Ischinger, Wolfgang

Born in 1946 .

In 1963 - 1964, under the US student exchange program, he attended high school in Illinois.

In 1966 - 1972 he studied law at the universities of Bonn and Geneva . In 1972 he received a law degree. He continued his studies at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, where in 1973 he received a master's degree in law, as well as at Harvard Law School.

From 1973 to 1975, he served in the office of the UN Secretary General in New York under Secretary General Kurt Waldheim .

Since 1975, he began diplomatic service in Germany. He worked in the political planning apparatus of the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the German Embassy in Washington.

From 1982 to 1990 he served on the staff of the Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs, while in 1985 he became the personal secretary of the minister, and in 1987 he headed the apparatus of the cabinet of ministers and parliament.

In 1990, he was appointed Minister and Head of the Political Department of the German Embassy in Paris.

In 1993 - 1995 - Director of the Political Planning Apparatus of the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

From 1995 to 1998, he served as director of the political department of the German Foreign Ministry.

From 1998 to 2001 - he worked as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, represented the German government in numerous international and European forums, including the UN, NATO and the EU.

From 2001 to 2006 - was the German ambassador to the United States.

From 2006 to May 2008 - was the ambassador of Germany to the UK.

Since 2009, he has chaired the annual Munich International Security Conference .

Chairperson of the Moscow Interregional Commercial Bank

Since 2009, five conferences have been held under the chairmanship of Ishinger .

In an interview during the first conference under his chairmanship, the 45th conference, which took place in 2009 after the financial crisis , Ishinger noted that “ It is necessary to remove barriers to free trade, to ensure, finally, Russia's accession to the WTO , to develop a new partnership agreement and cooperation that will benefit both Russia and the European Union, in particular, this concerns security in the energy sector . ” ^[one]

At the 48th conference in 2012, Ishinger presented the concept developed with his participation in resolving the dispute between NATO and Russia on the deployment of missile defense in Europe. ^{[2] [3]}

At the 50th conference in 2014, Ishinger voiced the view that Germany should participate more actively in military operations in crisis regions, such as in Mali : “ Not only for the French, attention to Africa should be natural. There we are talking about the security of Germany . ” ^[four]

Participation in international conferences

Ischinger represented Germany in various international organizations, conferences and meetings.

In 2008, he participated in the G8 summit.

September 20-21, 2011 participated in the Fourth plenary meeting of the Euro-Atlantic Security Initiative (EASI), held in Kiev. There was one of three co-chairs - along with Igor Ivanov (Russia) and Sam Nunn (USA).

Ishinger has been involved in a number of international processes.

1995: Bosnia

Working in the German Foreign Ministry, in 1995, Ischinger participated in negotiations on a settlement in Bosnia. ^[5]

1999: Yugoslavia

In 1999, during the war in Yugoslavia, he held talks on Kosovo between the German government and Russia. ^[5]

2007: Kosovo

In 2007, during the 120-day mission, he represented the EU in the “troika” of international mediators (EU, US and Russia) in negotiations on the future status of Kosovo. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier explained Ishinger's choice of candidacy by saying that “ he is an excellent connoisseur of the Balkans .” ^[5]

In an interview, Ishinger expressed the view that "the position of Moscow, which blindly supports the Serbs on all issues, has nothing to do with a sense of" solidarity with the Slav brothers, "but is explained by Russia's desire to prevent the further expansion of NATO ." ^[6]

2014: Ukraine

Appointed as an OSCE mediator for negotiations between Kiev and the regions. He spoke out for the supply of weapons to Kiev to fight separatism in the Donbass ^[7] .

2019: Russia

He expressed the opinion that the return of Russia to the G8 format will become a powerful slap in the face to Ukraine ^[8] .

• Order of the Cross of the Land of Mary, Class 2 ( Estonia )
• Officer Cross of the Order of Merit for the Federal Republic of Germany ( Germany )
• Great Officer of the Order of Merit ( Portugal )
• Great Officer of the Order of Merit for the Italian Republic ( Italy )
• The highest award of the land of Baden-Württemberg - Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg

Wife - journalist and writer. Prior to leaving Berlin for Washington in 2001, she worked as the head of the Berlin bureau of the Rainer Mercur newspaper.

Three children. Also has two children from a previous marriage.

• Interview with Deutsche Welle newspaper about the Ukrainian crisis, May 2, 2014
• Biography of Wolfgang Ishinger , RIA Novosti website, 2014