Politics of yesterday's people

Who is Andrei Krutsky, how he won Putin’s special trust and why his mission in Washington failed

Photo: screenshot from the website BuzzFeed.com

Those who are watching the foreign policy of the Russian leadership have long realized that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in it is not the most important figure. The ball in the field of international relations is ruled by completely different people. In addition to President Putin himself, this is, first of all, his assistant, former ambassador to the United States Yuri Ushakov, plus the heads of special services - Bortnikov and Naryshkin. And a whole series of unexpected figures. For example, Igor Sechin, who has something to say on relations with Latin America and China, where Rosneft got stuck for a long time.

Now it turned out that another character uses Putin’s special confidence. This is the little famous Andrei Krutskiy, a special representative of the president on cybersecurity issues. The official biography of the MGIMO graduate born in 1951 (as a course of Lavrov), who has a rank of extraordinary and plenipotentiary envoy of the 1st grade, is so vague that there is no doubt: Mr. Krutsk-a personnel employee of the special services. She, the biography, in fact, was written on official sites in such a way that everyone understands who this person really is.

Special representative of the president on cybersecurity *Andrei Krotsky. *Photo: haber7.ru

Non -public special service

In March, the Russian side handed over the US document with proposals for restoring relations. One of the points of this plan was the idea to organize in April a meeting of Andrei Krutsky with his American counterparte. This was written by the American portal Buzzfeed, which received a copy of Putin's proposals at his disposal. The choice of a little -known cybersecurity representative as an emissary is unknown. The President trusts non -public special services without pronounced ambitions. The absence of publicity here is a plus: about the trip of Krutskiy could not learn for a long time.

Judging by the reaction of the State Department to the publication of BuzzFeed and the comments of experts, the document is genuine. It comes down to a simple formula - the Kremlin in the spring suggested starting everything from scratch. That is, in fact, if America would forget about the annexation of Crimea and stopped actively supporting Ukraine, then Moscow was ready to agree on such a wide range of issues that was breathtaking. Here is Syria, and Iran, and North Korea, and business. Unless there is a proposal to repeat the Soyuz-Apollo space project.

The choice of a little -known cybersecurity representative as an emissary is unknown. The President trusts non -public special services without pronounced ambitions

The Trump administration did not discuss this plan with the emissary of Moscow. There are many reasons, and the main one that such a change in foreign policy milestones would receive a powerful rebuff of the congress, state bureaucracy and the media, including parts of those that support Donald Trump. Instead of “Prav load-2” (I recall the first, unsuccessfully tried to carry out Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton during the presidency of Dmitry Medvedev), a new round of confrontation turned out to be a new round of confrontation. The law recently adopted by Congress, ensuring sanctions against the Russian leadership and the business affiliated with it, the exchange of blows on the diplomatic front, the appointment of the Executive Director of the Institute of McCain Kurt Walker by the special representative of the United States in Ukraine and another anti -Putin hawk, Weiss Mitchell, the assistant to the State Secretary of Europe and Eurasia - this is the list of the main answers of the Wishtonton of official Moscow.

Mirror reflection

We, apparently, will not recognize the details of the Krutsk defense mission soon. But why it failed, you can say with confidence right now. The Russian plan is a mirror reflection of everything that is not in order with Russian foreign policy. It has long turned into an internal hostage. This is not a tool to defend national interests, as they like to declare in the Kremlin and on Smolensk Square. This is one of the ways to survive the political regime.

The plan discovers a complete misunderstanding of how the American political system works. The president in it is not the only player. His desire, unlike the Russian colleague, is not an order to lower departments.

Unlike such a beloved by the current ruling elite of the USSR, foreign policy professionals in today's Russia do not have a minimum set of knowledge about how the power system in America operates. It is enough to read, for example, the memoirs of Anatoly Dobrynin, the permanent ambassador of the USSR to the United States from 1962 to 1986, to make it clear: in the midst of the Cold War, the Politburo understands much better how the American political system is arranged. The ambassador possessed considerable personal contacts in state departments, Congress and mass media. Dobrynin, who became the head of the mission under Khrushchev, and ended his career under Gorbachev, quite clearly understood what tasks of Soviet diplomacy were, and which were not. Khrushchev, Brezhnev, and Andropov listened to him. If you leave the essence of the Soviet regime beyond the brackets, then its relations with the United States were built on genuine realism. The current Kremlin’s owners simply project their own ideas about politics (“The National Leader said - everyone took under the visor”) in the USA. The result is evident.

The Russian plan discovers a complete misunderstanding of how the American political system works. The president in it is not the only player. His desire, unlike the Russian colleague, is not an order to lower departments

Cynicism against reputation

Psychologically, the Russian leaders loses because of its own cynicism. The concept of trust, as a significant political factor, is simply unknown to it. After three years of political shilery, all these “there aren’t there, they are there”, the press releases of Maria Zakharova and the official rhetoric in the style of “and you are linked”, the Kremlin thought that the tired Americans would simply agree to start everything from the beginning-and thus recognize Putin by Hegemon of the post-Soviet space.

When this did not happen, they, with undisguised irritation, give out maxims of the Putinskaya type - about the Secretary of State of Rex Tillerson, who, they supposedly in a bad company. This says a lot about the level of evaluation of partners: that is, if Tillerson used to work as president of the Energy Giant Exxonmobil, then he “about grandmothers” and his own mother will sell for a chance “create conditions for business”. Dobrynin would send Brezhnev a certificate. In it, he would explain that Tillerson is a Christian, the president of one of the American scout associations and with all his pragmatism a man of impeccable reputation. She is his main capital. His consent to become a Secretary of State has nothing to do with the lobbying of the interests of his native company (this is simply impossible in the conditions of civil service of this level). A person wants to beautifully end his career by the service of his own country. This is customary in his circles. Behave with him as the owner of the Palen vodka plant is not the most effective tool for protecting national interests. I don’t know if the former ambassador to America Sergey Kislyak sent such a certificate. If so, then she seemed to immediately go to the garbage basket.

Dobrynin would send Brezhnev a certificate. In it, he would explain that Tillerson is a Christian, the president of one of the American scout associations and with all his pragmatism a man of impeccable reputation. She is his main capital. His consent to become a Secretary of State has nothing to do with the lobbying of the interests of his native company (this is simply impossible in the conditions of civil service of this level)

The Buzzfeed investigation indirectly proves: the whole scheme with the election assistance of Moscow Donald Trump was built not on the exact calculation, but on the idea that the environment of the cynical New York developer will quickly establish the dialogue “according to concepts”. Maybe one of them would like to. But Trump and his people live in America. And there, there are special rules for a person who settled in a white mansion on Pennsylvania Avenue. Trump takes care of his interests, he is a master of reincarnation, uses unpredictability as a weapon, turns to the masses directly through his Twitter. He is almost the same as Putin. Only much stronger - if you look at the military, political and economic power of his country. And much weaker - if we take into account the division of powers, congress, the media and other arabesques of democracy. And Donald Trump will also leave the White House after three and a half years or seven and a half years. And he will return to his New York. Or on the villa in Mar-a-Liaz-write memoirs. Which, of course, will become a bestseller. Knowing that your path and your responsibility in politics are finite, gives strength and at the same time even cuts off such a cynic and macho as Trump.

The Buzzfeed investigation indirectly proves: the whole scheme with the election assistance of Moscow Donald Trump was built not on the exact calculation, but on the idea that the environment of the cynical New York developer will quickly establish the dialogue “according to concepts”

Having ended, without really starting, the mission of Andrei Krutski proves: they don’t understand anything in Moscow. “Pragmatism” and “realism”, which they love to trump in the Kremlin and Smolenskaya, turned into unprofessionalism and frank mistakes. The foreign policy of modern Russia finally ruined cynicism.