Asked on what Russian archives reveal on the history of Russian-Albanian relations, the Ambassador said they preserve reports of Russian diplomats in Podgorica, Bitola and Skopje on the liberation struggle of the Albanian people before 1912.
By Genc Mlloja
Senior Diplomatic Editor
The new Russian Ambassador to Albania, Mr. Mikhail Afanasiev, who replaced predecessor Aleksander Karpushin, recently had a conversation with Albanian Daily News, unveiling some of the priorities of his tenure in Albania. We also spoke about the Diplomat’s Day, which is marked in Russia on every February 10th. Afanasiev said that this event has been marked from the date of the establishment of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1802. But, according to him, the history of the Russian diplomatic service is much longer being created by Czar Ivan the Terrible back in 1549.
“The core of the diplomatic personnel of the Foreign Ministry has always included representatives of the intellectual and creative elite. Russian diplomacy cherishes the service of classics of the Russian literature such as poets Alexander Pushkin, Fedor Tyutchev and Alexei Tolstoy or playwright Alexander Griboedov. Nowadays we have a lot of poets, writers, artists and connoisseurs of history and world culture among Russian diplomats,” he said.
Asked on what Russian archives reveal on the history of Russian-Albanian relations, the Ambassador said they preserve reports of Russian diplomats in Podgorica, Bitola and Skopje on the liberation struggle of the Albanian people before 1912.
“On that basis, Saint Petersburg made a fateful decision to recognize the independence of Albania at the London Conference of 1913,” he said, adding that Russian diplomats maintained close contacts with senior officials of a young state before and during the World War I. “In particular, the Foreign Minister of the Russian Empire, Sergey Sazonov was a friend of the Prime Minister of Albania, Turkhan-Pasha Permeti, who served as Ottoman Ambassador to St. Petersburg before returning to Albania. After the creation of the USSR, Soviet diplomats had been for a long time seeking to establish relations with Albania, which, however, became possible only in 1934. Then the Italian occupation of Albania followed (the delegation of the USSR to the League of Nations was one of the few which strongly condemned this act).The Soviet government praised the contribution of Albanian partisans to the fight against fascism and nazism. The USSR was the only among the three major Allies who established relations with the post-war Tirana. The corresponding note was handed over by the Soviet representative on November 10, 1945. After that the brightest period of our friendship began, and lasted until 1961.”
According to Mr. Afanasiev, Russian diplomats have worked hard to restore the old ties after the signing of the Protocol on the normalization of relations between the USSR and the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania in 1990.
Ambassador’s main priorities
Unveiling some of the main priorities during his ambassadorial tenure as Moscow’s top envoy to Tirana, Mr. Afanasiev eyed consolidation of the achieved results and further development of bilateral relations in all key areas: political, economic and humanitarian.
Ambassador Mikhail Afanasiev started his mission in Albania in November 2019 when he presented credentials replacing his predecessor Mr. Aleksander Karpushin.
“I hope that a desire to build relations on a pragmatic and mutually beneficial basis will prevail on the Albanian side as well,” he said, noting, however, that the political dialogue is currently undergoing a difficult period. The Ambassador was reluctant on the adoption of the resolution “Foreign Interventions in the Electoral Process and Disinformation in the National Democratic Processes” by the Albanian parliament.
The resolution in question, which was adopted on December 5, 2019, mentions how there are influences from foreign public and non-public actors in Albania. These, according to it, are influencing decision-making in Albania and exerting pressure on democratic values. Russia was mentioned as a “source of disinformation in the region, Europe and beyond”. The resolution met criticism by some lawmakers, including former Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati, who said that there are no parliaments in Europe which deal concretely with names of states.
Ambassador Afanasiev gave assurances that the allegations about a certain “anti-Albanian vector” of the Russian foreign policy spread in the media and speeches of some politicians are groundless. “Russia’s desire to develop friendly relations with all the states in the region can hardly be classified as “hostile actions”, and disagreements as to the status of Kosovo should be leveled through dialogue and consultations, rather than confrontation, and of course not through establishment of artificial barriers on the way to mutually beneficial cooperation,” he said.
However, the Ambassador liked to believe in positive dynamics. “This year, Russia and Albania have a chance to improve the situation. Albania assumed the role of the OSCE Chair. This means greater intensity of contacts between the parties, an exchange of views on various issues of not only a pan-European, but also bilateral nature. I hope this will help our countries to better understand each other,” he said, congratulating Albania on this crucial mission.
Wishing Tirana good luck in this difficult task he believed that the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mr. Edi Rama will have an opportunity to discuss in detail with the Russian side in Moscow as the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office at the end of February.
It is reported by OSCE official sources that Mr. Rama will travel to Moscow on February 26 this year something which was confirmed by the Ambassador, too, during the talk.
Cultural diplomacy
Asked about the role of cultural diplomacy as a means to bring people closer to each other, the Ambassador said that it is precisely the area in which cooperation between Russia and Albania is sustainable. He revealed that Russian musical groups regularly visit Albania and the participation of Russian performers in the festivals in Albania has already become a good tradition.
The worldwide known ‘Swan Lake’ was performed by artists of St. Petersburg State Ballet on ice in Tirana on November 16, 2019 for the first time.
In the meantime he said: “It’s particularly nice that Albanian artists are visiting Russia – last year the Albanian singer Inis Neziri won the popular “New Wave” song festival. I remember the success of an outstanding Albanian tenor, Saimir Pirgu on the stage of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, who performed the main part in “La damnation de Faust” by Hector Berlioz.”
Further on the Ambassador recalled his visit to a filming set of a joint Russian-Albanian film with the working title “Gjirokaster” which tells the tragic fate of the Soviet women and their Albanian husbands, who were repressed here after the breakdown of Soviet-Albanian relations. “I hope this film will continue the tradition of cooperation between our filmmakers, started by the famous picture “Skanderbeg- the Great Warrior of Albania”, he said. Meanwhile he spread the news that Albanian students could still benefit from the Russian government program on scholarships providing for free studies at Russian universities and institutes.
Last year, Russian Embassy granted 50 scholarships – an absolute record for the entire time of its existence, and on the other hand it is still running free language courses which, according to the Ambassador, are very popular in Albania. “However, we are concerned about the fate of the Russian language department at the University of Tirana, which is actually on the verge of closure. While observing a widespread revival of interest in learning Russian in Europe, winding it down at the university, in our opinion, does not meet the needs of Albania in training qualified interpreters for work in state, commercial and international structures.”
‘Bilateral economic cooperation doesn’t cause joy’
Answering a question on the aspect of the economic cooperation Mr. Afanasiev said the state of the economic cooperation between Russia and Albania does not cause joy. “Mutual trade after the fall in 2015 has been steadily growing, exceeding now 100 million euros. However, it goes mainly through intermediaries,” he said, but, according to information provided by him, nowadays there is not a single Russian company operating in Albania. “Though, as far as I know, over the past ten years a number of large Russian stakeholders have been interested in entering the local market; there was even an isolated case when one Russian company was present in the mining sector for a short time. However, the investment climate for them is far from being favorable, not to mention the direct squeezing out under the pretext of a “threat from Russian investments” for the Albanian national security.”
Nevertheless, the Ambassador was hopeful for the situation to change and as he said the Embassy will make every effort to develop economic cooperation, enhance the activities of the bilateral Intergovernmental Commission and protect the interests of Russian business in this country. However, he added that now the ball is on the Albanian side.
‘Russia isn’t “interfering” in WB’
Referring to the Western Balkans Ambassador Afanasiev said Russia is not “interfering” anywhere. “We are talking about our interest, that is totally legal. I stress: historically we have had close ties with all countries of the region since their independence,” he said.
“Russia reacted and influenced the resolution of crises; at certain times, it was the key economic and political partner of most of the Balkan countries. You may be surprised, but even today the Russian and EU Foreign Affairs bodies hold regular expert consultations on the integration of the Western Balkans and EU enlargement (COWEB and COELA), that is a clear indicator of our active role in the region,” said the Ambassador. According to him, many problems of the Western Balkans are common in the wider macro-region of Southeast and Eastern Europe. “There are economic, social and demographic challenges, which, in the absence of due attention, risk to become “time bombs.” That is why Russia, like the rest of Europe, is interested in a stable and sustainable development of the region, preventing bursts of chauvinism and possible hotbeds of regional conflicts, peacefully resolving the existing differences.”
First time in Albania…
It was Mr. Afanasiev’s first ‘landing’ in Albania last November and, as he commented, he had already had the most positive impression of the country. “Over the past few months, my spouse and I visited different parts of Albania, and it helped us to appreciate a huge natural, historical and, therefore, tourist potential of these places. We`ve been to the wonderful cities of Gjirokastra and Kruja, we saw Durres before and after the tragic events,” he said.
Speaking on future plans he revealed that they will visit the great centers of Albanian culture – Berat, Korca and Shkodra. “I have heard about the beauties of the Albanian Riviera. I would like to study in more detail the life and culture of Albanians, who retained their unique features despite the upheavals of a complex history. I admire the sympathy and hospitality of local residents, the unique atmosphere of small towns, cafes and restaurants, which is so difficult to meet today due to the modern trends of globalization and unification. It is nice that Albanians treat our country with warmth despite sometimes unfriendly political rhetoric.”
Mr. Afanasiev expressed the hope that in his capacity of Russian Ambassador he will be able to strengthen the existing bridges of friendship between the two people and build new ones “We have all the prerequisites for that,” the Ambassador said in conclusion of the talk. /ADN
