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Evgeny V. Kobelev

Portrait of Evgeny V.  Kobelev

Evgeny Vasilyevich Kobelev Евгений Васильевич Кобелев [E.V. Kobelev (Е.В. Кобелев)] (2 May 1938, Ulyanovsk — 5 May 2025, Moscow, Russia) was a Russian reporter and researcher who covered the Vietnam War from 1964 to 1975 and co-authored the one and only illustrated book on Cambodia immediately after the civil war, Kампучия восставшая из пепла [Cambodia Risen From the Ashes], edited in Khmer as ការស្ថាបនាប្រទេសកម្ពុជាក្រោយគ្រោះមហន្តរាយ [Cambodia: Rebuilding After the Disaster], published in Moscow and Phnom Penh in 1986.

While studying at Lomonosov Moscow State University , E.V. Kobelev was one of the first Soviet students to opt for studying Vietnamese language and civilization. As reflected in the title of his first published book, Вьетнам, любовь и боль моя [Vietnam, My Love and My Pain] (1969), Vietnam, the Vietnam (or ​“American”) War and the neighboring countries of Cambodia and Laos determined both his fate and his entire career. 

As a correspondent with the state news agency TASS, he covered the conflict on the field starting from 1964, pursuing his academic research on modern Vietnamese history and publishing in 1979 the first exhaustive biography of revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh in Russian, with numerous translations abroad. As a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Soviet Union (CPSU) until 1991, he supervised relations with the communist parties and revolutionary movements of the Indochina countries.

Active in several international committees devoted to public diplomacy (Russian-Vietnamese Friendship Society, Solidarity Committee with the People of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia), E. V. Kobelev joined the Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, in 1991. He furthered his study on Southeast Asia, in particular the ​“реакционная клика Пол Пота” [Pol Pot’s reactionary clique], concentrating on Vietnamese contemporary politics. In 2008, he established and led until 2013 the Центр изучения Вьетнама и АСЕАН (Center for Vietnam and ASEAN Studies) at the Institute of Far Eastern Studies [IFES, now Institute of China and Modern Asia (ICCA)].

 

1) As a TASS correspondent in Vietnam, 1965. 2) With several of his published books. 3) With daughter Tania in Leningrad, 1989. [all photos from E.V. Kobelev, 65 Years with Vietnam: Memories, 2022.] 4) Cover of his 1986 book on Cambodia, with photographs by A.V. Lieberman. 

 

1) As a TASS correspondent in Vietnam, 1965. 2) With several of his published books. 3) With daughter Tania in Leningrad, 1989. [all photos from E.V. Kobelev, 65 Years with Vietnam: Memories, 2022.] 4) Cover of his 1986 book on Cambodia, with photographs by A.V. Lieberman. 

 

1) As a TASS correspondent in Vietnam, 1965. 2) With several of his published books. 3) With daughter Tania in Leningrad, 1989. [all photos from E.V. Kobelev, 65 Years with Vietnam: Memories, 2022.] 4) Cover of his 1986 book on Cambodia, with photographs by A.V. Lieberman. 

 

1) As a TASS correspondent in Vietnam, 1965. 2) With several of his published books. 3) With daughter Tania in Leningrad, 1989. [all photos from E.V. Kobelev, 65 Years with Vietnam: Memories, 2022.] 4) Cover of his 1986 book on Cambodia, with photographs by A.V. Lieberman. 

1) As a TASS correspondent in Vietnam, 1965. 2) With several of his published books. 3) With daughter Tania in Leningrad, 1989. [all photos from E.V. Kobelev, 65 Years with Vietnam: Memories, 2022.] 4) Cover of his 1986 book on Cambodia, with photographs by A.V. Lieberman. 

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