“Russia’s role in Iranian history since the nineteenth century is well known, to be sure. But especially for the period until World War I, it tends to be narrated in a patterned and somewhat reductionist manner, typically through the lens of the ‘Great Game,’ with Iran a mere buffer state between Russia and Great Britain, a hapless victim of great power politics (a notion cherished by many Iranians, who often see themselves as victims rather than as active participants in their own destiny).”
From the book Russians in Iran
Newark Del. (Special to Informed Comment: Feature) – Fariba Amini: How and where did you find the memoir of your great grandfather, Ivan Jakolevich Korostovetz ?
Carlo Gastone: The story of Persian Arabesques original manuscript is very interesting. According to my first cousin Tanya (Tatyana) V. Korostovetz (100 years old on June 19th 2025) still living in Paris), all the original Russian documents of the diplomat (three wooden boxes) had been given and were kept in the cellar of the private former Tsarist General Pavel Nikolayevich Shatilov, head of staff of the Caucasus Military District, who lived in a suburb of Paris named Agnères-sur-Seine.
Unfortunately, all these papers and documents contained in the boxes went permanently lost during the well-known 1955 flood in Paris. Luckily, for researchers and due to my grandmother Olga, who had preserved and kept within her belongings a copy of the English translation made by Robert Goodlet before 1920, the year of his death, I could find the text in a suitcase that belonged to her at my mother’s death in San Remo Italy 2012.
FA : What was his diplomatic mission in Iran?
CG: This question, although apparently simple, is actually very complicated to explain, due to the International Political scenario in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century period, in which he was in charge as Russian Envoy in Tehran (1913-1915).
Formally he was the Plenipotentiary Minister of the Legation of Imperial Russia in Persia.
Substantially the only instructions that he had received by the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, S. Sazonov, were literally the following.
“In the winter of 1913, during my preparations for going to Tehran, I asked the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sazonoff, for instructions to act according to directives of his liking, but the Minister merely recommended that I should get along with the British. “However,” continued Sazonoff, “try to defend our interests,” and then he added, “go and see our ambassador in London, Count Benckendorff[1]; he is at present in Petersburg, and I will let him know that you are going to see him.”
Count Benckendorff’s commendation.
“Of course, you can understand that in view of this scenario, the conservation of and maintenance of Anglo-Russian relations on an amicable footing becomes essential and that the problems of Persia take second place to the point of being relegated to the bottom of the scale of values.”
Today this task can be named as “Mission Impossible”
FA: Before going to Iran, he was in China and Mongolia. What did he do there?
CG: This one also is a difficult question to summarize in a short space, as it represents a long period of his diplomatic career, three times in China in different eras and with different assignments. I recently published on an Italian Historical Journal called Storia Libera a 50-page article which is the first ever small academic biography of Ivan J. Korostovetz
He was appointed, on May 1st, 1890, second secretary to the Russian diplomatic mission in Beijing until 1894.
On the 18th of September 1899 he was appointed diplomatic officer for the Kwantung region, and from the 14th of December 1899 he served in Port Arthur. Moreover, on June 1900, during the Boxer Rebellion, he was sent to Vice Admiral Yevgeny Ivanovich Aleksejev (step brother of Nicholas II) near Tientsin, where from August 5th to September 7th 1901 – date of the Unequal Treaty –, due to the absence of the consul, he temporarily managed the affairs of the Russian consulate. During the Boxer Rebellion, Korostovez played a very active role for the setting up of the Russian administration in Tientsin. To this purpose, he also managed to achieve a profitable agreement with the Chinese maritime customs and for the exploitation of a stretch of railway, strategically and economically very important, which would have favored the direct connection to Manchuria, going through the Bohai’s Gulf coast.
From February 23rd to March 7th 1908, after the unexpected death of the Russian plenipotentiary minister in Beijing, the famous sinologist D. D. Pokotilov, Korostovetz was chosen, under the recommendation of Tsar Nicholas II, and on the nomination of the same Izvol’skij, to replace him. This was understandably since Korostovetz had already held positions of high responsibility in China on two events, having, in this role, also taken an active part in solving all the main issues of the Russian Foreign Policy in Far East.
The instructions drawn up for him by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and approved by Tsar Nicholas II on June 25th, 1908, were supposed to read as follows.
“Without identifying our interests with those of Western Europe, make the effort to continue our policy applied until 1898, that is, to act peacefully and separately from the other countries. In accordance with this principle, we should convince the Peking government that we are sincerely and consciously prepared to take into account its legitimate claims, while demanding the same respect for our rights coming from the treaties and the same willingness to respect our vital interests”.
Career Achievements during the period briefly mentioned.
- Participation, negotiation and signing of the peace agreement for the Russo-Japanese War (under the US patronage of T. Roosevelt Peace Nobel Prize winner and Secretary of the Russian Prime Minister Sergei Jul’evič Vitte) known as the Treaty of Portsmouth of 1905.
- Negotiation and signing of the Russian-Mongolian Friendship Treaty signed in Urga today Ulaanbaatar in 1912. Today considered the basic legal document for Mongolian Sovereignty.
FA: In the book, he is quite sympathetic to Iranians or Persians as he calls them. He mentions this several times in the book, especially on pages 72 and 73. How and why did he come to this conclusion?
CG: Pages 72 and 73, contained in chapter 11, represent the summary of the detailed examination that Ivan was able to observe in the several years of his diplomatic career before 1915 in many other countries, that for their main features resembled to Persia in the early 1900s. It should be added that, in this case, it is a reassuring and favorable description comparison with the colonization settlement approach policy of the British Empire, which very often made use of denigrating and omission methods to achieve its main political goals.
To the above I would like to add an excerpt from an Italian historian review performed on Persian Arabesques, where it is textually reported.
“The ambassador’s impressions photograph a crucial moment in the Persian twentieth century, a century that would be full of twists and radical changes even on those shores – initially peripheral, and then increasingly central to global current affairs.”
“In other words, Persian Arabesques constitutes a primary source, that is, an exceptional historical document written – with lucidity and honesty, moreover – by one of its undoubted protagonists.”
FA: How did the Russian diplomatic personnel engage with the British diplomatic corps? We know that during that period, both countries were involved in Iran and wanted to take advantage of its natural resources.
CG: When Korostovetz arrives in Persia, which happens at the same time when drafting Persian Arabesques, the context is a delicate balance between the two parties. His mission, made explicit by Sazonov (Russian Foreign Minister and therefore his direct superior), is to preserve peaceful understanding at all costs. Korostovetz’s character and initiatives soon clash with such intentions [Korostovetz’ appointment as Envoy to Persia, “for his qualities and temperament”, was considered by one of his subordinates a big mistake coming from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Most probably, he was referring to Korostovetzs rigidity, typical of the representatives of the traditional Russian Diplomatic School, which did not allow him to be as flexible in dealing with emerging problems]. A long series of misunderstandings and errors, recognized later on re-examination by the diplomat himself, ruin the initial climate of trust established with his British counterpart, Sir Walter Townley.
The interest of the two Empires in the Persian oil does not help Korostovetz, who was a pro-monarchist and supporter of the Russian expansionist policy in the East, as well as being a strong opponent to the 1907 Anglo-Russian Agreement, which he openly criticized, to preserve peaceful understanding with the British,
Persian Arabesques by Ivan Jakovlevich Korostovetz . (DeGruyter Brill, 2025). Click here to Buy.
FA: Is he critical to the way the Russian Tsarist government engaged with the Persians. He talks about the oil concession in the North and how a Georgian named Khoshtaria who “later sold them for a good price to a group of British companies”. In which way was this deal different than the one with the British under the D’Arcy Company?
CG: This is not just one question but a series that I will try to condense in an adequate response to the short space available here, which does not allow me to report all the stages of the long story of APOC (Anglo Persian Oil Company) then BP (British Petroleum) plc.
Yes he is critical to Sazonov’s approach to Persia whose only intent is to avoid friction with UK and gain their friendship in spite of the real Russian local interests. We may say today that it is a previous political commitment detached from the reality of facts.
Korostovetz was not the first Russian Envoy to disapprove this Treaty; during the Constitutional Revolution in Persia, the Russian Envoy in Tehran, N.G. Hartwig, who had not accepted Izwolsky’s political line, continued his firm line against the British in that country. As a result, he became unsatisfactory to the British and, consequently, to the Russian Foreign Ministry. In November 1908, he was dismissed from his post and was recalled to Russia.
Yes, the two deals where totally different for the timing and character. The D’Arcy Concession deal was a petroleum oil concession that was signed in 1901 between William Knox D’Arcy and Mozzafar al-Din, Shah of Persia. The D’Arcy concession was finalized in 1901 before the 1907 Anglo-Russian Convention, which limited the spheres of influence in Persia. The UK Government, in 1914, in order to have official control over the oil production because of the British Admiralty, who was converting their fleet from coal to oil had to buy the concession/property and to do so was compelled to submit a purchase proposal to the House of Commons. This deal was considered an infringement of Persian sovereignty and although the D’Arcy Concession had hitherto been limited to the South and West of Persia, it had now been extended to the Neutral Zone partly into the Russian area of influence without any notice beforehand to the Russian Empire Government.
FA: How did he view Reza Shah?
CG: According to Korostovetz, due to Reza Khan’s balanced domestic and foreign policy towards Soviet Russia, the latter never succeeded in imposing slavery on Persia. “Although with Moscow’s help”, as the author of the memoirs writes, “the Government in Tehran was freed from foreign interference but it had no intention in replacing Tsarist tutelage with the Moscow oligarchy”. Korostovetz, unlike Soviet researchers, gives a positive assessment of Reza Khan’s political line. At the same time, using specific examples, he reveals the essentials of Soviet policy towards Persia. Basing on the analysis of the Tsarist and Soviet Russia’s policy in Persia made by Korostovetz, we may state that in fact the Soviet’s policy was an extension of the traditional policy carried out by the Tsarist regime.
Korostovetz basically admires Reza Khan’s career.
FA: He left Iran when the Russian Revolution happened. He was against the Bolsheviks. Where did he go and where did he die?
CG: The October uprising of the Bolsheviks radically changed the political situation in Russia itself and had a decisive impact on Korostovetz’s future fate. Shortly after his meeting in 1918 with the “Soviet Talleyrand” G.V. Chicherin at the Commissariat for Foreign Affairs, during which he declined the offer for a cooperation with the Soviets, Korostovetz retired permanently from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, avoiding to be imprisoned by “a gang of disbanded soldiers who wanted to shoot me”.
“Thus,” Tchitcherin noted, “You do not believe into the possibility of our new political orientation in Persia based on Cooperation, Equality, and Justice, and you consider that the abrogation of the Treaties is a mistake. This is a pity. I would have liked to use your experience on Eastern issues even if only as an advisor”.
“I confirmed my willingness to share my information with him, but not as a collaborator of the Soviet Government because of our differences of view and the desire for mutual trust between us. Moreover, I condemned the actions of the new rulers of Russia as being in stark contrast to my conscience and my feelings of patriotism”. “But why,” he retorted, “we are also acting in the interests of Russia (at that time the anonymous Union of Republics did not yet exist), except in the spirit of Imperialism and reaction, but in a more popular form”.
After spending some time in Russia in the hope to an end of the new regime, looking for a way out by moving to Finland, then back to Russia, and Ukraine, and finding no place under Bolshevik rule, Ivan J. Korostovetz, like hundreds of thousands of his fellow countrymen, the best representatives of society, was finally forced to leave his homeland and emigrate to Berlin, France, China and France again, where he died in Paris on January 1st 1933. Having made this decision, Korostovetz saved the lives of himself and his family, in spite of many other representatives of the old regime, who remained in Russia and who were either killed during the “Red Terror”, or survived but later becoming victims of the Stalinist repressions of the 1930s.
FA: Considering that today, Iran and Russia have a very close relationship both political and economic, how do you view this relationship?
CG: History repeats over the years. On January 17th, 2025, Presidents Vladimir Putin and Masoud Pezeshkian signed a 47-article Strategic Partnership Treaty. This agreement marks a turning point in bilateral relations between the two countries, strengthening the already established ties and opening up new prospects for cooperation in key areas such as energy, defense, trade, and technology.
Nihil sub sole novum [Nothing new under the sun.]
Born in 1950 in Johannesburg, South Africa, Carlo Gastone spent part of his childhood abroad, attending elementary school in Havana, Cuba and New York. In the early 960s, he returned to Italy where he received a Law degree from the University of Turin. After a business career spent in Italy as well as in Nigeria and Poland, he returned to Turin, where he now lives. He ended up investigating his Russian roots because of his mother. After her death in 2012, he found a suitcase that had belonged to his grandmother and that she had saved from the Bolshevik’s Revolution, containing photographs, certificates and documents of historical interest. Among these were some that had belonged to his great-grandfather, Ivan Jacovlevich Korostovetz (1862-1933). This treasure trove enabled him to reconstruct his family history and offer details about events of historic interest.
I would like to sincerely thank my friend Fariba Amini for the opportunity that I have been granted to re-evaluate the character of my great-grandfather, a brilliant diplomat of Imperial Russia. Persian Arabesques is the last unedited memoirs written by Ivan Jakolevich Korostovetz before escaping from Russia in 1918. They are an unpublished chapter in the history of the Russian diplomacy. -Carlo Gastone
[1] An outstanding Russian diplomat, Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to London in 1902-1916 Count A. K. Benckendorff was a well-known for his disposition towards the British, which is why he was nicknamed as anglophile. His analysis on the expecting terrible future in Russia is amazing in accuracy!
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