Vasily Solodovnikov, a well-known Soviet and Russian scientist and diplomat, Doctor of Economics, Professor, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, turned 96 in March. The main stages of his biography are well known. Born in a Volga village, he worked on a collective farm as a tractor driver, studied at the labor faculty, graduated from the Kuibyshev Industrial Institute, then studied at the Academy of Foreign Trade, after which, from 1946, he worked in New York in Amtorg, an organization that was then in charge of Soviet-American economic relations. After returning from the United States, he moved to scientific work, in 1949-1951 he studied at the graduate school of the Institute of Economics of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In 1952-1960, he held senior positions in academic institutes of Economics and World Economy and International Relations. In 1961-1962 he worked as Director of the Industrial Development Division at the United Nations, and in 1963 he was appointed Deputy Permanent Representative of the USSR to the United Nations. For 12 years - from 1964 to 1976 - V. G. Solodovnikov headed the Institute of Africa of the Academy of Sciences. Doctor of the University of Lagos (Nigeria), Honorary Doctor of Philosophy of the Karl Marx University in Leipzig, member of the International Institute for Africa in London. Currently, as part of a team of authors, V. G. Solodovnikov is finishing work on the collection "Declassified documents of the US State Department and CIA on the policy of the USSR in Southern Africa (in the 70s-80s of the XX century)" in the context of his activities as USSR Ambassador to Zambia in 1976-1981. He is the author of more than 350 scientific papers, including 13 monographs. Some episodes of V. G. Solodovnikov's vivid life are relatively little known. About them-in the selection published below. 1. An essay on the life and work of a scientist and diplomat is published in the book "Names and Destinies", published in 2002 to ... Read more