Chicherin, Georgi Vasilyevich [key], 1872–1936, Russian diplomat. Of noble origin, he entered the Russian foreign office but resigned (1904) after joining the Social Democratic party. He was in London during the October Revolution of 1917, was arrested for “enemy associations” after the Russian armistice with Germany, and was finally released by the British authorities. He returned to Russia in Jan., 1918, as Trotsky's aide and soon succeeded him as foreign commissar. An able diplomat, Chicherin successfully ended the diplomatic isolation of the USSR by gaining formal recognition for his country from W European nations. He negotiated the Treaty of Rapallo (see Rapallo, Treaty of, and Genoa, Conference of) with Germany in 1922. He ceased to conduct foreign affairs in 1928 because of illness and was succeeded by his assistant, Maxim Litvinov, in 1930.
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