The purpose of the article is to study the social circle of successful Russian diplomats drawing on the example of the envoy of the Russian Empire in Constantinople V.S. Tomara. The recognition of his merits in the diplomatic field is evidenced by him being awarded the Order of St. Anne of the 1st degree and appointed to the Senate after leaving diplomatic service. Based on the application of methods of historical science and study of archival materials, memoir literature and scientific publications, it is shown that the social circle of V.S. Tomara both during diplomatic service in Europe and the Ottoman Empire, as well as subsequently in Russia was wide. During his service, he successfully interacted with representatives of various social strata and nationalities. His «inner circle» united highly educated people of the Enlightenment, each of whom in turn had his own circle of intellectual friends. The breadth of social contacts in the service allowed V.S. Tomara to receive necessary information and successfully implement the foreign policy tasks assigned to him, and the exchange of knowledge and ideas when communicating with friends contributed to the transfer of ideas and values of European and Eastern culture to Russia. Since V.S. Tomara was one of the many successful diplomats of Russia, an analysis of his circle shows that the military and diplomatic successes of the Russian Empire were not accidental, they were provided by universalism and high professional and cultural level of Russian diplomats, which in turn was «fueled» by the existence of a certain cultural environment in Russia. Also, for the first time in Russian academic literature, the article introduces a lifetime portrait of V.S. Tomara by the outstanding French silhouette artist G.F. Sido.
V.S. Tomara; Russian diplomat; social circle; end of the 18th – beginning of the 19th century.