Lev Ivanovich Miroshnikov, a leading researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, died on April 27, 2006.

The whole life of Lev Ivanovich is an example of loyalty to the path he chose and to the highly moral principles that he invariably followed. His life, complete and full of vivid events, was in harmony with his inner world, it could be called harmonious, but with two big reservations: the first is the war, the second is that uncompromising attitude that was a characteristic feature of Lev Ivanovich's nature. The first brought injuries, the second-undermined his heart, which eventually led to the inevitable denouement. It was impossible otherwise: for the sake of the success of the task entrusted to him in the international scientific field, he had to defend his principled positions in a sharp debatable contradiction.

After finishing school, Lev Ivanovich goes to the front as a volunteer, and in subsequent years he had a chance to fight on the Voronezh, Don and Bryansk fronts. Orders of the Patriotic War I and II degrees, the Red Star, many medals testify to his military work, in which there were both injuries and hospitals (until the end of his life, he carried a fragment that could not be removed without damaging vital vessels).

After the war, Lev Ivanovich entered the Institute of Oriental Studies at the Iranian department. (Perhaps this choice was caused by the fact that in 1931-1935 he lived with his parents in Iran at the place of his father's service.)

After graduating from the Institute in 1955, he entered graduate school and defended his dissertation on the topic: "Iran as a springboard for anti-Soviet intervention in 1918-1920."

His first trips abroad were related to the Middle East. Soyuzexportfilm (Ministry of Culture of the USSR) sent Lev Ivanovich to Lebanon, Syria and Afghanistan to find out the effectiveness of our cinema in these countries and for further recommendations on how to improve it.

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Since 1956, L. I. Miroshnikov worked at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, where he headed the work on relations with foreign scientific organizations.

Having an even, calm character, he made deliberate decisions, and this always ensured a successful outcome in any task assigned to him. Naturally, such a worker was appreciated, he was well known to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (the USSR Commission for UNESCO) and the leadership of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Deputy Chairman of the Soviet Committee for the Study of Central Asian Cultures). He was twice sent to work at UNESCO for long periods of time (about twelve years in total). As an adviser and senior adviser to the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as a UNESCO representative, he traveled to many countries of the world (22 countries) to organize and conduct responsible international conferences on scientific programs approved by UNESCO.

In the UNESCO Secretariat, he led such projects as" Studying the cultures of Central Asia", was the head of the sections for studying the cultures of Slavic, Celtic, Balkan and Arctic peoples. At the World Congress on Cultural Policy (Mexico City, 1982), he was a member of the leadership of this forum. Since 1973, he has been the Academic Secretary of the Soviet-Iranian Firdowsi Prize Committee. Since 1981, Lev Ivanovich was a member of the International Editorial Committee for the creation of the 6-volume "History of Central Asian Civilizations", created under the auspices of UNESCO by a team of scientists from all over the world who specialized in the study of various issues of Central Asian civilizations. The last, 6th volume was published before the death of Lev Ivanovich, and he was able to see the result of many years of life and scientific work. Lev Ivanovich actually nurtured this project, and the UNESCO leadership appreciated this contribution: in March 2006, UNESCO Director-General Koihiro Matsuura sent L. I. Miroshnikov a UNESCO jubilee medal issued in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of this international organization, and a diploma to it. In his letter, Matsuura expressed regret that he was not able to present the medal in person in Paris, as due to the deterioration of his health, Lev Ivanovich could not use the invitation to participate in the award ceremony at UNESCO headquarters.

Recently, the Institute received a letter from the coordinator of UNESCO scientific programs I. Moshiri, who expressed her deep condolences to the family of Lev Ivanovich and his workmates. In this letter, she recalls that he was such an active participant in the Project, was so absorbed in this work that he did not miss a single meeting of the International Editorial Committee, it was important for him to be sure that the work on "History" was going well.

But simultaneously with his scientific and organizational activities, his own research work was carried out on the history of Iran in modern times, the historical justification of the geographical definition of "Central Asia". Lectures were given in the United States at Harvard and Yale Universities on the study of the modern history of Iran and the development of Oriental studies in the Soviet Union. A large number of articles were published in UNESCO publications, in Paris scientific journals, in Tehran, in scientific periodicals in the Balkans. In total, about one hundred titles of monographs and articles have been published. His last publication was his long article "Muslim mazars of Western China in the description of Nikolai Pantusov and the Castanier archive". It was published in two issues of the Newsletter of the International Association for the Study of Central Asian Cultures (IAICCA) in N 22, 24 (in English). By the way, the initiative of the establishment of the MAIKC Information Bulletin also belongs to Lev Ivanovich.

In his international scientific work, Lev Ivanovich met with many outstanding scientists, such as V. F. Minorsky, K. E. Bosworth, B. B. Lal, S. Bira, and others. Being highly proficient in the history, historiography, and geopolitics of such a complex region as Central Asia, he was certainly interesting to those who had worked with him.

He was an intelligent conversationalist, tactful, completely devoid of snobbery, without a shadow of self-conceit or superiority, and had a subtle special humor. His opinion, advice, and feedback were very much appreciated by everyone who was close to the problems of the Middle East, Central Asia, and Iran.

He did not have time to write his memoirs, which would have been of undoubted interest to the scientific community. Because the personal stuff was always postponed for later. And it was as if it wasn't a short life that was lived, but there wasn't enough time for yourself.

Lev Ivanovich was a wonderful family man, and the loss is all the more bitter for the people closest to him - for his wife and daughter.

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His fellow students at the Institute deeply sympathize with Natalia Ivanovna and Maria Lvovna in their unending grief.

That's how purposeful, dedicated to the cause to which his life was devoted, highly respectable, fair and straightforward this man was.

The bright image of Lev Ivanovich Miroshnikov remained in the memory of all those who were lucky enough to know him, and they will keep it until the end of their days.

COLLEAGUES AND FRIENDS.

MAIN SCIENTIFIC WORKS OF L. I. MIROSHNIKOV*

Iran as a springboard of anti-Soviet intervention in 1918-1920. Moscow, 1955, 271 p. (MGIMO of the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs). Cand. dis.

From the history of using the territory of Iran as a springboard against Soviet Russia (1917-1920) / / Soviet Oriental Studies. 1957, N 1. Pp. 145-155 (Podp.: L. I. Melnikov).

Modern Syria. Moscow, 1958. - Author's section: Architecture. pp. 236-253; Cinema. pp. 255-258.

Anglo-Indian troops in Iran, Transcaucasia, and Turkestan in 1914-1920. Institute of Oriental Studies (USSR Academy of Sciences). No. 35. International relations and colonial policy. 1959. pp. 12-18.

Military alliance of the Iranian reaction with American imperialism / / Problems of Oriental Studies. 1959. N 3. pp. 74-81 (Sub-item: L. I. Melnikov).

Politicheskaya expansiya amerikanskogo imperializma v Irane [Political Expansion of American Imperialism in Iran].

English expansion in Iran (1914-1920). Institute of Peoples of Asia, Moscow: IV L, 1961.228 p.

Iran in War I. Cambridge (Mass.), 1962. 72 p. Ditto: 2 ed.: Oriental Literature Publishing House. 1963. Ill p.; Teheran: Simorg, 1965. 132 p. (in Persian).

Studies of the History of Iran in the Soviet Union. Cambridge (Mass.), 1962. 82 p.

The German threat to India and the British expansion in Iran in 1914-1920 (Response to opponents) / / Peoples of Asia and Africa. 1963, N 6. pp. 55-72.

The German-Turkish Threat to India, Iran's Occupation by Britain and British Intervention in Transcaucasia and Transcaspia (1914 - 1920). M.: Nauka, 1964. 72 p.

Imperiya Velikikh Kushanov [The Empire of the Great Kushans]. UNESCO News, 1967, No. 4, pp. 3-10.

The Forgotten Empire of the Kushan // UNESCO Features. P., 1967, No. 502. P. 6 - 9. Idem.: France-Asie. No. 194 - 195. P., 1968. P. 471 - 478.

International Symposium on the Art of Central Asia during the Timurid Period: Information Document. UNESCO. P., 1969. 8 p.

Les civilizations d'Asie Centrale et leur etude // Cahiers d'histoire mondiale. Vol. 13. Neuchatel. 1971, No. 4. P. 631 - 642.

The Soviet Union and Central Asian Countries: On the Bases of Foreign Relations. M.: Nauka, 1972. 20 p. The same: in Russian.

To the 50th anniversary of the Soviet-Iranian treaty of February 26, 1921 / / Polveka mirnogo sotrudnichestva, Moscow, 1973, pp. 74-82.

Turkey's International Position and the Proclomation of the Republic // AIESEE Bulletin. Vol. 12. Bucarest, 1974. No. 2. P. 351 - 357 (In col. B. G. Gafurov).

The study of the civilizations of Central Asia / USSR. Institute of Oriental Studies. Soviet Committee for the Study of Central Asian Civilizations, Moscow, GRVL, 1976, 127 p. (together with B. G. Gafurov).

Central Asia during the Kushan Epoch // Social Sciences. Vol. 8. M., 1977. No. 4. P. 101 - 108 (In col. B. G. Gafurov).

Etnicheskie problemy drevnoi istorii Tsentralnoi Azii [Ethnic Problems of the ancient history of Central Asia], Moscow, 1978, pp. 7-10.

The Study of Civilizations of Central Asia: An Experience of International Cooperation under UNESCO Project // The Journal of Central Asia. Islamabad. Vol. 2. No. 2. 1979. P. 1 - 111 (In col. B. G. Gafurov).

Who organized the coup d'etat of February 21, 1921 in Iran? // New and recent history. 1980. N 3. pp. 141-153.

* Comp. by S. I. Potabenko.

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Central Asia: On the issue of geographical boundaries of the Historical and cultural region / / Information Bulletin (MAIKCA), vol. 14. Moscow, 1987, pp. 54-58.

Central Asian Studies under the UNESCO project. Results of two decades / / Information Bulletin (MAIKCA), Issue 15, Moscow, 1988, pp. 5-14.

Bibliographic index of works published in connection with the UNESCO project "Study of Civilizations in Central Asia": (1967-1987) / / Information Bulletin (MAICCA), Vol. 16. Moscow, 1990, pp. 130-137.

Middle Asia: a Notion and the Geographical Term // Inform. Bulletin (IASCCA). Issue 21. M., 1998. P. 8 - 27.

"The Moslem Mazars of Western China" by Nikolay Pantusov and the Archive of Joseph Castagne. Part One // Information Bulletin IASCCA). Issue 22. M., 2000. P. 20 - 47.

"The Moslem Mazars...". Part Two // Information Bulletin (IASCCA). Issue 24. Moscow, 2004. P. 123-145.

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