Current, Former Envoys Brainstorm on Ways
To Repair Strained U.S.-Russian Relationship
A prestigious grouping of former and current Russian and American ambassadors came together to mark the 200th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Washington and Moscow. But more than historical reflection, the series of public and private meetings over two days was a chance for the diplomats to brainstorm on how to navigate the complex, often tumultuous U.S.-Russian relationship at this critical juncture—with both countries heading into presidential elections next year.
The 13 past and serving envoys also met with members of the Senate and the U.S. national security advisor as they examined ways to decrease the recent tensions that have threatened to undermine much of the post-Cold War progress made by the two superpowers.
The discussions were capped by a public briefing at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on Sept. 25, in which the ambassadors expounded on the joint statement they released outlining a strategic diplomatic framework to resolve old problems and tackle new ones.
That statement, published in the International Herald Tribune, stressed the importance of the U.S.-Russian relationship to address today’s global crises, whether it’s Iran or weapons of mass destruction or Kosovo.
 “We are diplomats—not politicians—who represent a half-century of experience of ‘doing U.S.-Russian relations,’” the group said. “The threats posed by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism and organized crime, unprecedented stresses on our environment and energy security, and a host of unresolved and frozen regional conflicts are among the pressing issues that require joint attention. In these and many other areas, our two countries have the experience and responsibility to provide leadership.
“Faced with so many important tasks, we cannot afford to let miscommunication or mistrust derail our relations,” they continued. “It is normal and inevitable that we each see the world through the lens of our own national interests, compete in global economic and political affairs and have legitimate disagreements. The task is to identify and advance shared interests even as we manage our differences and disagreements.”
The veteran envoys concluded: “Keeping our channels always open and busy spared us from nuclear annihilation in the 20th century and can help us surmount the threats that lie ahead.”
Everyone on the Carnegie panel acknowledged the many differences that have eroded U.S. and Russian relations, but they cautioned against exaggerating or sensationalizing those differences, particularly during an election year.
“I think one basic point was a consensus that the relationship is not what it should be or can be,” said former U.S. Ambassador to Russia James F. Collins, currently director of Carnegie’s Russia and Eurasia Program. Collins noted that the next 18 months will be critical in toning down the heated rhetoric in both countries as new administrations eventually come into power.
And although “the temperature will rise and the passions will fly” during this upcoming campaign season, both sides at a minimum need to remain respectful of each other, added Vladimir Lukin, Soviet ambassador to the United States in the early 1990s and currently the ombudsman for human rights of the Russian Federation.
Likewise, Lukin’s predecessor, former Soviet Ambassador Yury Dubinin, urged people to remember the larger picture of how far relations have come in a short span of time. For instance, when he arrived in Washington in 1986, there was no commercial air traffic between the two nations. “I arrived in the United States on an El Italia flight, and the only question that I was asked as I got out of the plane was, ‘Mr. Dubinin, are you bringing spaghetti in your bags,’” he recalled.
“And I left by a nonstop Washington, D.C.-to-Moscow flight. So within those four years, I was a witness, and to a certain extent a participant, in the U-turn in the global politics that had been affected primarily by two driving forces, the United States and the then Soviet Union.”
Now a professor at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Dubinin explained that solving problems through negotiations remains a central tenet of Russian diplomacy—a strategy he said needs to be applied to the Kosovo dilemma, alluding to the Russian government’s strong opposition to the province unilaterally declaring independence from Serbia.
Although the debate over the breakaway province has pit the United States against Russia, most of the ambassadors agreed that Kosovo is not the end-all-be-all issue it’s being made out to be in the bilateral partnership.
“Other things are much more important,” argued Arthur Hartman, a senior counselor with APCO Worldwide who served as U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union in the early 1980s. “The world community is taking a hand on the Kosovo problem, and it should not be made into a bilateral issue, as if we have total control over what might happen or indeed if Russia has control over what might happen. We ought to keep our eye on the ball.”
And according to Hartman, that entails addressing the paranoia that has come to permeate the relationship. “We Americans, who are so impatient with progress and making the world over in our image … I think we ought to think more about how long it took us to get certain matters straightened out in our country,” he said.
“This is going to happen in Russia, and the sooner we wake up to that and stop making every little thing that happens there central to an issue, to me, is not central to our relationship, and keep our eye on the main thing that we ought to be doing in the Russian relationship, which is getting control of these very, very dangerous weapons and working together where we can,” he added, noting that we should be encouraged that two premier Russia experts occupy the posts of U.S. secretary of state and U.S. secretary of defense.
In addition, the panelists reminded the audience that government is not the only outlet for improving relations. Encouraging more dialogue among scientific, social and religious organizations is equally important, and increasing investment, economic and other societal cooperation can also help to overcome the disconnect that has occurred on the governmental level.
In fact, among the many topics brought up at the Carnegie discussion, the issue of visas elicited some of the strongest reaction, with many of the panel members calling for the United States to ease its visa restrictions, particularly on Russian students, to foster greater cultural exchanges.
Although educational interaction remains thin compared to countries such as China, one of the main areas where U.S.-Russian cooperation has yielded the most tangible results is in nonproliferation, with successful programs such as the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program helping to safeguard and eliminate weapons of mass destruction.
On that note, former U.S. Ambassador Thomas Pickering, now vice chairman of Hills & Company, urged the U.S. and Russian governments—as the world’s greatest nuclear powers—to expand nonproliferation programs such as Nunn-Lugar with the goals of further reducing weapons and delivery vehicles, establishing greater verification systems, making permanent the moratorium on fissionable materials and providing a nuclear fuel bank for other nations.
Likewise, Lukin remarked that the fight against proliferation and terrorism has clearly brought the two countries together. However, there remain many “dividing issues” and “irritants,” as the blunt diplomat put it, adamantly defending Russia’s right to create a profitable energy monopoly and dismissing criticism that Russia uses its energy wealth as political blackmail.
“Russia is a very original country; therefore it wants to use the resources it has and the ones that are in excess, with regard to its demand. Russia wants to sell it, and to sell it as expensively as possible. I think it’s a very original approach to the issue, and nothing like this every happened in America, of course,” Lukin said sarcastically, admitting that making money—rather than “interfering into other countries’ internal affairs”—is the country’s strategy.
Lukin’s U.S. counterparts also downplayed conspiracy theories on Russia’s energy aspirations, arguing that “world energy markets have a way of taming anybody’s exceeding ambitions over time,” as Ambassador Collins pointed out. But that didn’t deter Collins from criticizing Russia for “not very effective diplomatic approaches to resolving arguments over gas prices and supplies.”
Overall though, the criticism on the American side was muted, with most of the commentary steering away from thorny issues such as Iran, missile defense and, in particular, President Vladimir Putin’s political future and whether he will retain control of the government after he steps down as president early next year (as of press time, Putin said he would lead the dominant party’s ticket in December parliamentary elections and suggested he could become prime minister).
Instead, the ambassadors tried to focus on the broader aspects of the U.S.-Russian relationship, delving into the roots of mistrust, which Collins said are still very much entrenched in both societies. “I think we have to start, first, with the premise that bureaucracies don’t like to change very much … and when you think of the bureaucracy … in this country, predicated on the Cold War and ‘the other,’ the enemy, we are having a very difficult time … reorganizing ourselves,” he explained.
“Part of that is reinforced by the fact that Russia remains the other nuclear superpower, the only country with the capacity to destroy the United States, and we in turn are the same vis-à-vis the Russian Federation,” he added. “That has got to create certain insecurities.”
Pickering agreed with the emotional baggage that lingers from the Cold War. “I think the points that have been made here—paranoia, bureaucracy, old-think, the sense that people haven’t changed, emotionalism, the tendency to over-read statements made for domestic political advantage but really have a kind of international resonance—all play into the disadvantage of the relationship, which does need to be fixed up.”
Nevertheless, there were no signs of animosity at a reception hosted by the Russian Embassy honoring the American and Russian ambassadors at the conclusion of their two-day talks. There, Russian Ambassador Yury V. Ushakov presented his colleagues with photography montages depicting significant moments in the U.S.-Russian timeline.
Ushakov, ambassador since 1999, also took the occasion to offer a more light-hearted perspective on the talks. “I believe there is no need to describe the current state of Russian-U.S. affairs—all of you know what the conditions of our relations are. I should say that the first 200 years are always the hardest.”
A group of current and former American and Russian ambassadors were honored at a reception hosted by Russian Ambassador Yury V. Ushakov to commemorate the 200th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Washington and Moscow.
Burns Reiterates Importance of Turkish Relationship
“Where’s the beef?” That was the question posed by former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Mark Parris during Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns’s discussion on U.S.-Turkish relations at the Atlantic Council on Sept. 13.
Burns was there to send the message that now is the time to “restore the primacy of Turkey as one of our most important strategic partner” after several years of “misunderstandings and miscommunications” following the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
But Parris and others essentially wondered “why now?” After all, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice released a “shared vision” document two years ago stating both governments’ mutual positions on a number of key international matters, and many of Burns’s points in the discussion simply reaffirmed those positions. Parris asked where was the action behind the words, and why even engage at a time when Bush is set to leave office relatively soon.
Burns, ever the affable, tactful diplomat, first thanked Parris for the “softballs,” and then replied that there are always junctures in diplomacy where it’s important to reinforce relationships—in this case, it came prior to Burns’s meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that following week. (President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are also planning high-level talks in Turkey, although a definitive meeting hasn’t been announced.)
 And as to the “beef,” Burns listed some of the main reasons why Turkey is an “indispensable” ally in the region, including its role as an energy supplier and connector, its position as a neighbor to both Iraq and Iran, and its credibility as “the most impressive democracy in the Muslim world.”
“So I would not accept the charge that somehow this is all a bunch of hot air,” Burns told the packed audience. “I think the rhetoric is important, but the actions on energy, the actions on Iran and Iraq, and I would also say, because our troops are serving together in Kosovo … and serving together in Afghanistan … these are real, these are tangible, these are concrete.”
He stressed that “the Middle East is for the 21st century what Europe was in the 20th century for the United States”—a vital epicenter of foreign policy—and as such, Turkey can and should play a major diplomatic role throughout the region, whether it’s as an arbiter between Afghanistan and Pakistan, for instance, or as host of the next Iraq neighbors summit.
“Turkey is influential in the Balkans. Turkey is influential in the Black Sea region. Turkey is influential in the Caucasus, and Turkey is influential in the greater Middle East. In this vitally important set of regions and through the arc of countries that encompass those regions, where so much of our foreign policy attention now lies, Turkey is the vital link for Europe, for Western Europe, as well as for the United States of America,” he declared.
In fact, Burns touched on a variety of points during the broad-ranging Atlantic Council discussion, part of the think tank’s Global Leadership Series—from major regional issues such as Iraq to more local matters such as the Ecumenical Patriarch.
But the overriding theme was one of reconciliation. “We’ve turned the corner and that we’ve recovered our balance,” Burns said, referring to the diplomatic rift that emerged shortly after the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, when the Turkish Parliament rejected the Pentagon’s request to facilitate the entry of U.S. ground troops into northern Iraq from Turkish soil.
And although he acknowledged that anti-American sentiment remains widespread among the Turkish public, Burns insisted that the official relationship is on the mend—mirroring the recovery that has taken place with European nations such as France and Germany, which also strongly opposed the war in Iraq.
In addition, Burns pointed out that Turkey and the United States continue to share many common interests, namely preserving the territorial integrity and stability of Iraq—a constant worry for Turkey given that a Kurdish independence movement in northern Iraq could easily spread to the restive Kurdish populations in Turkey’s own borders.
Another concern is the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Kurdish separatist group that Ankara brands a terrorist organization. Turkey maintains it will cross into Iraq to hunt down PKK members if Iraq does not crack down on the guerilla group. Despite accusations that U.S.-made weapons have fallen into the hands of the PKK, Burns assured that the United States is a “partner in fighting the PKK,” although he said he could not elaborate on the specifics of those sensitive efforts.
He also cited U.S. support to developing Turkey’s European identity, noting that the Bush administration has been a strong advocate for Turkish membership into the European Union.
“We share a common interest in preventing the domination by one country of the oil and gas sources and pipelines for Western Europe and for all of our allies who live in that region,” he added, an allusion to energy giant Russia. But more than geography and common interests, “shared values, shared faith in tolerance and in diversity—that’s what cements the Turkish-American partnership. We do share as well, as societies, a deep appreciation for the importance of separating civic and religious life.”
To that end, Burns congratulated Turkish President Abdullah Gül on his recent election, calling it a sign of Turkey’s “mature democracy.” And although some have criticized the appointment of a devout Muslim to head the historically secular country, Burns said voters “sent a message of moderation” and “have signaled their desire for Prime Minister Erdogan and President Gül to deepen Turkey’s secular democracy by rejuvenating its political and economic reforms, but in the context of Turkey’s Muslim society.
“And the results were decisive. Turkey can now expect a period of renewal and growth at home, and a period of challenge and greater responsibility in its foreign policy,” Burns continued. “And we’d like to agree with this newly elected Turkish leadership on a period of high-level visits just over the next few months.”
But amid the praise, Burns reiterated U.S. calls for progress on Turkey’s long-standing disputes with Cyprus and Armenia, although he denounced the controversial Armenian genocide bill pending in Congress.
Burns also pressed the Turkish government to legally recognize the Ecumenical (Greek Orthodox) Patriarch, and he directly criticized Turkey for its energy cooperation with Iran, noting that a recent natural gas agreement between the two countries “is troubling to us because now is not the time for business as usual with Iran.”
Despite the differences and the skepticism over this most recent diplomatic overture, Burns insisted the United States was committed to re-establishing solid relations with Turkey. “I know you question our effectiveness, but I hope you don’t question our good faith,” he concluded.
U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns discusses the future of U.S.-Turkish relations at the Atlantic Council on Sept. 13.
Photo: Atlantic Council of the United States
Slovenia Debuts New Chancery
The lines to get in snaked around the corner and cars filled the elegant Kalorama neighborhood as hundreds of guests converged to see the new Slovenian Embassy on 2410 California Street, NW, at the debut ceremony on Sept. 28, which also marked the country’s Independence and Armed Forces Day.
Slovenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Dimitrij Rupel joined Ambassador Samuel Zbogar to officially open the newly renovated embassy, along with some 500 guests, including the new Hungarian and Latvian ambassadors, as well as Amy Klobuchar, the Democratic senator from Minnesota who’s of Slovenian origin, Hon. and Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.).
 Ambassador Zbogar thanked the guests, as well as the neighbors for their patience during the renovation, which began in September 2006. Constructed in the 1960s, the building served as Yugoslavia’s chancery until that country dissolved, after which Slovenia inherited the building in 2001.
Zbogar noted that at the time, the chancery was “in bad shape,” with iron bars on the outside and decaying asbestos on the inside. But now, according to the ambassador, the sleek design by Powe & Jones Architects reflects “the image of modern, transparent and inviting Slovenia.”
Occupying the first two floors, the chancery is home to offices, a large reception hall, dining room and a spacious terrace. In addition, the building includes the ambassador’s residence on the top floor and two guest apartments in the basement.
Another highlight is a striking two-story bay window, in which Slovenian artists Tobias Putrih, who participated at Venice Biennale in 2007, and Emil Memon will display their innovative work.
In fact, the opening reception also coincided with the art exhibit “Move Moment,” which presented the works of 24 Slovenian artists, including painting, sculpture, graphic art and photography ranging between modernism and postmodernism—which runs until Oct. 26.
In addition, the reception featured the Slovenian Armed Forces Band and an operatic performance by Slovenian soprano Sabina Cvilak, who plays Mimì in the current Washington National Opera production of “La Bohème.”
From left, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Ambassador of Slovenia Samuel Zbogar, and Slovenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Dimitrij Rupel celebrate the opening of the new Slovenian Embassy in the Kalorama neighborhood.
Front page: Ambassador of Slovenia and Mrs. Samuel Zbogar greet guests at the opening of the new Slovenian Embassy.
Spirited Embassy Events
Argentine Ambassador José Octavio Bordón and his wife Monica came to the Park Hyatt Washington hotel on Sept. 19 to showcase their country’s renowned wine and cuisine during a special gastronomic evening pairing award-winning wines from Mendoza with a five-course dinner prepared by five notable Argentine chefs.
In addition to the gourmet treats served at the hotel’s Blue Duck Tavern and throughout the sleek property, tango dancers performed while guests learned the intricacies of Mendoza’s vineyards from dozens of sommeliers. The event drew Washington notables and a few celebrities, including actor Robert Duvall and his wife, who live in Virginia.
 The entire event was a prelude to the larger “Masters of Food and Wine South America” tour, which takes place in Argentina from Feb. 12 to 17 at the Park Hyatt Mendoza, Palacio Duhau - Park Hyatt Buenos Aires.
Earlier, on Sept. 14, Uruguayan Ambassador Carlos Gianelli Derois came to Best Cellars in Dupont Circle to join a tasting of three Uruguayan wines. Uruguay is a leading producer on wines made from Tannat grapes—first produced in Uruguay 1830—which today are all still harvested by hand from vines more than 100 years old.
Although not as old, another vineyard making a name for itself—this time in Malta—also has a unique ambassadorial connection to Washington. Unbeknownst to many guests attending Malta’s National Day reception at the residence on Sept. 18, the wines they were sampling came from the ambassador’s own vineyard back home in Malta.
Ambassador Mark Miceli, who arrived in Washington this past summer, pioneered the Meridiana Wine Estate at Ta’ Qali, Malta, in partnership with Marchese Piero Antinori in 1994, serving as the wine estate’s founder and chief executive officer until April 2007.
The Meridiana Wine Estate produces several white and red wines, including chardonnay made from Isis and the more mature Mistral grapes, as well four distinct merlot and cabernet varieties. The ambassador’s wines were also featured at this year’s Ambassador’s Ball (see Lifestyle column).
From left, Ambassador of Liechtenstein Claudia Fritsche, and Mrs. and Ambassador of Malta Mark Miceli-Farrugia attend the Maltese National Day reception at the ambassador’s residence.
Front page: From left, Ambassador of Argentina José Octavio Bordón, actor and Mrs. Robert Duvall, and wife of the Argentine ambassador Monica Bordón attend a special gastronomic evening pairing award-winning wines from Mendoza with an authentic menu prepared by five notable Argentine chefs at the Park Hyatt Washington’s Blue Duck Tavern celebrating the “Masters of Food and Wine South America” tour set for February 2008 in Argentina.
Photo: Anna Gawel
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