Born the son of an intelligence officer and an orientalist, Kirpichenko studied at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, and began his career with positions in Soviet embassies in the Middle East, including Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
He rose through the diplomatic ranks, becoming envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary first class in 1996, and in 1998 he took up the post of Ambassador of Russia to the United Arab Emirates.
His parents had connections with Africa and Asia; his father, Vadim Alexseyevich, was an intelligence officer with the Soviet military, reaching the rank of general-lieutenant.
[5] From 1991 to 1995 Kirpichenko was Counselor-Envoy at the Soviet, and then Russian embassy in Saudi Arabia, and then from 1995 until 1998 he was First Deputy Director of the Department of the Middle East and North Africa at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
[13] During this period, on 27 October 2004, he spoke on the subject of "identity in views between Egypt and Russia regarding the Iraqi issue.
[18] Kirpichenko was immediately appointed ambassador to Egypt on 7 September 2011, a post he held concurrently as part-time plenipotentiary to the League of Arab States.
[22] He was also present at the unveiling of a bust of former Prime Minister of Russia Yevgeny Primakov by Rustam Minnikhanov at the Russian Cultural Centre in Cairo in October that year to mark the anniversary.
[citation needed] Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also expressed his condolences to his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov during his visit to Moscow.