Russian ambassador to UK Andrey Kelin reflected stark global picture

“A riddle within a riddle, wrapped in mystery.” This is how Winston Churchill famously described Russia (then the Soviet Union) in 1939.

To this day, I cannot think of a better way to describe the challenges that arise in trying to unravel Russia, its leadership, and its aims. This conundrum was reinforced once again last week in my first meeting with a senior Russian official since the country invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Before Russia’s invasion and annexation of Crimea in 2014, I was visiting Russia quite frequently and witnessed its integration into the post-Soviet global system.

From the G8 meetings in St Petersburg to the G20s in Moscow; From multiple appearances at the St Petersburg Economic Forum to sitting in the majestic Kremlin as host to oil industry chiefs and the powerful Igor Sechin; I had seen how Russia appeared to be in a Western economic orbit.

And yet all of this was quickly eroded after the invasion of Crimea, which I witnessed firsthand in Kiev, where I reported in early 2014.

12 years have passed and all this collaboration is over. Heavily sanctioned and ostracized by the West, Russia was still locked in a bloody feud with the West in Ukraine, and mistrust was as great as at any point in the Cold War that followed World War II.

So, having had the privilege of speaking to many senior Russian and Ukrainian leaders throughout my career, my first conversation with a senior Russian official in many years was always going to be an awkward moment for me.

In fact, there was something quite surreal about my entire visit to the Russian Embassy in London to speak with Ambassador Andrey Kelin.

There have been times when I have felt like I was in a kind of parallel reality, a multiverse of sorts, disconnected from the terrible reality I understand to date of the current twin geopolitical crises gripping Europe, the Middle East, and potentially the world.

To begin with, there was the setting of our conversation. My team and I were invited to the official residence of the Russian ambassador at 13 Kensington Palace Gardens, also known as Harrington House; undoubtedly one of the most beautiful houses, located on one of the most beautiful streets in the most beautiful part of London.

Inside, I walked through a striking wood-panelled atrium into an equally stunning main reception room known as the Gold Room. My team, mirrored by their counterparts at the Russian Embassy, ​​was preparing in this room for our interview. Our four cameras were paired with those of the Russian team, creating an ‘eight-camera shot’; This is a record for me with at least four cameras.

The Golden Room is adorned with stunning artwork by many Russian artists, with two beautiful seascapes by Ivan Aivazovsky front and center.

From the Gold Room I was shown the adjoining Green Room and then the Winter Garden, a conservatory that hosted former British Prime Ministers Churchill, Anthony Eden and Harold Macmillan, and whose paintings adorn the room.

Overlooking the backyard, a pleasant young diplomat pointed to a small grassy knoll. “This is the old World War II bomb shelter where, according to legend, Ambassador Fedor Gusev and Churchill took shelter during a night raid and were locked in a well-stocked emergency cellar. Although this is just a legend,” he said with a smile.

The atmosphere was impeccably polite young diplomats attending to our every wish; After all, the Russians were excellent hosts, and yet I had to remind myself that these were representatives of the government shunned and sanctioned by the West for instigating the largest conflict on European soil since the Second World War.

Representatives of President Vladimir Putin appear to be on a mission to rebuild a Soviet-era sphere of influence for Russia since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which has so far left hundreds of thousands dead and likely injured millions more.

Minutes later, I sat down for my interview with Ambassador Kelin, a 68-year-old career diplomat who has been Moscow’s man in London since late 2019.

Kelin was polite and straightforward, as was her attentive team. He answered every question I asked directly, and yet, in our 40-minute interview, I soon realized that every big-picture perspective he gave on the roots of the conflict and how Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his European supporters were standing in the way of some kind of peace deal, I had heard before, in one way or another, from Putin, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov and others.

I stepped back and told him that it was Russia that occupied Crimea, that it was Russia that broke the 1994 Budapest Accord that guaranteed Ukraine’s sovereignty, and that the biggest obstacle to the peace agreement was Russia’s maximalist demands.

Kelin refuted my version of the facts at every point and stuck to well-rehearsed lines accusing the EU, and the West more generally, and NATO of entering Russia’s sphere of influence and creating the context for the 12-year conflict that followed.

On Iran, Kelin also refused to acknowledge that Iran’s pursuit of highly enriched uranium (presumably to build some form of nuclear weapon) is the root cause of the current conflict.

On whether Russia actively supports Iran – former Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov once said that Russia “will not remain indifferent to its fate” – Kelin refused to confirm any support, claiming that as a “civilian” he had no knowledge of the matter.

I can’t blame the ambassador for not answering any of my questions. He was a generous host, but I still left our long interview with very mixed feelings. It was a good day for journalism. I think both the journalist and the interviewee had a solid, direct, and hopefully respectful conversation about the most important issues of the day.

However, my hopes for common understanding and progress in ending the bloody conflict in Europe did not increase after our meeting. After 12 bloody years, I felt like little had changed. Although the ambassador expressed hopes that the war would end this year, there did not seem to be a lack of understanding and partnerships that could end the war.

Russia and the West were speaking once again, but in completely different languages. To each, the other’s motives seemed to be mysteries, riddles, and riddles.