Igor Sergeyevich Ivanov is a renowned Russian diplomat, who served as Russia's Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1998 to 2004. He held this position in the period preceding Sergey Lavrov, working in the teams of Yeltsin and Putin. From 2004 to 2007, he served as Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation. Since 2011, he has been the President of the Russian International Affairs Council.
Igor Ivanov was born in Tbilisi in 1945. His mother is Georgian and worked in the “GAI” (DAM) system. Igor's father, Sergey Vyacheslavovich Ivanov, was a participant in the Second World War and a brigade commander.
Well, what connects Igor Ivanov to Azerbaijan?
The point is that the father of Russia's former Foreign Minister, Sergey Yemelyanovich Ivanov, was buried in our country in 1975 – specifically, in Saatlı district.
Incidentally, at that time – the year Sergey passed away – I had gone to Saatlı district to work as a teacher by appointment. Looking at his biography, it appears that Sergey's son, Igor Ivanov, also worked in the Foreign Ministry system during those years, that is, during the Soviet era, but in a somewhat junior position.
As I said, the former Foreign Minister is “connected” to our country by his father's grave in Saatlı. Although I had no intention of addressing such a topic, the interesting facts at hand compelled me to say a few words. Besides, I have had hundreds of such “searches and findings.”
In short, referring to Russian sources, we can say that father Ivanov worked in the Saatlı Railway system for a long time. The grave of Sergey Ivanov, buried in the “Russian cemetery” in Saatlı, is currently overgrown with reeds, bushes, and weeds.
One of the Russian journalists, while in Saatlı years ago, found and interviewed a local resident named Muzaffar Mammadov, who had once worked with Sergey Ivanov and was his neighbor. According to Muzaffar, born in 1929, Sergey Ivanov had previously worked in the militarized railway system and attained an officer rank in this field. He was reportedly sent to Saatlı from the Head Office in Tbilisi. Sergey was known for his organizational skills, and he was elected a bureau member of the district committee in Saatlı.
According to Muzaffar, his Russian neighbor did not talk much about himself, but he would say that his son from another marriage held a high position in Russia. Sergey Ivanov's funeral in Saatlı was well organized, and wreaths were placed on his grave.
One of the former minister's father's neighbors was a lady named Lidiya Urum. According to this woman, in the 1960s, Sergey was informed that his son Igor had come to Baku, and father and son met there. The head of the Russian community in Saatlı, the late Vadim Khlebnik, reportedly said that when Sergey Ivanov passed away, a telegram was sent to his son Igor about it, but no reply was received. During that period, Igor Sergeyevich was abroad.
As mentioned, the future minister was born to Sergey's Georgian wife, Eliko Sagirashvili. Igor also has a sister from that marriage. Sergey also had two children from his other wife, Maria Grigoryevna - Yelena and Nikolay.
Although journalists reported that Sergey Ivanov had two marriages, they could not ascertain with whom his first marriage was – Maria or Eliko. It is possible that he had two wives simultaneously. But it is a fact that Igor lived with his Georgian grandmother and grandfather in Georgia (in a place called Akhmeta) until he was seven years old. He constantly states that he is “half-Georgian” and is proud of it.
When Russia's Foreign Minister was in Baku on September 2, 1999, he was asked about his father's grave. Igor Ivanov stated at the time that he was aware of this matter. Moreover, he admitted that he had been subjected to justified criticism regarding his attitude towards his father's grave.
In short, Russia's former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Igor Ivanov, has never visited his father's grave in Azerbaijan.
This is also a tableau of human destinies.
Yes, sometimes it happens this way.
Igor Ivanov's father's grave in Saatlı.
Ivanov, Primakov, and Lavrov. All three were born in Georgia, all three served as Foreign Ministers, and all three were once the "flag-bearers" of the Russian military's attack on Georgia.
Firuz Mustafa
