More Resignations from Russian Foreign Service Unlikely, Eggert Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, May 26 – The resignation of a mid-ranked Russian diplomat in Geneva and the reported one of a junior diplomat in Nepal in protest over Putin’s war in Ukraine are unlikely to be followed by many others, leaving them outliers among the 4500 members of the Russian diplomatic service, Konstantin Eggert says.

            The reasons that such resignations, often the bellwethers of political change in countries, are likely to remain few in number are two-fold, the Russian commentator says: the selection process Moscow uses for its diplomats and its willingness to take revenge on anyone who breaks ranks (dw.com/ru/kommentarij-kak-mid-rossii-stal-ministerstvom-lzhi-i-nenavisti/a-61912593).

            In the best Soviet tradition, the Russian foreign ministry carefully screens those it hires as diplomats and monitors them as they rise through the system, Eggert says. That ensures that almost all involved are conformists of the strictest kind who are not given to having independent opinions let alone acting on them.

            And also in the Soviet tradition, Moscow has shown that it considers any who break ranks traitors and those who do must live for the rest of their lives with the fear that such retribution will take the most violent forms, costing them and even members of their families any chance of a peaceful life or even life itself.

            Consequently, while there may be some among Russian diplomats who disagree with the Kremlin, the number who are willing to act on their disagreement almost certainly will remain far lower than would be the case of employees of the foreign ministries of other countries, the Russian commentator says.