Europe and the Soviet Union
Timothy Eydelnant: From Belarus to American Diplomacy
Left Minsk at sixteen as a refugee and later coordinated U.S. aid to Syrian refugees.
- Fled
- Belarus (Soviet Union)
- Status
- Refugee
- Arrived in the U.S.
- 1989
- Service
- Foreign Service Officer; Syrian humanitarian assistance coordinator, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration
- Region
- Europe and the Soviet Union
Timothy Eydelnant was born in Minsk. In 1989, when he was sixteen, his family came to Minnesota under a U.S. program for religious and ethnic minorities facing discrimination in the Soviet Union. His parents, both engineers, took factory jobs so their sons could get ahead.
A fellowship at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow led him into the Foreign Service, with postings in Jerusalem, Helsinki, Rio de Janeiro, Basra, and Vienna. He later served as the Department's Syrian humanitarian assistance coordinator in the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration.
Read the history behind this story on the The Soviet Union page, or browse all the diplomats.