Authors

Emilija Pundziūtė-Gallois¹;  ¹ Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania

Discussion

Diplomats never cease their work in times of war. When the Russian authorities launched the full scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russian diplomats were caught by surprise, as the ministry of foreign affairs had been excluded from the decision-making process leading to the invasion. However, diplomats were the ones to bear the immediate burden of the international reaction to this decision. Many were isolated by their foreign diplomatic peers or shun bilateral and multilateral meetings. The shock of the war, however, did not provoke wide-spread dissent among them. Neither did it lead to a reconfiguration of the Russian diplomatic service. So far, only one diplomat has left the service publicly. While it remains hard to assess how many others have done so discreetly, there is no indication of massive resignations.After initial shock, Russian diplomacy quickly reasserted itself on the international scene. First, by communicating in defence of the Russian war policy. Second, by being at the forefront of efforts to mobilise what Russian authorities call the “World majority”—countries unaligned with the United States—against “Western hegemony”. The Russian diplomatic service emerged as a conservative structure in support of the Russian state, and a significant resource to consolidate and project the Russian foreign policy.The study mobilises theoretical tools of international political sociology and diplomatic studies, and draws on the qualitative analysis of documentary sources, such as official statements of the Russian MFA and embassies, press releases, interviews in the media, reports on diplomatic encounters, supplemented with several academic interviews with Russian diplomatic peers from the West.