Rodric Braithwaite is a former British diplomat and writer who has spent much of his career dealing with Russia, where he served as ambassador in Moscow from 1988 to 1992. Sir Braithwaite joined the Diplomatic Service in 1955 and held postings in Jakarta, Warsaw, Moscow, Rome, Brussels (European Union), and Washington, DC. He was a member of the Sherpa team for the G7 Economic Summits from 1984 to 1988, and, from 1992 to 1993, was foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Major and chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee. Since leaving government service, Sir Braithwaite has been governor of the English National Opera, chairman of the Royal Academy of Music, senior adviser to Deutsche Bank, and has had a number of business and not-for-profit appointments. He also serves as chairman of the International Advisory Council of the Moscow School of Political Studies. His most recent publications include Across the Moscow River: The World Turned Upside Down in 2003 and Moscow 1941: A City and its People at War in 2006. Sir Braithwaite is an honorary fellow of Christ's College Cambridge, and an honorary doctor and professor of Birmingham University.