The Russian Ambassador in Turkey A.P. Butenev

Apollinary Petrovich Butenev was at the head of the Russian embassy in Constantinople from 1830 till 1843. These were the years of the most stable Turkish-Russian relations in the first half of the 19th century. As the envoy to Constantinople, A. Butenev was one of the most significant Russian representatives abroad, while the position in Constantinople was one of the most important postings in the Russian Foreign Ministry service since the city was a kind of international political centre that had a huge impact on the life of the whole of Europe. A. Butenev’s diplomatic endeavours never generated a lot of interest among Russian historians, even though many scholars thoroughly analyzed the period of the Russian-Turkish relations during his service in Constantinople multiple times. The 1830s and 1840s are marked by several important events in foreign policy in which the Russian envoy was directly involved. First of all, А. Butenev played a decisive role in the drafting of the Treaty of Hünkâr İskelesi that was signed in 1833. The Bosphorus expedition of 1833 was a unique military and political operation of its time, unparalleled in the history of Russian diplomacy. Usually, the success of the expedition is associated with the names of A.F. Orlov and N.N. Muravyov, while the chance to conclude this treaty that was extremely beneficial for Russia belongs to A. Butenev. This is indicated by numerous internal memoranda and reports he sent to St. Petersburg. With his experience in diplomatic affairs, political weight in the international circles, and the ability to make independent decisions, Apollinary Petrovich Butenev adequately and successfully represented the interests of his homeland in the crucial period when the Russian Empire formulated and implemented its concept of the Eastern policy.