Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Was Frightened by the American Ambassador

In any case, it was declared in Smolenskaya Square that McFaul’s speeches caused “confusion.”

Imagine what would happen if at the beginning of the Great Patriotic War our authorities were dumbfounded. Imagine they did not create defense boundaries, which at the very least allowed them to stop the enemy on approaches to Moscow, did not throw munitions factories to the east where they adjusted them to produce weapons, but simply stayed in a state of confusion. That is, they were scared to death, became puzzled and stupid under sudden fear as the Russian language describes it…

And then to find our current Ministry of Foreign Affairs frightened! For what reason! “Statements and actions of [U.S. Ambassador to Russia] Mr. McFaul, being in such a responsible post, are frightening,” – as it is stated by the Russian Foreign Policy Department in connection with statements of the ambassador of the United States in Moscow, which he made on May 25 to students of the Russian Higher School of Economics.

Before describing those “horrors” which U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul, Russian breeder of liberalism, told the students, let us note that our authorities’ state of confusion came not so much from the prime cause—the policy of the United States—but from the interpretation of this policy that this diplomat allowed himself. He has broken, so to speak, the norms of decency which the person “occupying such a responsible position” should follow.

Well, our Ministry of Foreign Affairs is indisputably right here: the plenipotentiary ambassador, especially the U.S. ambassador to Russia, should “bear the responsibility for his words,” and moreover should not slander Russia with superfluous talks. Still, the statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs contains something clearly confounding. It is obvious that the word “frightened” was used for effect, but was it just for that? Does this “reservation” really show the subordinated position of our authorities (and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the conductor of policy for the Russian Federation) in relation to the United States? Is the phrase a “Freudian slip”?

Recall that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia declared that its employees “apprehended statements of the ambassador of the United States in Moscow McFaul with extreme bewilderment.” The spoken assessments of interaction between Russia and the United States go far beyond the frames of diplomatic etiquette and, in fact, represent a deliberate distortion of a number of aspects of the Russian-American dialogue, according to the document which came out of the bowels of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

In particular, the statement notes that the Russian administration never used the term “privileged spheres of influence.” “We talked, and are talking, about the countries with which we are connected by mutually privileged interests. We do not use a deep-rooted American notion of ‘spheres of influence’ in practical politics, including in respect to Kyrgyzstan. As for the airport Manas, McFaul knows better which bribes Washington gave and to whom. We can only say that about 10 years ago the Bush administration assured the need to use the ‘Manas’ base for a year or two. We understand that Washington is governed by a different administration, but it doesn’t remove the problems of predictability and transparency of the American actions in Central Asia. The ambassador should be able, at least, to explain the discrepancy between his words and actions,” said the statement of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

“The statements of McFaul about certain ‘connections’ allegedly put forward by Russia at discussion of sensitive international issues sounded so unprofessional. To declare that we suggested to exchange ‘Iran for Georgia’ and ‘human rights in Russia for North Korea’ simply means to know nothing about the position of Moscow, in which the principle issues, including non-proliferation of nuclear weapon, are absolute priorities and are not subject to any bargain,” says the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“This is not the first time that the statements and actions of McFaul, occupying such a responsible position, have caused confusion. The task of ambassadors, as we understand, involves assisting the promotion of sustained development of bilateral relations with the host country on the basis of profound knowledge of the facts, rather than repeating angry tales to the media. This situation is all the more regrettable, for since the first days of his stay at the embassy, McFaul had access to representatives of federal, executive, and legislative branches of Russia, and he seemingly had to make a real impression of Moscow’s position on the above issues,” summarizes the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Discontent of the Russian authorities, we recall, was caused by the statements of the American ambassador before students of the Higher School of Economics. In particular, he declared: “Your country bribed Kyrgyzstan so that Americans were thrown out from Manas.” McFaul thus frankly recognized that the United States also “offered a bribe” to the authorities of Kyrgyzstan, but “ten times less.” However, McFaul didn’t mention names of specific representatives of the Kyrgyzstan government whom the American government offered bribes. The most interesting part in this acknowledgment is that the question of Americans’ stay in the Kyrgyz base was, nevertheless, managed for this purpose, and the presidents of Russia and the United States had separate negotiations. That is, it turns out that the money allegedly paid by Moscow to Bakiev appears to be thrown to the wind.

Besides, McFaul showed discontent with the “policy of exchanges” allegedly widely practiced by Moscow. McFaul expressed that Washington tries to achieve its purposes without connecting things that cannot be connected, but the Russian government likes to make these connections frequently. He said he had it on personal experience. “In 2009 they [representatives of the Russian Federation] could say: ‘You want to agree on Iran? Concede on Georgia. You want to agree on the AMD in Europe? Concede on Central Asia. You want to agree on Northern Korea? We can agree, if you will not question the democracy and human rights,’” – McFaul noted. “But it is not our policy. We will not endorse such exchanges,” concluded the U.S. ambassador, who, as he has admitted, is the author of the notorious “Magnitsky List,” which includes a number of very high-ranking Russian officials’ names, who are denied entry into the United States.

Well, the real culmination of McFaul’s speech was the following statement: “Each democracy in the world has its differences. Barack Obama has said it 10,000 times. We do not promote American democracy or American or Russian values … It is not a sphere where we have a copyright or monopoly. There are other various options.” It is incredible to say lies with so much inspiration…