Our Moscow man out in the cold

The Sunday Times
December 28, 2008

The Irish diplomatic team of four, led by ambassador Justin Hartman, is
squeezed into a small, remote office in Russia’s polluted capital
according to reports

Colin Coyle

THE title `our man in Russia’ may hint at a glamorous lifestyle but the
reality is a pokey, understaffed office in an out-of-the-way location
choked by pollution, an embassy inspection report reveals.

The present incumbent, ambassador Justin Harman, has just three staff:
a first secretary, a third secretary and an executive officer,
responsible for promoting international relations with several former
members of the USSR, including Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

During a review of the Irish diplomatic presence in Moscow last year,
inspectors from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) discovered the
location of the Irish chancery and ambassador’s residence at Grokholsky
per 5 in Moscow was `not ideal, as it is quite far from the foreign
ministry and other embassies in peak traffic conditions’.

Released under the Freedom of Information act, the report also
describes the `undoubted hardship’ experienced by diplomats posted to
Moscow. Far from the glamorous image of swish diplomatic parties, as
portrayed in the advertisement for Ferrero Rocher chocolates, Irish
staff have to deal with such difficulties as atmospheric pollution,
which `is particularly prevalent during winter’.

The embassy building in the Russian capital has been used by Ireland
since the 1970s. Office space is `tight’ on the first floor and the
ambassador’s quarters comprise a living room, study, dining room,
kitchen and four bedrooms.

The report outlines the difficulty of mastering the Russian language. A
section of the document, which discusses the fluency in Russian of
Irish diplomats working there, has been withheld by the DFA.

A spokesman for the department said that no more staff have been
assigned to the embassy since the report carried out last year, and it
is still located in the same building. `Resource constraints have not
made it possible to respond to some of the points raised in the
report,’ the official said.

The department rates all overseas embassies for their `hardship status’
and diplomats in more challenging locations are given shorter postings
and more frequent trips home.An inspection of the embassy in Ramallah,
Palestine in June 2006 found that it `possesses all of the
characteristics of a Grade 1 hardship post’.

In Abuja, Nigeria diplomats are warned that `the traffic situation is
dangerous in terms of the standard of driving, the number of sellers of
goods on the road and the danger of armed hold-ups’. Health care in
many parts of Nigeria is `rudimentary’ and `most embassies make
arrangements for their home-based staff to be evacuated in the event of
a medical emergency’.

Staff at the Irish embassy in Mexico face `altitude and atmospheric
pollution’ and `stringent measures to ensure personal safety’ are
required due to `frequent attacks and kidnappings’.

In Maputo, Mozambique, `municipal services are both poor and unreliable
and the infrastructure is vulnerable to extreme climactic conditions’.
Generators have been installed at the embassy because power cuts are
regular and medical facilities are `unreliable’. Addis Ababa in
Ethiopia is another difficult posting, with little suitable housing,
poor roads, pollution and medical facilities.

Delhi in India is also considered `a difficult and challenging
environment’, with floods, power outages, 90% humidity and dust storms
in summer. Riyadh in Saudi Arabia is also said to be `difficult and
challenging’, with temperatures in summer reaching up to 50C .

Diplomats at the 77 Irish embassies spent ?¬3m on official entertainment
last year, while the travel bill was ?¬1.5m and ?¬528,000 was spent on
subsistence costs.

The big spender was Brussels, with more than ?¬200,000 spent on
receptions and entertainment. It was followed by Washington (?¬183,000)
and New York (?¬160,000).