Replies

Primakov is deceased now but still held in high esteem as of 2015:

Russian Navy First Project 23560 “Leader Class” Destroyer Will Be Named Yevgeny Primakov
12/7/2015, 8:33:23 AM · by sukhoi-30mki · 11 replies
Navy Recognition ^ | 07 December 2015
According to Russian daily newspaper Kommersant, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to perpetuate the memory of Yevgeny Primakov, according to which the first ship of the future Project 23560 “Leader Class” destroyer under development for the Russian Navy will be named after the academician. According to the document published by Vladimir Putin: “taking into account the contribution of Primakov in the formation of Russian statehood and economic reforms, it recommended that the government consider installing a memorial plaque on the house where he lived, and requested the establishment of a scholarship. One vessel built for the Russian Navy will...

Ah, remember the “Wise Men” thing from the Iraq War? IIRC Jimmy Carter and Mandela were on board...so was Primakov :

A New, Improved Global Test
11/29/2004, 8:07:38 PM · by The Loan Arranger · 11 replies · 707+ views
The New York Sun ^ | November 29, 2004 | BENNY AVNI
The next feud between America’s freedom and democracy hawks and old United Nations diplomats will likely develop this week with the release of a much-anticipated report. Ordered by Secretary-General Annan, it was prepared by a panel of 16 former world movers and shakers now in their 70s, who will undoubtedly be hailed at Turtle Bay as wise men, and derided elsewhere as has-beens. Men who held previous posts like Russian foreign minister and Saddam champion Yevgeny Primakov, British U.N. envoy David Hannay, or current Arab League chief Amr Moussa, are not going to excite anyone looking for fresh insights into...

Annan met with UN reform pointman Yevgeny Primakov in Moscow when Oil-For-Food scandal broke
1/31/2005, 12:48:39 PM · by MikeEdwards · 1 replies · 607+ views
CFP ^ | January 31, 2005 | CFP
Did United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan hightail it to Moscow to check in with his handpicked UN reform man Yevgeny Primakov within weeks of William Safire’s New York Times expose on alleged scandal in the Oil-For-Food Program? The first of Safire’s groundbreaking Oil-For-Food investigative stories ran in mid-March, 2004. Here’s Annan’s Moscow itinerary as documented by The Russian Federation: “Annan arrived in Moscow on Sunday, April 4, 2004 where he had an early working dinner with Evgeni (sic) Primakov, former Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.” On the following day, Annan visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where...

Annan met with UN reform pointman Yevgeny Primakov in Moscow when Oil-For-Food scandal broke
1/31/2005, 12:26:08 PM · by UpHereEh · 508+ views
Canada Free Press ^ | January 31, 2005 | Judy McLeod
Did United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan hightail it to Moscow to check in with his handpicked UN reform man Yevgeny Primakov within weeks of William Safire’s New York Times expose on alleged scandal in the Oil-For-Food Program? The first of Safire’s groundbreaking Oil-For-Food investigative stories ran in mid-March, 2004. Here’s Annan’s Moscow itinerary as documented by The Russian Federation: “Annan arrived in Moscow on Sunday, April 4, 2004 where he had an early working dinner with Evgeni (sic) Primakov, former Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.” On the following day, Annan visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where...

RUSSIAN AGENTS CLEANING HOUSE IN BAGHDAD(March 23, 2003)
10/28/2004, 8:47:37 AM · by focusandclarity · 7 replies · 534+ views
Junk Yard Blog ^ | March 23, 2003 | Posted by Chris Regan
Russian intelligence agents are holding daily meetings with Iraqi officials in Baghdad, and may be interested in gaining control of Iraqi secret service archives if Saddam Hussein’s regime falls, the newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported Friday. The newspaper said the archives could be highly valuable to Russia in three major areas: in protecting Russian interests that remain in a postwar Iraq; in determining to what extent the Saddam regime may have financed Russian political parties and movements; and in providing Russia access to intelligence that Iraqi agents conducted in other countries. ...The report speculated that the archives were a key topic...

Russia: “We won’t say ‘Nyet’ in the UN” (Russian Official Makes Secret 2003 Visit to Iraq)
10/28/2004, 8:32:42 AM · by focusandclarity · 1 replies · 288+ views
The Greatest Generation ^ | February 23, 2003 | Staff
“Margelov also tried to explain a secretive recent mission to Baghdad by former Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov. Primakov’s trip was meant to apply pressure on Saddam to comply with international inspectors, Margelov said.” Russian Official:Country Will Back Second U.N. Resolution While Moscow has said it wants more time for inspections to work in Iraq, a Russian lawmaker visiting Capitol Hill Wednesday said that doesn’t mean the country would object to a U.S.-backed resolution authorizing force. Mikhail Margelov, chairman of the foreign affairs committee in the Russian Parliament’s upper house, defended the need to give weapons inspectors more time, a...

Saddam turned down last-minute Russian call to go
4/11/2003, 5:56:10 PM · by Land_of_Lincoln_John · 6 replies · 130+ views
Yahoo! India ^ | Saturday April 12, 2003 | Clara Ferreira-Marque
MOSCOW (Reuters) - The veteran Kremlin envoy pleaded with Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to step down only three days before the U.S. big guns opened up on Baghdad. The Iraqi strongman heard Yevgeny Primakov out, patted him on the shoulder...and then walked out of the room without another word. Saddam’s defiant answer to Russia’s last-minute top-secret mission to stave off the U.S.-led offensive against Iraq emerged late on Friday from Primakov, a former Russian prime minister and old friend of Iraq who had known Saddam for years. Primakov, 73, said President Vladimir Putin sent him on the make-or-break mission on...

And right before the Iraq regime fell Saddam gave Primakov a medal...