Rudolf Vilem Perina
By Harry Tamrazian
The US state department official confirmed that President George W. Bush on Thursday nominated career US diplomat, a member of the Senior Foreign Service Rudolf Vilem Perina to be the next special US negotiator for Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Ken Hillas, the deputy special negotiator for Nagorno-Karabakh and Eurasian conflicts told RFE/RL on Monday, that Rudolf Vilem Perina, who is currently serving as the US ambassador in Moldova, will succeed Carey Cavanaugh in OSCE Minsk Group.
Rudolf Vilem Perina joined the Foreign Service of the Department of State in 1974, and has specialized in Russian, East European, German and NATO affairs. He has been assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa (1975-76), the NATO desk of the State Department (1976-78), the U.S. Embassy in Moscow (1979-81), the U.S. Mission in Berlin (1981-85), and the U.S. Mission to NATO in Brussels (1985-87).
Perina has also served as Director for European and Soviet Affairs on the National Security Council Staff (1987-89), as Deputy Chairman of the U.S. Delegation to the Vienna Negotiations on Confidence and Security-Building Measures in Europe (1989-1992), as Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade (1993-96), and as Senior Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs (1996-97).
Perina earned his B.A. degree at the University of Chicago and did graduate studies at Columbia University where he received his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in European history. He speaks several foreign languages including Czech, Romanian, Russian, German, and French.