of the Kissinger–Dobrynin direct communication and negotiation link between the American presidency and the Soviet politburo.

Early life and education
Dobrynin was born in the village of Krasnaya Gorka, near Mozhaisk in the Moscow Oblast, on 16 November 1919. His father was a locksmith. He attended the Moscow Aviation Institute and after graduation went to work for the Yakovlev Design Bureau. He entered the Higher Diplomatic School in 1944 and graduated with distinction.