Russian diplomatic agents in Manchuria at the turn of the 19th – 20th centuries

The article, based on the documents from the Archives of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire (AVPRI), examines the institution of diplomatic agents in Manchuria. The post of an “official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the VI class, assigned to Manchuria” appeared in the nomenclature of the Foreign Ministry positions in 1899. The establishment of such an unusual institution was attributed to the specifics of the situation around Manchuria: the need to create Russian representative offices on its territory and the unwillingness of official St. Petersburg to use the traditional forms of consular institutions in diplomatic practice. The representative offices of the officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were opened in the administrative centers of the Manchurian provinces – in Jilin, Mukden and Qiqihar, as well as in Harbin. The diplomatic agencies were subordinated both to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the regional chiefs of Khabarovsk and Port Arthur. As a rule, the positions of the heads of agencies were usually assigned to experienced diplomats who were well-versed in the specifics of the consular activities in China. The Russian representatives generally managed to cope with the task of protecting the rights and interests of the Russian citizens in the region, despite the political and organizational difficulties that accompanied the activities of the officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – the lack of an internationally recognized status, involvement in interdepartmental rivalry with other bodies of the Russian representation. In the geopolitical realities associated with the end of the Russo-Japanese war, the diplomatic agencies were reorganized into the Russian consular offices.

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