Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree on appointment of a new Russian Ambassador to Tajikistan.

By president’s decree of August 16, 2022, Semyon Grigoryev was appointed the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Tajikistan, Igor Lyakin-Frolov.  

Mr. Lyakin-Frolov had served as Russian Ambassador to Tajikistan since August 1, 2013.  

Semyon Grigoriyev graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in 1983, and went on to work at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a position at the Soviet Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan.

From 1990 – 1997 he was third, second and first secretary at the Soviet and Russian Embassies in Tehran, Iran.

From 2003 – 2006, Mr. Grigoryev served as Deputy Director of the Fourth Department of the CIS Countries at the Russian Foreign Ministry, and from 2006 – 2008, he was a Minister Counselor, Russia’s Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan.

From February 2008, he was again Deputy Director of the Fourth Department of the CIS Countries, specializing in issues relating to Abkhazia and South Ossetia. On October 25, 2008, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev appointed Grigoriyev as the first Ambassador of Russia to Abkhazia, after Russia recognized Abkhazian and South Ossetian independence following the war in August 2008. 

Grigoriyev speaks Russian, English, Dari and Pashtu.