Yessentuki (Northern Caucasus, Russia),
August 15, 2008

TO THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE
OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MARXIST)

Dear Comrades,
Dear Comrade Surjeet’s family,

The passing away of Comrade Harkishan Singh Surjeet is a great and irreparable loss for me personally. It was never a secret that he was my true senior friend for 36 years and, on many occasions, an expert political guru and beacon. Moreover, for my colleague, late Ambassador Andrei Gulyaev, and for me, Comrade Surjeet was like a father. Indeed, when I arrived in India as Russia’s Ambassador in 1999, the first Indian leader whom I met immediately, even before presenting credentials, was Comrade Surjeet.

A great freedom fighter, a man of highest wisdom and intellect, exceptional political courage and wide-ranging experience, he was at the same time a warm-hearted and sentimental person. And, without any doubt, Comrade Surjeet was a genuine and unwavering friend of my country, whatever the tragedies or tribulations befell the Soviet Union or Russia in the last century.

May I express my sincere condolences to the Central Committee of the CPI (M) and to Comrade Surjeet’s bereaved family of which I am one. I am aggrieved together with all of you and I am deeply mourning this sorrowful loss.

Let his soul rest in eternal peace.

With all of you in grief,

Alexander M. Kadakin,

 

 

Ambassador of Russia to Sweden,
Ambassador of Russia to India (1999-2004),
Ambassador of Russia to Nepal (1993-1997)