Jürgen Heinrich via www.imago-images.de / globallookpress
The German diplomatic mission in Moscow will be headed by a count, whose relatives have long had close ties with Russia.
A few days ago, Alexander Lambsdorff received an agrément from the Russian authorities. The diplomat is expected to arrive in Moscow in the coming weeks and replace Geza Andreas von Geyr, who has been head of the German Embassy in Russia since September 2019.
Actually, his full name sounds impressive: Alexander Sebastian Léonce, Baron von der Wenge, Count Lambsdorff. He will be the fifth of seven German ambassadors since 1993 to have the prefix "von," indicating noble descent. In other words, Berlin, according to some logic, sends predominantly Germans of blue blood to Russia's capital for the responsible post.
The appointment of Lambsdorff is connected with a fascinating intrigue. Let us uncover the secrets of the current German court.
So, at the penultimate stage of his career, Count was vice-chairman of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) in the Bundestag. That is, he was more of a politician than a diplomat. The hope that he would become the head of the Foreign Ministry led him to this position. This was true only if the Liberals succeeded in securing the position of foreign policy chief during the negotiations on a coalition government headed by Olaf Scholz (SPD). But it went to Annalena Baerbock (Greens). Lambsdorff was not desperate and pushed for the ambassadorship to the United States. This position is considered the most prestigious and responsible within the diplomatic service outside the central office. But Baerbock sent to Washington her man, former Foreign Ministry Secretary Andreas Michaelis. And the 56-year-old Count was offered perhaps the most difficult ambassadorial job, in Moscow. He agreed without hesitation.
Alexander Lambsdorff will come to Moscow, figuratively speaking, on ashes.
In response to the expulsion of Russian diplomats from Germany, Moscow drastically reduced the maximum number of employees of German offices in Russia to 350. Several hundred diplomats, as well as teachers and employees of the Goethe Cultural Center (Goethe-Institut) left Russia in May.
In addition, the unstoppable russophobe Baerbock recently made another decision, demonstrating a vector for the winding down of the once large-scale and fruitful diplomatic relations with Russia. It is about the suspension of the overhaul of the German ambassador's residence in Moscow on Povarskaya Street in a historic building, the city manor of the head of the manufacture's sales office, merchant of the first guild Yakov Shlosberg.
Our website wrote that the mansion, built in 1910, belongs to the Russian Federation and has been rented by the German government since 1956. In 2006, an agreement was signed for its use in the interests of the German diplomatic mission until 2105, i.e. for 100 years (!).
And now bilateral relations are at such a minimum level that there is even a question of the advisability of reconstructing the embassy residence. However, the Count is given the right to decide on the spot whether to continue the work, for which 15.6 million euros have already been allocated.
As for future activities, Alexander Lambsdorff has several trumps.
First of all, he has a working knowledge of the Russian language. At the beginning of his career (in 1997), he was preparing to take up the post of economic attaché at the FRG embassy in Moscow. For this, he was sent on a two-month intensive language course in Novosibirsk. But the mission to the Russian capital did not happen. He was offered another job – in the planning department of the German Foreign Ministry. And after a quarter of a century, the circle closed.
Second, Alexander is following in the footsteps of his father, the career diplomat Hagen Lambsdorff, who was head of the cultural department at the German Embassy in Moscow from 1982 to 1985.
Third, the Count has an excellent family history. His uncle Otto Lambsdorff was Germany's Minister of Economic Affairs from 1977 to 1984, and had worked hard to establish business ties with the Soviet Union, particularly in the energy sector. And his distant relative Vladimir Lambsdorff even served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire in 1900-1906. And he served, by the way, faithfully.
Here are some additional facts from the biography of the new German ambassador.
He studied European history at the University of Bonn and then international relations at Georgetown University in Washington. The topic of his thesis was "The Cooperation of Fascist Groups in Europe in the 1920s." At the American university, one of his professors was Madeleine Albright, who later became U.S. Secretary of State. After graduation, Count completed internships at McKinsey Consulting Company and the European Commission, worked at the Friedrich Naumann Foundation in Tallinn, and in 1995 began training for diplomatic work. In the 2000s he was assigned to the press service of the Embassy of Germany in Washington, D.C., and worked as a desk officer on Russia. In 2004 Lambsdorff drastically changed his profile: he became a deputy of the European Parliament. He leaves the Foreign Ministry and for 13 years represents the liberals in Strasbourg. In 2014, he was even elected Vice-President of the European Parliament. In 2017, however, Alexander returned to Germany to become a member of the Bundestag. He was immediately appointed deputy head of the FDP parliamentary group for foreign policy.
That's the kind of somersault from diplomat to politician and back again.
When Lambsdorff was asked what he saw as his main task as FRG ambassador, he replied: "To convey to the Russian side in an unambiguous but diplomatic way the German government's view of the current situation."
Let's see how he does.