http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/04/russian-ambassadors-catalonia-venice-scotland-alaska-annex-crimea
Russian ambassadors: 'next we'll take Catalonia, Venice, Scotland and
Alaska'
Unauthenticated, expletive-laden recording of pair joking about which
countries to annex after Crimea is leaked online
Link to video: 'Russian ambassadors' plan world domination: audio recording
of leaked phonecall<
http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2014/apr/04/russian-ambassadors-world-domination-audio-leaked-phonecall>
A recording has surfaced online purporting to be a leaked conversation
between two Russian ambassadors discussing which parts of the world they
would like to annex after Crimea.
The five-minute recording, laden with expletives, has been posted on
YouTube<
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJK00daiKD8> and
claims to be a telephone call between Igor
Chubarov,Russia<
http://www.theguardian.com/world/russia>'s
ambassador to Eritrea, and Sergei Bakharev, the ambassador to Zimbabwe and
Malawi. It has not been authenticated.
"We've got Crimea, but that's not fucking all folks. In the future we'll
damn well take your Catalonia and Venice, and also Scotland and Alaska,"
says the voice labelled as Chubarov, interspersing his speech with laughter
and punning the word for Scotland in Russian so it sounds like "Cattleland".
After this, Chubarov says Russia will make a move for "all those fucking
border countries", such as Estonia, as well as Romania and Bulgaria. He
adds that the head of the EU mission to Eritrea had jokily said that he
wished Russia would "take back" Romania and Bulgaria.
In the end, the ambassadors agree it is probably better to leave Bulgaria,
Romania and the "Baltic shit" in the EU for now, and Bakharev says it would
be more interesting to go for California or Miami.
"Exactly, Miamiland is fucking 95% Russian citizens," says Chubarov. "We
have a full right to hold a referendum." Bakharev suggests holding one in
"Londonland" as well, to jovial laughter.
Chubarov congratulates Bakharev on the fact that Zimbabwe was one of only
11 countries, with Syria and North Korea, to back Russia at the UN over its
annexation of Crimea. There is also consternation that the "bastards" from
Malawi did not support Moscow.
It is possible that the leaking of the recording is revenge for the recent
spate of high-profile leaks of western diplomatic discussions over Ukraine.
A call between the US assistant secretary of state, Victoria Nuland, and
the US ambassador in Kiev was leaked, in which Nuland discussed strategy
advice for the leaders of the Ukrainian protest movement, as well as
stating "fuck the EU" in reference to differences over Ukraine policy.
Nuland as good as confirmed the authenticity of the recording, claiming
"the tradecraft is really quite impressive".
Later, a recording of a conversation between the EU foreign policy chief,
Lady Ashton, and the Estonian foreign minister, Urmas Paet, was leaked.
They discussed the theory that those who died in Kiev violence could have
been shot by snipers hired by the opposition rather than government forces,
a line which the Russian foreign ministry has pushed.
The reaction in Moscow to the African ambassadors' tape was one more of
amusement than anger, especially given that the taped diplomats are
significantly lower ranking than Nuland or Ashton.
An official Russian source, claiming Nuland not only swears in English, but
is proud of her ability to swear in Russian, said: "If this was their
response to Nuland's strong expressions, then be assured that no Russian
ambassador could outdo her when it comes to swearing in Russian."
Maria Zakharova, deputy spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, wrote
on Facebook that she had no idea who was talking on the tape, but noted
that the photograph appended to the YouTube video of Bakharev bore no
resemblance to him.
Zakharova insinuated that the recording was clumsy US handiwork and
compared it to the incident during the "reset" of relations between Russia
and the US, when the then secretary of state. Hillary Clinton. presented
the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, with a button that was meant
to say "reset", but got the Russian word wrong and thus said "overload".
"It's like with the 'overload' button. They wanted to do something better
than usual, but it turned out as it always does," wrote Zakharova.
Since the crisis in Ukraine began, there has been an increase in the
diplomatic war of words and leaks. Last month, in an official statement
detailing what it said were false claims from Russia's president, Vladimir
Putin, the US state department said: "The world has not seen such startling
Russian fiction since Dostoevsky".
On Thursday, Russia's deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov accused the US
of "childish tantrums" over Crimea.
"What can we advise our American colleagues? They should get more fresh
air, do yoga, eat healthily, maybe watch some sitcoms on television," said
Ryabkov, in comments to Interfax news agency.
Received on Sat Apr 05 2014 - 06:45:12 EDT