Senior Russian diplomat appointed as Director-General of UN Office at Geneva

A senior diplomat from the Russian Federation has been appointed to the top post at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva, a UN spokesman announced today in New York.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan has decided to appoint Sergei Ordzhonikidze as Director-General of the UN Office in Geneva (UNOG), effective 1 March, spokesman Fred Eckhard said.

Mr. Ordzhonikidze replaces Vladimir Petrovsky, who is retiring after 10 years with the UN, the last nine as the head of UNOG. “The Secretary-General would like to pay tribute to Mr. Petrovsky for his contribution to the United Nations for the last decade, during which he significantly strengthened the United Nations Office in Geneva,” the spokesman said.

Mr. Ordzhonikidze is currently Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs in Moscow, where he headed the Ministry's Department of International Organizations from 1996 to 1999. He was previously Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN in New York from 1991 to 1996; Mr. Ordzhonikidze started his Foreign Ministry career when he was attaché at the Soviet UN Mission in 1970-75.