- Mr. Yakovenko, as we know, the UK doesn't celebrate Diplomat Day and yet, the British BBC prepared a three-part documentary about the British diplomatic service. Interestingly, one of the main characters defined the objectives of British diplomacy. He said that protecting British citizens is their number one priority. The second objective is to sustain the welfare of the country. The third objective is promoting British values around the world. But what about the Russian diplomatic service? What are our country's objectives?
Alexander Yakovenko, Russian Ambassador to the UK: I believe these three apply to us as well. But there's another key aspect that the diplomatic service is responsible for. We must work on creating an international environment for the correct development of our country and for the successful development of our economy. That's the central task of the diplomatic service.
- Have you seen the documentary? And if you have, what can you say about it?
- We've all seen the documentary and even discussed it with Under-Secretary McDonald, who was one of the main characters in the documentary and explained what exactly the Foreign Office is. I must say that our conversation was quite interesting. Our agendas are quite similar. The UK has announced a reform of the diplomatic service. In some matters, they're getting closer to us but they still have a major problem with language skills and they'll need about five to six years to at least get on our level.
But there's a number of things which we should learn from them. They pay more attention to the retraining of their diplomats. There might be diplomats who graduated 10, 15, or 20 years ago. They're offered refresher courses to expand their practical skills. We do something like that but there's still experience to adopt.
- There was a curious episode in the documentary when Boris Johnson, who was Foreign Secretary back then, was trying to record a video for Twitter. Can you imagine Sergey Lavrov doing that?
- Well, I can imagine him doing that but I doubt he'd require several takes.
- The documentary we're talking about gives much attention to Russia, covers the situation in Ukraine, and mentions the controversy arising from the so-called poisoning of the Skripals. Why do you think the emphasis was placed like that?
- The British political consciousness considers Russia to be the main enemy of the UK. It's included in their national security concept, it's repeatedly mentioned in Theresa May's policy statements. The British consider Russia to be a worthy opponent and are trying to fight Russian influence without any particular reason. The thing is, our points of view diverge on a number of issues, including strategic stability and Syria. We basically had opposing views on the Libyan and Iraqi issues. That's why the British make it clear that Russia is their main enemy, their ideological enemy, from the perspective of the British policies which is not true at all.
- How can you explain the fact that in 2018, the performance, at least the economic performance, exceeded 2017's performance?
- Well, that's simple. Businessmen are very pragmatic people. They want to earn money. They see that Russia is stable and its economy is on the rise. Russia has a great working environment for big corporations. BP, Shell, and AstraZeneca earn colossal amounts of money here in cooperation with Russian companies, by the way. That's why there's a gap. The politicians dictate their terms but the economy sets its own terms.
- Mr. Yakovenko, it'll soon be one year since the beginning of the so-called Salisbury poisoning scandal. Has anything changed? Have we acquired any new information? Is there hope that we'll be able to see, or rather the Russian diplomats will be able to meet with Yulia Skripal? I'm not even talking about Sergey Skripal. Is there anything new on the case?
- The problem is that there isn't anything new. It's been almost a year. The so-called investigation continues. We haven't gained access to the Russian citizens, the Skripals. We're waiting for the official report on the investigation since very serious accusations were leveled against Russia. Those accusations must be backed by something. The British tell us that all of the data is publicly available. As simple as that. But that's not enough for us, it won't satisfy us. That's why we'll be demanding an official report from our British counterparts so that we can study it and ask all of the appropriate questions.
- You're currently working under difficult, I'd even say harsh, conditions. Have you changed your opinion on what modern-day diplomacy should be or not?
- I believe that public diplomacy is assuming greater importance. And I'm not just talking about official statements, but statements on social media as well. We were surprised to discover that a Russian Twitter page, our embassy's page, was extremely popular in London. Why? Because we publish things that people can't read in British newspapers, but people want to know. That's why public diplomacy and information management are the key elements of modern-day diplomacy, especially in this era of fake news. Speaking about Britain in particular, there are lies in the newspapers with various references. Being able to timely react to those things is a serious part of our diplomatic work.
In the minds of the British, silence means agreement. In fact, we often have to quickly react to such things because we can't agree with what we're being accused of including the disintegration of our own economy. The British media doesn't shy away from saying that the Russian economy is on the brink of collapse even though our economy's been growing quite well unlike the British. Besides, the fact that British businessmen are going to invest additional money in Russia indicates that the newspapers are telling lies. In Britain, ensuring public awareness is a major part of diplomatic service.
- Mr.Yakovenko, I know that shortly before Diplomat Day you organize a reception at the embassy, inviting young diplomats from other countries as well as students who study in London and plan to work in the field of foreign politics. What are you going to talk to them about?
- First, I'm going to read a lecture on 21st-century diplomacy, talk about all aspects of diplomacy, and what an embassy must do in order to carry out all of its functions. The main function of an embassy is to accurately inform the population on the position of the country where the embassy is located. We can read many newspaper articles and listen to the most brilliant interviews but who can vouch for them? An embassy lives in a certain public environment and communicates with the people who influence political decision-making. We understand the life of a country, what issues are being discussed, and what the main concern of the day is. In order to correctly structure a policy, the government must be getting first-hand information which is guaranteed to be 100% true. That's both the old and the new role of embassies because the new information currents haven't replaced the work of diplomats in the slightest.
Umid Abduragimov, student at King's College London: "After the lecture, diplomatic work doesn't seem to be as easy as it used to. As we see, there are many... There are many overlapping fields and it's hard to find the truth that could help you defend your point of view. As we know, Russia is being discriminated against right now. Is it okay that I said that on TV? No? We have to search for our truth and defend it".
- Mr. Yakovenko, is audience feedback and point of view important to you?
- I love questions because questions are what concerns people. When a question is asked it's already an element of discussion, and most importantly, gives you certain ideas. We're constantly searching because, in order to successfully work in the country, in order to represent our country correctly, we must be constantly coming up with something within the framework of the so-called political ecology of the UK. That's why asking questions, sharing experiences, and even setting certain tasks are the key element of our work. For me, it's a part of our major effort to adapt the embassy to the new reality.
- Thank you very much.
