Grigoriyev graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in 1983, and went on to work at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a position at the Soviet embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan.
[1] From 2003 – 2006, he was Deputy Director of the Fourth Department of the CIS Countries at the Russian foreign ministry, and from 2006 – 2008, he was an adviser-envoy at the Embassy of Russia in Kabul.
[1] From February 2008, he was again Deputy Director of the Fourth Department of the CIS Countries, specialising in issues relating to Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
[1] On 25 October 2008, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev appointed Grigoriyev as the first Ambassador of Russia to Abkhazia,[2] after Russia recognised Abkhazian and South Ossetian independence following the war in August 2008.
Grigoriyev presented his Letters of Credence to President of Abkhazia, Sergey Bagapsh on 16 December 2008.