Cold reception for UK's brave diplomats

After another week of embassy drama, diplomatic editor MARCO GIANNANGELI looks at the life of a British envoy in Moscow, who will face a barrage of harassment from the moment they land in Russia

- MARCO GIANNANGELI

BREAK-INS to their apartments while they’re at work might be one brutal tactic, and outright confrontation and intimidation on the streets could well be another.

But Britain’s diplomats are a hardy bunch, well briefed on the challenges that volunteering for one of most tense postings will bring. And, crucially, they are taught how to deal with them.

The Foreign Office decision last Wednesday to expel one Russian diplomat and the spouse of another was in direct reprisal to Moscow’s decisions to eject two British diplomats over spurious “spying” charges a week earlier.

Both capitals have been playing “embassy table tennis” with increased vigour as tensions rise over Ukraine.

Seven British diplomats have been expelled from Russia over the past 12 months alone.

But there is another dimension which has been played out more quietly.

It is pervasive, intrusive and intended to psychologically unsettle diplomats of any rank to the point that they cease to function properly and, ultimately, leave.

Just as Russian ambassador Andrei Kelin is no stranger to a Whitehall summons, Russia’s tactics of coercion are steeped in inglorious tradition, stemming back to the Cold War.

It begins with a rigorous and forensic analysis by the KGB's successor the FSB of every British diplomat posted to Moscow.

Personal circumstances are assessed and potential vulnerabilities divined.

Are they seasoned or relatively inexperienced, young or old, a man or a woman, single or married? Do they speak Russian? Eventually, attempts are made to establish sexual orientation and potential proclivities. Russia is a surveillance state, and even the most personal of details are dug for over time.

The harassment begins quickly, and is deliberately overt.