Word: vinogradov
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Iranians, though, were apparently resisting discreet Soviet blandishments. According to high Iranian officials, Moscow's lobbying began early in the war. The Soviet Ambassador to Iran, Vladimir Vinogradov, called on Banisadr and assured him that Moscow was opposed to Iraq's invasion. To convince the skeptical Iranian President, he gave Banisadr a transcript of talks held in Moscow the day before between Tariq Aziz, Iraq's deputy Prime Minister, and Boris Ponomarev, a secretary of the Soviet Communist Party. In the discussion, Ponomarev told Aziz that Moscow did not endorse the Iraqi invasion and demanded an immediate...
...Vinogradov met with Iranian Prime Minister Raja'i and declared that Moscow was ready to provide military assistance to Tehran. Raja'i, a devout Muslim fundamentalist, flatly rejected the offer and criticized Moscow for its opportunism. "Nothing you may give us is worth our freedom, independence and Islamic revolution," he reportedly told the ambassador, adding that Iran had strong objections to the Soviets' arming of Iraq and invasion of Afghanistan. Adding insult to injury, Raja'i allowed the official Iranian news agency, PARS, to release a report on the talks. TASS responded by calling the stories...
Even Iran's fanatical leaders denounced the Soviet invasion. During an audience with the Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini, Soviet Ambassador to Iran Vladimir Vinogradov tried to explain that his country had moved in Afghanistan against CIA and Zionist agents?two specters that Khomeini himself routinely invokes to justify his own actions. But the Soviet apparently got nowhere. A member of Iran's clerical establishment later said that the Ayatullah sharply told the envoy that "Brezhnev was stepping into the Shah's shoes and was heading for the same catastrophe that befell the ex-dictator. He said that the Soviets would come...