Iain Sutherland (diplomat)

Sir Iain Johnstone Sutherland KCMG (15 June 1925 – 1 July 1986) was a British diplomat and Ambassador to the Soviet Union between 1982 and 1985.

Sir Iain Sutherland

KCMG
British Ambassador to
USSR
In office
1982–1985
Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcher
Preceded bySir Curtis Keeble
Succeeded bySir Bryan Cartledge
British Ambassador to Greece
In office
1978–1982
Prime MinisterJim Callaghan
Margaret Thatcher
Preceded bySir Brooks Richards
Succeeded bySir Peregrine Rhodes
Personal details
Born(1925-06-15)15 June 1925
Edinburgh, Scotland
Died1 July 1986(1986-07-01) (aged 61)
Westminster Hospital, London, England
Alma materUniversity of Aberdeen, Balliol College, University of Oxford

Early career

Iain Sutherland's parents were the Scottish artists David Macbeth Sutherland and Dorothy Johnstone. He was born in Edinburgh in 1925[1] and was educated at Fettes College, The University of Aberdeen and Balliol College, Oxford. Sutherland served with the Royal Artillery from 1944–47, and entered the Diplomatic Service in 1950. Initially training in Russian, he was posted to Belgrade in 1956, became Head of Chancery in Havana, Cuba in 1959 and was posted to Washington in 1962 immediately after the Cuban Missile Crisis He was appointed Consul-general in Jakarta in 1967 and became head of the Foreign Office's South Asia department from 1969 to 1973 before being appointed as Minister in Moscow in 1974. After a sabbatical and fellowship in International Affairs at Harvard University, Sutherland was appointed British Ambassador to Greece in 1978 until 1982.

Ambassador to Russia

Sutherland's tenure in Moscow from 1982-85 was overshadowed by the Soviet Occupation of Afghanistan and the expulsion of Soviet Spies from the United Kingdom at a time of increased tension often called the Second Cold War. Sutherland retired from his post in 1985.[1]

Death
Sutherland's grave in Highgate Cemetery.

Sutherland collapsed from a heart attack whilst waiting for a train at Bond Street tube station, London. He was taken to the Westminster Hospital but later died aged 61.[2][3] His wife, Jeanne survives him and has written a fascinating account as a Diplomat's wife during the Cold War, From Moscow to Cuba and Beyond: A Diplomatic Memoir of the Cold War[4][5] and also the significant changes during the educational reforms in the last years of the Soviet Union and afterwards in the Russian Federation.[6]

gollark: It's actually a smart rule.
gollark: Keanu is wrong.
gollark: This heretical talk is making me likely to blacklist you.
gollark: You may not let it leave your inventory.
gollark: You may not take any action which may result in the loss of the Constuituonon from your inventory or be blacklisted in law enforcement.

References
  1. "Iain Sutherland Obituary - New York Times:". Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  2. "Sir Iain Sutherland KCMG Obituary:". doi:10.1080/03068378708730256.
  3. "Associated Press Archive - Sir Iain Sutherland Obituary:". Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  4. "From Moscow to Cuba and Beyond". Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  5. From Moscow to Cuba and Beyond: A Diplomatic Memoir of the Cold War, by Jeanne Sutherland, Radcliffe Press, 2010. ISBN 978-1848854741
  6. Schooling in New Russia: Innovation and Change, 1984-95, by Jeanne Sutherland, Palgrave Macmillan, 1998. ISBN 978-0333736999
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