Mikhail Petrakov

Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for the Delimitation and Demarcation of the State Border of the Russian Federation with Neighboring States - Members of the CIS

General Biographical Information

• Petrakov was born on September 27, 1959.
• In 1982 graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations.
• On September 3, 2018, was assigned the diplomatic rank of the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary.

Diplomatic career

• Petrakov is an experienced diplomat. He has been engaged in the diplomatic service since 1982.
• Early in his diplomatic career, from 1982 to 1986, he worked at the Soviet Embassy in New Delhi. During the collapse of the Soviet Union, he served in Canberra, Australia.
• 1999-2001 - Head of the OSCE Division of the Directorate-General for European Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.
• 2001-2003 - Senior Adviser of the Russian Permanent Mission to the EU, Brussels.
• 2003-2006 - Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the European Union.
• 2006-2008 - Deputy Director of the First Department of the CIS at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
• 2008-2012 - Director of the First Department of the CIS at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
• On February 20, 2012, by a decree of the President of Russia, Petrakov was appointed as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia to the Republic of South Africa. By a presidential decree, he has also been the Russian Ambassador to Lesotho since April 2, 2012, and was recalled  on July 3, 2019.
• 2019-2021 - Director of the Department of Situational Crisis Center of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
• On January 2, 2021, by a presidential decree, Petrakov was appointed as the Special Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for the Delimitation and Demarcation of the State Border of the Russian Federation with Neighboring States - Members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), as well as Georgia and the de facto republics of Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region. By a presidential decree, Petrakov was also appointed as the Head of the Russian delegation to the Multilateral Negotiations over the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea. Petrakov replaced Igor Bratchikov in the post of the Special Envoy of the Russian President. Bratchikov was appointed as the Ambassador to Slovakia. He served as the Special Envoy of the Russian President from August 25, 2012 to January 2, 2021.

Relations with Abkhazia

• On May 26, 2023, the 6th session of the so-called State Border Delimitation Commission between the de facto republic and Russia was held in St. Petersburg. The meeting discussed international-legal formalization of the so-called state border. Petrakov also participated in the meeting.
• On June 9, 2023, a session of the so-called State Border Delimitation Commission between the de facto republic and Russia was held in Sokhumi. The meeting, chaired by de facto Deputy Prime Minister, Beslan Jopua, discussed the so-called border delimitation issue. Petrakov also participated in the meeting.

Relations with the Tskhinvali Region

• On June 5-9, 2023, the 8th session of the so-called State Border Delimitation Commission was held between the de facto republic and Russia. Petrakov also participated in the session.