22.06.2021 marks the 100th anniversary of the prominent Soviet diplomat, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the USSR L. N. Musatov (1921–2001). His handwritten legacy reflects the stages of a great life, from the party leadership (since 1957-second secretary of the Ulyanovsk Regional Party Committee) to work in the USSR Foreign Ministry, where he became "one of the best ambassadors"-Africanists. Ambassador to Mali (late 1965–1970), Guinea (1973–1978), Guinea-Bissau (1974–1975), Madagascar (1980–1986), he always worked with enthusiasm, achieving great achievements, for which he was awarded orders. He was a non-capitalist theorist with an "African face", in the most flexible economic forms. He focused on economic diplomacy, the study of which during the Soviet period is just beginning. These developing countries now rely on the bauxite plant in Guinea, Kindia, a cement plant and gold mining in Mali. L. N. Musatov emphasized common values in the development of cooperation, the donation of cultural objects, the sending of Africans to study in the USSR, which helped to form a benevolent elite towards Russia. Such facts contributed to the birth of the traditions of Russian-African cooperation and the holding of the Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi in 2019, as well as to the adoption of strategic decisions on the revival of bilateral cooperation. L. N. Musatov made a great contribution to the study of classical diplomacy, "the diplomacy of trust " (first, on the experience of his communication with the President of Madagascar). He loved working with people, and a whole galaxy of new Russian diplomats with the rank of ambassadors and envoys came out of his embassies. In general, the memory of a diplomat is determined not only and not so much by appointments and business trips, but by the creative contribution of everyone in their field of work, embodied in constructive deeds. Only they remain in history and are in demand by descendants.
