Meetings of the Soviet Ambassador to China A. A. Petrov with representatives of the Chinese Communist Party and the Kuomintang in 1945 and early 1946

The article examines the activities of Apollon Aleksandrovich Petrov, the Soviet Ambassador to the Republic of China, in 1945 and early 1946. It was a complicated period in China’s modern history, when, following the end of World War II, a fragile peace was temporarily established in China, with negotiations taking place between the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Kuomintang on the country’s future. The Soviet government at that time sought to prevent a new outbreak of civil war, striving for a unified China and an agreement between the two leading political parties to be reached through mutual concessions. A. A. Petrov, the Soviet Ambassador to the Republic of China and a prominent sinologist, played a crucial role in communicating this position to the Chinese side. He met with the leaders of both the National Government and the CPC and discussed the most pressing issues on the current agenda. The article aims to reconstruct the situation that developed during the negotiations in Chongqing between the CPC and the Kuomintang and after the signing of the peace agreement, as well as to demonstrate the role of Soviet diplomacy and Ambassador A. A. Petrov’s personal role in maintaining contacts between the two parties. The novelty of the research stems from the fact that there have been no previous studies investigating the life and work of A. A. Petrov.