Russia’s ambassador to Washington admitted in a current interview that he hasn’t spoken with Vladimir Putin since being appointed to the put up in 2017 — not even throughout the invasion of Ukraine — however denied this meant he was out of favor within the Kremlin.
The envoy, Anatoly Antonov, shrugged off the shortage of communication with the Russian chief, claiming to Politico in an interview revealed Monday that he's in fixed contact with senior officers in Moscow and different authorities companies.
“We now have a special system,” Antonov advised the outlet.
The ambassador additionally regarded askance at a query asking if he had tried to get Putin on the cellphone.
“To offer a possibility to the FBI to hearken to every thing that Mr. Putin may say [to] me?” Antonov responded.
Despite his lack of contact with the Russian chief, Antonov rejects the concept that Putin has been remoted and is being given unhealthy data as Russian troops expertise quite a lot of setbacks in Ukraine, together with a current compelled retreat from round Kyiv and its suburbs.
“He is aware of every thing,” insisted the 66-year-old Antonov, a former deputy minister of protection and international affairs. “He is ready to research totally every report that he will get from varied companies, and, simply solely after totally finding out these reviews, he makes selections taking into consideration the members of the safety council of the Russian Federation.”
Parroting Putin’s time period for the invasion — “particular navy operation” — Antonov voiced the Russian spin on the brutal assault, even whereas admitting Ukraine is a separate nation from Russia that has a proper to sovereignty.
“It’s a really slim strategy to say the ‘Russian invasion of Ukraine,’” he advised advised Politico. “We're speaking about altering the world order that was created by america, by NATO nations after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.”
Antonov additionally echoed Moscow’s declare that the objective of Russian forces was to not subsume an impartial nation, however purge Ukraine of Nazis — despite the fact that the nation’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is Jewish.
The envoy additionally denied reviews that Russian troops have massacred civilians in Bucha, that they've deployed chemical weapons and that the assault isn't progressing as deliberate.
In the meantime, questions linger in Washington about whether or not Antonov or different Russian envoys carry any affect, particularly if Putin is counting on a restricted variety of advisers.
“At this level, I don’t suppose anybody actually thinks he’s a proxy for Moscow,” Gavin Wilde, a former Nationwide Safety Council official who handled Russia, advised Politico. “Why give him a platform to troll?”
Others disagree, arguing there could possibly be worth in retaining communication strains open with the ambassador.
“He’s not only a factotum at this level with no helpful objective,” insisted Rose Gottemoeller, a former senior US official who handled Antonov throughout the New START nuclear arms treaty negotiations in 2009 and 2010, citing his lengthy resume and contacts throughout the Russian authorities, together with the intelligence companies.
A Russia analyst who has met with Antonov because the invasion started Feb. 24 stated the diplomat seems to understand that “the danger of one thing actually nasty occurring within the [US-Russia] relationship has elevated considerably over the previous six or seven weeks due to this battle.”
“Fairly frankly,” the analyst added, “he doesn’t know the way issues are going to end up, as a result of he doesn’t know what Moscow’s subsequent steps are going to be.”
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