Russia’s ambassador to Washington admitted in a recent interview that he has not spoken to Vladimir Putin since he was appointed to the post in 2017 – not even during the invasion of Ukraine – but denied that this meant he was in the Kremlin had fallen from grace.
The envoy, Anatoly Antonov, shrugged off the lack of communication with the Russian leader and claimed to Politico in an interview published Monday that he was in constant contact with senior officials in Moscow and other government agencies.
“We have a different system,” Antonov told the outlet.
The ambassador also scowled at a question about whether he had tried to get Putin on the phone.
“To give the FBI a chance to listen to anything Mr Putin might say [to] me?” Antonov replied.
Despite his lack of contact with the Russian leader, Antonov dismisses the idea that Putin has been isolated and receiving bad information as Russian troops in Ukraine experience a series of setbacks, including a recent forced withdrawal from around Kyiv and its suburbs.
Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov admits he has not spoken to Vladimir Putin since he was appointed to his post in 2017.Mark Wilson/Getty Images
“He knows everything,” said 66-year-old Antonov, former deputy defense and foreign minister. “He is able to thoroughly study any report that he receives from various services, and only after thoroughly studying these reports does he make decisions taking into account the members of the Security Council of the Russian Federation.”
Parroting Putin’s term for the invasion – “military special operation” – Antonov uttered the Russian version of the brutal attack, although he admitted that Ukraine is a separate country from Russia that has a right to sovereignty.
“It’s a very narrow approach to speak of the ‘Russian invasion of Ukraine,'” he told Politico. “We’re talking about changing the world order created by the United States, by the NATO countries after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting on economic issues via video conference at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow on April 18, 2022.Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP
Antonov also reiterated Moscow’s claim that the goal of Russian forces is not to subjugate an independent country, but to purge Nazis from Ukraine — even though the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is Jewish.
The envoy also denied reports that Russian troops have massacred civilians in Bucha, that they have used chemical weapons and that the attack is not proceeding as planned.
Meanwhile, questions remain in Washington over whether Antonov or other Russian envoys have any influence, especially if Putin is relying on a limited number of advisers.
The US announced on February 23, 2022 a first set of sanctions against two Russian banks and the country’s wealthy elite. MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images
“At this point, I don’t think anyone really believes he’s a proxy for Moscow,” Gavin Wilde, a former National Security Council official who has been involved with Russia, told Politico. “Why give him a platform to troll?”
Others disagree, arguing that it might make sense to keep lines of communication open with the ambassador.
“He’s not just a factotum with no useful purpose at this point,” stressed Rose Gottemoeller, a former senior US official who dealt with Antonov during the 2009 and 2010 New START nuclear weapons treaty negotiations, citing his lengthy resume and his contacts within the Russian government, including the secret services.
Shrugging off the lack of communication with the Russian leader, the envoy said he is in constant contact with senior officials in Moscow and other government agencies Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS
A Russia analyst who has met with Antonov since the invasion began on February 24, said the diplomat seemed to recognize that “the risk of something really evil in the [US-Russia] Relationship has improved significantly in the last six or seven weeks because of this conflict.”
“Honestly,” the analyst added, “he doesn’t know how things will turn out because he doesn’t know what Moscow’s next steps will be.”