Russian diplomat seeks cooperation
Ambassador to U.S. urges that the 2 countries work together
In remarks alternately restrained and vividly frank, Anatoly Antonov, the new Russian ambassador to the United States, told a San Francisco crowd Wednesday that the two countries must put the past behind them and learn to at least work together again, if not quite embrace friendship, so that “the whole world can sleep well.”
Antonov’s speech at the Fairmont Hotel, which was hosted by the World Affairs Council, marked his first official visit to the Bay Area since taking the ambassadorship on Sept. 1. He was appointed ambassador by President Vladimir Putin amid a whirlwind of political turmoil spinning out of accusations that the Russians meddled in last year’s U.S. presidential election.
The ambassador is in San Francisco for the next several days. Among his meetings with business leaders and others, he is scheduled to inspect the consulate building in San Francisco that was closed under orders from President Trump.
In his speech Wednesday, Antonov insisted that Russia had not influenced the election, by hacking or by social media infiltration. At one point he suggested that one of several other countries — he declined to name which ones — could have been responsible for hacking. He asked just how secure the election could be, “when it can be so easily penetrated.”
“It’s said by your president that the United States is a superpower. Nobody can beat it,” Antonov said. “Please. What just happened?”
His jesting was met with boos and hisses from the crowd of about 350 people.
Antonov, 62, is a career diplomat with more than 30 years with Russia’s Foreign Ministry — almost a decade of that time under the Soviet flag. He’s particularly knowledgeable in negotiations around nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. And he’s known as a tough negotiator with a hardline stance toward relations with the United States.
He was not caught up personally in the election intrigue, but his predecessor was longtime Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, who is a key figure in the controversy. Kislyak met with several members of Trump’s campaign team before or shortly after the election.
Antonov stepped straight into the diplomatic squabble on his first day on the new job. In fact, Antonov said Wednesday, he’d just boarded a plane for Washington, D.C., when he learned that Trump had demanded the closure of the Russian Consulate in San Francisco.
The closure was the latest move in a long tit-for-tat — it came in response to Putin ejecting hundreds of American diplomats from Russia, which in turn had been a reaction to sanctions approved by Congress to punish Russia for interfering in the U.S. election.
Antonov at the time issued a measured response to the San Francisco consulate closure and urged the two countries to put differences aside. “The world is calmer and safer when we act together on the international arena,” he said then in a statement.
On Wednesday, he wasn’t nearly as conciliatory with regards to the consulate. With lines of communication between the two nations already suffering, closing the consulate was not helpful, Antonov said. Also problematic was that the building was shuttered so abruptly, giving the diplomats who lived and worked there little time to properly shut down the operations.
“We have not only been deprived of our property, we’re not even allowed to check the buildings,” Antonov said.
In between jabs at U.S. politics and politicians — at one point he said Russia is concerned about Americans using “severe rhetoric” with North Korea, a comment that seemed aimed at Trump’s occasional remarks on Twitter — Antonov maintained that Russia and the United States must find a way to improve relations.
He said Russian diplomats have suffered under “prejudiced” American attitudes toward his country, and noted that it’s been challenging to even start casual conversations with U.S. officials, never mind bring both sides to the table for discussions around shared concerns.
After Antonov gave a 20minute speech he sat down to answer questions with David Halloway, a Stanford political science and international history professor. Halloway, who has a special interest in Soviet history, acknowledged that there is “a great deal of mistrust” between the United States and Russia.
Relations “are in the worst state they have been since the end of the Cold War,” Halloway said, and asked Antonov how the two countries could move forward.
“It is very difficult to work here in the United States, frankly,” Antonov said. “Even during the Cold War we were able to reach agreements.”
Earlier in the evening, Antonov opened his speech asking rhetorically what kind of relationship his country has now, and could have, with the United States. “Are we partners? Are we enemies?” he said.
Before he could answer his own questions, a man stood up and began yelling about antigay government actions in Russian-controlled Chechnya. As the man was escorted out of the room the audience laughed awkwardly.
“Welcome to San Francisco,” someone called out. Erin Allday is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: eallday@sfchronicle.com