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BBC Monitoring
US ambassador's "insult" designed to "show Putin his place" - Russian web site
Source: Gazeta.ru web site in Russian 27 Aug 01
Text of report by Aleksandr Kornilov entitled "US ambassador refuses to have a drink with Putin" on Russian Gazeta.ru web site on 27 August
Nobody has ever before inflicted such an insult on the Kremlin. The new US Ambassador to Russia, Alexander Vershbow, instead of attending the ceremony to present credentials to the Russian Federation president, ostentatiously went away on holiday. And neither the Russian Foreign Ministry nor the president's protocol service was forewarned of his refusal to attend the compulsory diplomatic procedure.
The new US ambassador was expected at the Kremlin at two in the afternoon. However, when Putin entered the Vladimir Hall in the Great Kremlin Palace, Alexander Vershbow was not among the ambassadors - from Uruguay, Colombia, Denmark, China, Slovenia, Brunei, Iceland and India - preparing to present their credentials to the Russian president. The Russian side's confusion was so great that neither the Kremlin nor the Foreign Ministry, even after the diplomatic procedure ended, was prepared to offer any comment on what had happened.
In response to Gazeta.ru's request for information on when specifically the invitation to present his credentials was sent to Mr. Vershbow and whether he had announced beforehand his intention to go away on holiday, the president's press service stated that all the details of this procedure are always taken care of by the Foreign Ministry, so that we should ask them. A call to the Foreign Ministry only introduced even greater confusion about what had happened. A representative of the protocol service stated confidently that the task of coordinating the Russian president's receptions of foreign ambassadors is always carried out by the Kremlin protocol service. And people at the Foreign Ministry were quite genuinely surprised to learn the reason for the special interest by the press in such
subtleties: "What? Vershbow didn't turn up? But he was supposed to be there!"
Unfortunately, no intelligible comment on what happened could be obtained from the US Embassy in Moscow - for several hours the secretaries were steadfastly unable to find the embassy press attache. Probably, he had nothing to say except to confirm the fact that the new ambassador had flown off on holiday, but even that would have been very discourteous.
It should be noted that Vladimir Putin himself undoubtedly realized what an insult Alexander Vershbow had inflicted with his ostentatious action, but he gave no sign of it - after the ceremony at which the ambassadors presented their credentials, he spent another half-hour or so talking to them and drinking the champagne that is appropriate to such occasions.
Thus far there has been no official Kremlin reaction to this step. At the same time, Vershbow, on his return from vacation, might find himself in the situation of having to look for another job, or rather the State Department having to do so for him. In response to such a provocative gesture, Moscow could refuse to accept Vershbow's credentials. If that happens, the matter will become a serious diplomatic conflict between the Putin and Bush administrations. And it is obvious that this step by the new American ambassador to Moscow is not an impromptu personal action - it was coordinated with Washington and designed to "show Putin his place". An original method that does not threaten serious formal consequences for bilateral relations. The maximum that the scandal could end in would be Vershbow's quiet recall after two or three months and the appointment of a new diplomat in his place. Bush is thus, in his characteristic cowboy style, testing Putin to see how far he is capable of withstanding a blow. The answer is now up to the president of Russia.
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