Sergey Dmitriyevich Sazonov

Russian statesman

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Sergey Dmitriyevich Sazonov (born July 29 [August 10, New Style], 1860, Ryazan province, Russia—died December 25, 1927, Nice, France) was a statesman and diplomat, Russia’s minister of foreign affairs (1910–16) during the period immediately preceding and following the outbreak of World War I. Having entered the foreign ministry in 1883, Sazonov, whose brother-in-law Pyotr Stolypin was Russia’s prime minister from 1906 to 1911, obtained posts in the Russian embassies in London, Washington, D.C., and the...