Sir Rodric Braithwaite, GCMG

Senior Research Fellow in Diplomacy and International Affairs

Sir Rodric Braithwaite was educated at Christ’s College, University of Cambridge, where he achieved First Class Honours in Modern Languages. He went on to serve in HM Diplomatic Service, with postings in Jakarta, Warsaw, Moscow, Rome, Brussels (British delegation to the European Community) and Washington.  Between 1984 and 1988 he served as a member of the Sherpa Team (preparing HM’s Government for the G7 Economic Summits), and from 1988-92 was HM Ambassador in Moscow.  Other appointments included Foreign Policy Adviser to the Prime Minister, the Rt Hon. [now Sir] John Major, and Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee.

Sir Rodric has had a number of academic appointments, including time as a Visiting Fellow, All Souls College, University of Oxford; Honorary Fellow, Christ’s College, University of Cambridge; and as Visiting Fellow, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington.

Other appointments include service, as Governor, English National Opera; Chairman, Royal Academy of Music; and he is a member, formerly Chairman, of the International Advisory Council, Moscow School of Political Studies; he is a member, and formerly Chairman, Programme Committee, Ditchley Foundation.

He was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG) in 1994.

His books include:

• Across the Moscow River: The World Turned Upside Down. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press. 2002. pp. 371. ISBN 978-0-300-09496-1
• Moscow 1941: A City and Its People at War. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press. 2002. pp. 446. ISBN 978-1-86197-759-5
• Afgantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan, 1979–89. New York: Oxford University Press. 2011. pp. 417. ISBN 978-0-19-983265-1.   Translations into Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, and Japanese

He makes regular contributions to The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Observer, The Sunday Times, The New Statesman, Prospect Magazine, The Evening Standard, and Survival.