Gavriil Antonovich Katakazi

Gavriil Antonovich Katakazi (Гавриил Антонович Катакази) (17 July 1794 – 25 April 1867) was a Russian diplomat and privy councillor, also notable as the father of Konstantin Katakazi, Russian ambassador to the United States.

Life
From a Phanariote family, he was appointed to the Russian embassy in Istanbul in 1816. He served as the foreign ministry representative to the Russian navy on the expedition that culminated in the battle of Navarino on 8 November 1826, during which he was on board the ship Azov. In 1833 he was sent on a special mission to Bavaria and in August that year was appointed envoy extraordinary to the Bavarian Otto I of Greece. He earned Otto's respect and maintained good relations between Russia and the new independent Greek state. In 1843 he was recalled to Saint Petersburg and retired, but two years later he was taken back on by the foreign ministry. In 1847 he was made a senator of the Russian Empire, where he acted as an advisor on the Ottoman Empire and the Balkans, playing an active part in the negotiations which ended the Crimean War.