It is with deepest regret that the Editorial Board of the Russian Mind magazine informs the readers about the death of Vyacheslav Ivanovich Katamidze
Vyacheslav Katamidze, a brilliant journalist, political analyst, long-term contributor to The Russian Mind magazine, author of over thirty books, a deep and inspiring person, passed away on 10 May 2026 at the age of eighty-one…
Vyacheslav Ivanovich was born on 26 September 1944 in Tbilisi into the family of an officer. After school, he continued his education at the Military Institute of Foreign Languages in Moscow.
A Middle East expert, he worked in Kuwait, Egypt and other Arab countries. In 1973-1974, he was an UN military observer in the Middle East and deputy chairman of the Mixed Israeli-Egyptian Armistice Commission, an experience that is reflected in his book The Iraqi-Kuwait Conflict, which provides an in-depth analysis of conflicts in the Middle East. In 1973 he was one of the Soviet officers awarded the UN medal «In the Service of Peace”.
Later, Katamidze worked as a commentator for the USSR State Television and Radio Station (Gosteleradio USSR), made documentaries about Arab countries, headed an independent documentary film studio that created such films as Treasure Peninsula, Aivazovsky, and A View from the Height of the Pyramids; he was the author of the popular Golden-Domed Moscow documentary series. From 1995 he lived and worked in London.
A man of encyclopedic knowledge and always full of ideas, he could not imagine his life without creative work, without constant work on new books, some of which he published under pseudonyms.
He lived a vibrant and admirable life, leaving behind such interesting works as A Walk Around London, Christopher Wren. The Genius of the English Baroque, Ghosts and Apparitions of London, Secrets of the British Museum, The Mystery of the Stratford Man, Shakespeare or Marlowe?, The Mysterious Bible and many others.
In 2014 Katamidze was awarded the Belyaev Prize for the “Scientific and Artistic Book” category for his work The Secret of the Order of the Temple. His books, translated into many languages, are available in 319 libraries across the globe, including the British Library and the libraries of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Katamidze’s last novel (still unpublished), was the Ivan and Eva historical detective story about the destinies of people caught up in the epicentre of the dramatic events of the Second World War.
It is hard to imagine that The Russian Mind will be left without Katamidze’s vivid articles, full of in-depth analysis of both world and Russian history, and insightful research into the works of Russian artists and writers.
We express our heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of Vyacheslav Ivanovich.
Eternal memory!
Editors of The Russian Mind magazine
