Mikhail Sheinkman
The US Embassy in Moscow is like no hands without our people. You have to do everything yourself. Not only watch out, harm, report, but also clean up, wash dishes, make the bed, take out the trash. And this is terribly distracting …
American senators, as if they had no other business, decided to stir up another diplomatic scandal with Russia . Strange people. In a couple of weeks they will be in default, and they all strive to cling to us. Demands Joe Biden to expel 300 Russian diplomats from the United States if Moscow does not allow Washington to quadruple the staff of its embassy. Only in this way, they say, will parity be established. At the same time, in order to expel 300 diplomats, you need to gather 300 diplomats. And we don’t have that much there.
Although our diplomatic corps numbers four hundred people. But 150 of them have UN immunity – they are accredited at the headquarters of this organization in New York . By all international standards, the White House has no right to regulate their numbers. Let him sometimes try to abuse his master’s position, when he declares them, including persona non grata, or plays with visas: delays, or even does not give them at all. But in any case, there are fewer employees who are directly involved in bilateral relations than heroic Spartans.
Moreover, these include technical workers. We have a tradition – to take all our people with us. The Americans, on the other hand, hire staff at their place of registration. On this they got burned with us. Since August 1, the Foreign Ministry has banned the embassies of the unfriendly United States and the Czech Republic from employing Russians. And we do not expel diplomats. By their own free will. Only out of respect for the principle of reciprocity. Another question is that they are like no hands without our people. You have to do everything yourself. Not only watch out, harm, report, but also clean up, wash dishes, make the bed, take out the trash.
Of course, this, as the senators write, “poses a significant risk to national security and affects the ability of the embassy to function.” You have to be distracted. Let’s say some attaché went to the store and missed the launch of the hypersonic Zircon from a nuclear submarine. Or the consul undertook to vacuum and did not notice how gas appeared in Nord Stream 2 . In general, it is time to do something about this, the congressmen are raging, otherwise, they say, “the lack of a proportionate response will only provoke more hostile behavior in Russia.” They contradict themselves, because, according to their own words, there is nowhere more hostile. Only – the war.
As an intermediate option – the rupture of diplomatic relations. It will end with them, the Foreign Ministry warned Biden, what would happen if he behaved. Apparently, they said, “the senators are seeking the closure of all US missions abroad in Russia.” They can. They will declare the expulsion of diplomats a condition for raising the ceiling of the national debt and that’s it.
Republican Ted Cruz is still slowing down appointments in the State Depart-ment, demanding sanctions against Nord Stream 2 for them. So he is alone. And here is an explosive mixture of both Republicans and Democrats. And the default is not in money, but in their heads. Common sense bankruptcy. After all, if it happens, they themselves will have to reduce such a staff of the diplomatic mission. And not only in Moscow.
