Vladislovas Jonaitis

Vladislovas Jonaitis was born on 15 July 1935 in Panevezys, a city in northern Lithuania, at a time when Lithuania was an independent republic. After the Second World War he went to Moscow to study at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) of the Soviet Foreign Ministry, graduating in 1963. He later completed the advanced training course for senior diplomatic staff at the ministry's Diplomatic Academy in 1979. Over his career he worked in French, English, Vietnamese and his native Lithuanian.

Jonaitis entered the Soviet diplomatic service in 1963. He held a range of posts in the central offices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow and at missions abroad, serving in Vietnam, Cameroon and Rwanda. From 1985 to 1987 he was Consul General of the USSR in Ho Chi Minh City.

On 1 February 1988 he became ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the Soviet Union to the Republic of Zaire, succeeding Valentin Soldatov. After the dissolution of the USSR at the end of 1991 he continued as ambassador of the Russian Federation. He was formally relieved of the post by presidential decree No. 345 of 16 March 1993, signed by Boris Yeltsin, and was succeeded by Yuri Spirin.

From April to October 1999 he was deputy director of the General Secretariat of the Russian Foreign Ministry, also serving as deputy secretary general of the ministry. From 1999 to 2000 he led the Russian consulate general in Sydney, Australia, his final posting before retirement.

Jonaitis was married. Few other details of his private life have been made public. He was one of a number of Lithuanian born officials who made their careers in the Soviet foreign service and remained with the Russian diplomatic service after 1991.

Vladislovas Jonaitis died on 22 October 2026, aged 91. The place and cause of death were not given. The next day the leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation published an obituary announcing his death with deep sorrow and recalling his service in Vietnam, Zaire and Australia. The ministry said his death was an irreparable loss for his colleagues and those close to him and that his memory would remain in their hearts.

Jonaitis is remembered by the Russian Foreign Ministry as a talented diplomat, an experienced head of mission with wide professional horizons and strong analytical skills, and a caring mentor to younger diplomats. His time in Kinshasa spanned the end of the Soviet Union, making him both the last Soviet and the first Russian ambassador to Zaire.