Prominent
U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union: “The Whole Brou-Ha-Ha Over Contacts with
Russian Diplomats Has Taken On All The Earmarks of a Witch Hunt … That is the
Attitude of a Police State”
Posted
on March 23, 2017 by WashingtonsBlog
By Jack Matlock,
the 4-year U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1987-1991, at the time that
the USSR fell. Before that, Matlock served as the Director of
Soviet Affairs in the State Department, the U.S. Ambassador to Czechoslovakia,
and the Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and
Senior Director for European and Soviet Affairs on the National Security
Council Staff. Originally posted at JackMatlock.com.
Posted with permission of the author.
Our press seems to be in a feeding frenzy regarding contacts
that President Trump’s supporters had with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak
and with other Russian diplomats. The assumption seems to be that there was
something sinister about these contacts, just because they were with Russian
diplomats. As one who spent a 35-year diplomatic career working to open up
the Soviet Union and to make communication between our diplomats and ordinary
citizens a normal practice, I find the attitude of much of our political
establishment and of some of our once respected media outlets quite
incomprehensible. What in the world is wrong with consulting a foreign embassy
about ways to improve relations? Anyone who aspires to advise an American
president should do just that.
Yesterday I received four rather curious questions from Mariana
Rambaldi of Univision Digital. I reproduce below the questions and the answers
I have given.
Question 1: Seeing the case of Michael Flynn, that has to resign after it
emerged that he spoke with the Russian ambassador about sanctions against
Russia before Trump took office, and now Jeff Sessions is in a similar
situation. Why is so toxic to talk with Sergey Kislyak?
Answer: Ambassador Kislyak is a distinguished and very able diplomat.
Anyone interested in improving relations with Russia and avoiding another
nuclear arms race—which is a vital interest of the United States—should discuss
current issues with him and members of his staff. To consider him “toxic” is
ridiculous. I understand that Michael Flynn resigned because he failed to
inform the vice president of the full content of his conversation. I have no
idea why that happened, but see nothing wrong with his contact with Ambassador
Kislyak so long as it was authorized by the president-elect. Certainly,
Ambassador Kislyak did nothing wrong.
Question 2: According to your experience, are Russians ambassadors under
the sight of the Russian intelligence or they work together?
Answer: This is a strange question. Intelligence operations are normal
at most embassies in the world. In the case of the United States, ambassadors
must be informed of intelligence operations within the countries to which they
are accredited and can veto operations that they consider unwise or too risky,
or contrary to policy. In the Soviet Union, during the Cold War, Soviet
ambassadors did not have direct control over intelligence operations. Those
operations were controlled directly from Moscow. I do not know what Russian
Federation procedures are today. Nevertheless, whether controlled by the
ambassador or not, all members of an embassy or consulate work for their host
government. During the Cold War, at least, we sometimes used Soviet
intelligence officers to get messages direct to the Soviet leadership. For
example, during the Cuban missile crisis, President Kennedy used a “channel”
through the KGB resident in Washington to work out the understanding under
which Soviet nuclear missiles were withdrawn from Cuba.
Question 3. How common (and ethic) is that a person related with a
presidential campaign in the US has contact with the Russian embassy?
Answer: Why are you singling out the Russian embassy? If you want
to understand the policy of another country, you need to consult that country’s
representatives. It is quite common for foreign diplomats to cultivate
candidates and their staffs. That is part of their job. If Americans plan to
advise the president on policy issues, they would be wise to maintain contact
with the foreign embassy in question to understand that country’s attitude
toward the issues involved. Certainly, both Democrats and Republicans would
contact Soviet Ambassador Dobrynin during the Cold War and discuss the issues
with him. As the person in charge of our embassy in Moscow during several
political campaigns, I would often set up meetings of candidates and their
staffs with Soviet officials. Such contacts are certainly ethical so long as
they do not involve disclosure of classified information or attempts to
negotiate specific issues. In fact, I would say that any person who presumes to
advise an incoming president on vital policy issues needs to understand the
approach of the country in question and therefore is remiss if he or she does
not consult with the embassy in question.
Question 4: In a few words, What’s your point of view about
Sessions-Kislyak case? Is possible that Sessions finally resigns?
Answer: I don’t know whether Attorney General Sessions will resign or
not. It would seem that his recusal from any investigation on the subject would
be adequate. He would not have been my candidate for attorney general and if I
had been in the Senate I most likely would not have voted in favor of his
confirmation. Nevertheless, I have no problem with the fact that he
occasionally exchanged words with Ambassador Kislyak.
In fact, I believe it is wrong to assume that such conversations
are somehow suspect. When I was ambassador to the USSR and Gorbachev finally
allowed competitive elections, we in the U.S. embassy talked to everyone. I
made a special point to keep personal relations with Boris Yeltsin when he in
effect led the opposition. That was not to help get him elected (we favored
Gorbachev), but to understand his tactics and policies and to make sure he
understood ours.
The whole brou-ha-ha over contacts with Russian diplomats has
taken on all the earmarks of a witch hunt. President Trump is right to make
that charge.
If there was any violation of U.S. law by any of his supporters—for example disclosure
of classified information to unauthorized persons—then the Department of
Justice should seek an indictment and if they obtain one, prosecute the case.
Until then, there should be no public accusations. Also, I have been taught
that in a democracy with the rule of law, the accused are entitled to a
presumption of innocence until convicted. But we have leaks that imply that
any conversation with a Russian embassy official is suspect. That is the
attitude of a police state, and leaking such allegations violates every normal
rule regarding FBI investigations. President Trump is right to be upset,
though it is not helpful for him to lash out at the media in general.
Finding
a way to improve relations with Russia is in the vital interest of the United
States. Nuclear weapons constitute an existential threat to our nation, and
indeed to humanity. We are on the brink of another nuclear arms race which
would be not only dangerous in itself, but would make cooperation with Russia
on many other important issues virtually impossible. Those who are trying to
find a way to improve relations with Russia should be praised, not scapegoated.