Russian Ambassador to Canada Alexander Darchiev gave an interview to the “Embassy magazine”
The following article was published on the Embassy Magazine website on Jan 28, 2015:
Russia's new ambassador faces 'loudspeaker diplomacy' over Ukraine
"It is my deep belief, as you say in Canada, that at the end of the day pragmatism and common sense will prevail."
Interview conducted by Senior Editor Jim Creskey
Wednesday, 01/28/2015
Just two months on the job, the Russian Federation’s new ambassador, Alexander Darchiev, faces some difficult challenges in Canada-Russian relations that had not, save for the last year, dominated the decade-long posting of the previous ambassador, Georgiy Mamedov.
Mamedov’s long history, first as a Soviet and then a Russian Federation diplomat, made him a witness to history and he was only too willing to pass on his first-hand knowledge. Apart fr om being the dean of the Ottawa diplomatic corps he also had the reputation of being its best storyteller. He headed an embassy that was enjoying a largely warm relationship with Canada.
A tough act to follow for Darchiev? Certainly, but the 54-year old diplomat has more than a few points in his favour. In an interview at the Russian Embassy he said that Mamedov was in fact his mentor.
“He was always telling me, ‘My task as an ambassador is to make relations better—there are many others who would like to make them worse.’”
Born in Hungary of a diplomatic family, Darchiev described how he has long been fascinated by North American history fr om the time he was a student at Moscow State University. He became a fellow at the Institute for the US and Canadian Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences, and then moved to the North American department in the Russian foreign ministry just at the time that the Soviet Union was collapsing.
Darchiev was one of the first young Russian diplomats to represent an entirely new and evolving state whose history and traditions were nevertheless far older than many of the nations wh ere it was accredited.
A look at his resumé tells the story of a career focused almost entirely on the US and Canada. He moved from the North America desk in the foreign ministry to the Russian Embassy in Washington, first as a counselor and from 2005 to 2010 as deputy chief of the Russian mission to the US, and back to the foreign ministry to head the North America department.
Darchiev inherits an Ottawa embassy whose relationship with the government of Canada is nearly as bad as it has been in Cold War times, if the public rhetoric can be taken seriously. The Canadian foreign affairs website describes Canada as one of the strongest international supporters of Ukraine, calling on Russia to call off it’s “provocateurs.”
It goes on to say that “the government of Canada is committed to supporting Ukraine during this important period of transition. Until Russia clearly demonstrates its respect for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, Canada will continue to work with its allies and like-minded countries to apply pressure that will further isolate Russia economically and politically.”
What is it like to be heading the embassy on the receiving end of such strong public diplomatic statements? Darchiev says he is seasoned and ready for the task.
“It is my deep belief, as you say in Canada, that at the end of the day pragmatism and common sense will prevail; we have many things in common and diplomacy never stops.”
But he does admit that there is a stark difference between Canadian-Russian diplomatic relations now, compared to a few years ago. “Most of the channels of intergovernmental relations were frozen by the Canadian side.”
He listed two doors that were shut: an intergovernmental economic commission and anti-terrorist co-operation between joint security services. Both were unfortunate, he said, especially co-operation on anti-terrorism: “We have a common enemy.”
On the Arctic, Darchiev said there were still “low-level contacts, in my opinion not enough.” Faced with the rapidly changing effects of climate change, the Arctic is a critical area for Canada-Russia co-operation over the environment, shipping, resources, fisheries and a host of competing claims.
“Competing claims—that’s the work of quiet diplomacy,” said Darchiev. “You cannot avoid bilateral and multilateral contacts within the Arctic Five," or the five Arctic Ocean coastal states of Russia, US, Canada, Norway, and Denmark through Greenland. "There are quite a number of competing claims from other countries and a Canadian submission is coming.
“We have supported, by the way, one of the major iniatives of the Canadian chairmanship: the Arctic Economic Council. And we also support the Canadian position on Arctic sovereignty. The Arctic is so delicate a subject that loudspeaker diplomacy is not the way to get things done."
To say that Ukraine remains as the diplomatic stumbling block between Canada and Russia is an understatement. Darchiev is convinced there will never be a military solution.
“The breakthrough, he says, “will come when [Kyiv stops] calling these people separatists or terrorists. It is part of [Ukraine’s] own people who have a very different vision of Ukraine…they have very strong World War ll memories. Emotionally they want to be with Russia.”
Darchiev says he can envision a mediating body like the United Nations playing a role, but that can be no substitute for a direct dialog between the government in Kyiv and the leaders in Donetsk and Luhansk.
“Maybe this sounds like a heresy for a Canadian audience but the other [Eastern] part of the country did not accept the idea of a nationalist Ukraine. These people have a very different view on an economic association with the EU."
With every day that the war drags on in Ukraine, Darchiev argues, the room for compromise grows narrower. “After so much bloodshed, it will be hard to talk to each other."
Right now, he says, representatives of the Ukraine government and Donetsk are talking to one another “through loudspeakers” as they did recently on Russian television. “It is monologues fueled by slogans. They don’t want to listen to each other...one says 'Look, you are the Russian puppets,' and the Donetsk people say 'You are American puppets.'"
Darchiev believes that because Canada has some influence with Kyiv it could play a more positive and active role [in a mediating process]. He says he was repeatedly asked by one Canadian journalist if he believed this was a [new] Cold War. “I said, my best hope is that it is not—because, you know, history repeats itself. But the first time it repeats itself is tragedy, and the second time is farce.
“Again, my best hope is that it is a real hard time but it’s not fatal.”
Jim Creskey is Embassy's senior editor.
SIDEBAR: Some highs and lows of Canada-Russia relations
By: Jim Creskey
The day that former Progressive Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev strolled down Sparks Street, shaking hands with crowds of Ottawa well-wishers, still remains a high point in Canada’s relationship with Russia.
That was in 1990, and it happened because the previous government of Pierre Trudeau had been willing to reach out to the Soviets at the same time that US president Ronald Reagan was saber rattling over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
It also happened because the Soviets could count on an especially able ambassador in Ottawa, Aleksandr Yakovlev.
Yakovev was befriended by Trudeau, even invited into the prime minister’s home, wrote Christopher Shulgan in his book, The Making of the Radical Behind Perestroika. The ambassador became an admirer of the Canadian way and helped to bring Gorbachev around to his point of view.
He and Gorbachev once visited the Amherstburg, Ontario home of Liberal MP Eugene Whelan in 1983 when Gorbachev was a member of the Politburo and the Cold War was still ruling international diplomacy.
It was one of several key moments in a thaw that gave people, not only in Canada but around the world, the hope that the stockpiles of Soviet and US weapons of mass destruction that were accumulated during the Cold War would one day be scrapped.
Over the years the relationship between the West and Russia managed to grow, but not nearly as fast as initially expected.
The breakup of the old Soviet Union caused a great deal of economic and social pain to that country’s citizens. Expectations that the West and particularly the US would help out financially turned to disappointment and the new Russia lurched between overblown capitalist greed, corruption and a desire for the grim stability of the old communist system. But in Canada-Russia relations there was some progress.
The Russian Embassy in Ottawa became a regular stopping point for Canadian entrepreneurs and business executives like George Cohon, CEO of McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada Ltd and Frank Stronach, founder and chairman of Magna International.
On the diplomatic front there was regular co-operation between the two governments on a host of issues, including security and the military. If things were not going entirely swimmingly, they were at least going well.
Then came Ukraine. If political popularity guides foreign policy, Vladimir Putin will continue to do everything he can to aid the largely Russian-speaking residents of eastern Ukraine. At the same time, Russian public opinion seems to be set for now on Crimea.
Putin enjoys an 80 to 85 per cent approval rating in Russia, while Canada’s prime minister has to live with a 39 per cent approval rating. Unlike Putin, Harper doesn’t necessarily get the same boost in Canadian public opinion because of his unambiguous opinions on Ukraine. But there is a political upside for Harper that may not be national but is certainly riding-centered.
An Ottawa Citizen analysis published in March 2014 showed that Canadians who identified themselves as being of Ukrainian origin “represent a potentially game-changing voting bloc in dozens of federal ridings. The fact that ridings with large Ukrainian-Canadian populations in Toronto, Winnipeg and parts of Saskatchewan were hotly contested in 2011 speaks to the importance of each party being active on Ukraine.”
And wh ere does Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau stand on Ukraine-Russia? “Canada must also continue to work with our allies to apply increased political and economic pressure on Russia to end its interference in Ukrainian affairs,” he is quoted on the Liberal Party website.
And from the NDP party website: “New Democrats are deeply concerned by the situation in Ukraine. We are particularly concerned by the escalation of tensions in Crimea and condemn the Russian Federation’s unacceptable and provocative military intervention in the region.”
Does this mean foreign policy on both sides will continue to be ruled by domestic politics, and public opinion in both Canada and Russia? It wouldn’t be the first time.
