Adrift and defiant, Anatoly Antonov walks the halls of an increasingly empty embassy, waiting for someone to call.
No one wants to talk to Anatoly Antonov.
Russia’s ambassador to the United States can’t get meetings with senior officials at the White House or the State Department. He can’t convince U.S. lawmakers to see him, much less take a photo. It’s the rare American think tanker who’s willing to admit to having any contact with the envoy.
Not even Russian leader Vladimir Putin chats with him.
The pair haven’t had a conversation since just before Antonov departed for Washington in 2017, the envoy admits. They haven’t spoken even in recent weeks as Russia has waged full-on war in Ukraine — a “special military operation” as Antonov dutifully calls it, in line with Kremlin demands — that has pushed U.S.-Russian ties to a breaking point.
Antonov downplays his disconnect with Putin as simply the way the Russian system works, stressing that he has a direct line to the Kremlin, if not the Kremlin boss.
But what about the growing number of cold shoulders in Washington, a city that has never truly welcomed him? It is unwise, foolish, he insists, to shut out the ambassador of a country with which the United States is “doomed to cooperate” on everything from nuclear non-proliferation to climate change.
“Frankly, we are in a blockade,” Antonov says of himself and his increasingly empty embassy. “When I came to Washington, my idea was to use the word ‘improvement’” to describe his goals for the relationship,” Antonov said. “Now I prefer to use the word ‘stabilization.’” He smiles when the word “survival” is suggested instead.
In an exclusive interview with POLITICO — conducted last week in the ornate Ukrainian Room of the Russian embassy over tea, ice cream and pastries cooked by a beloved chef the U.S. is soon to kick out — Antonov is by turns charming and unbending, with a riposte for every question that challenges the Kremlin’s official position.
The ambassador dismisses the idea that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is failing, decries growing “Russophobia,” and bemoans a post-Soviet world in which Russia was “naive,” trusted the West and saw its standing erode.
But he also admits that Ukraine is a separate country from Russia, with a right to be sovereign, although he’s not sure how long that can or should last. After all, he says, Russia’s goal is much grander than reining in its neighbor. It’s about preventing the domination of the world by any one country.
“It’s a very narrow approach to say the ‘Russian invasion of Ukraine,’” Antonov said. “We are talking about changing the world order that was created by the United States, by NATO countries after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.”
When told that perhaps his current lack of popularity in Washington is due to his unwillingness to acknowledge the realities about what Russia is doing to Ukraine, Antonov refers to the adage: “Every coin has two sides.” In other words, he has his own facts he’d like Americans to consider.
“I am not trying to dissuade you. I would like you to look,” he said, at one point handing over a set of folders thick with op-eds, statements and images promoting Kremlin talking points about the Ukraine crisis. “It’s up to you to decide whether Russian ambassador is providing you with fake news.”
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Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. can’t get meetings with senior officials at the White House or the State Department. He can’t convince U.S. lawmakers to see him, much less take a photo.
Not even Russian leader Vladimir Putin chats with him. https://t.co/LW6PhJOzzI
— POLITICO (@politico) April 18, 2022
Too bad, pal. You represent the enemy and you are promoting its false narrative. No wonder people are staying away.
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