ambassador rudolf v. perina - Association for Diplomatic Studies and ...

position in Europe, and really the world. Everyone recognized what had happened. We
had won the Cold War and the Soviet Union had lost. Then it merged with other things
like the first Iraq War which also happened at that time. This showed America’s ability to
project military power. We were clearly seen as the one great power in the world and a
very important country, a very important delegation. Strange to say, but other delegations
did treat us differently, almost immediately. They recognized that there had been a
strategic shift in the world.
Q: You see a power such as Poland which is a major country in Eastern Europe. Did you
see it begin to exert itself more while you were there?
PERINA: I think it was too early. That happened a little bit later. What I saw in my time
was the delegations of these countries begin to change. Initially, the delegations were still
composed of the same Communist personalities because non-Communist diplomats were
not ready to take over. But gradually the delegations began shifting to new ambassadors.
Interestingly, however, even the old Communist diplomats very quickly changed their
tune. Almost as soon as the Berlin wall fell, it was hard to find a real Communist
defender around. By the end of my tour, you could see the advent of ambassadors who
came from the ranks of the dissidents in previous years. Then you could clearly see a
difference of perspective among the East European diplomats, and it often manifested
itself as a very strong anti-Russian attitude.
Q: What about the Russian delegation? How did their delegation respond during this
difficult time?
PERINA: I think they were all conflicted. I mean, they put the best face on it. They were
among the ones who quickly changed their tune and started saying that this was all good,
that they wanted more democracy, that they supported the changes and so on, but you
could tell that for the older ones it was very difficult to accept. It was a hundred and
eighty degree shift in their world. I think they realized that to survive they had to change
as much as they could, and I’m sure for some of them the change was sincere. But then
the real shocker for them was the disintegration of the Soviet Union, which no one still
expected at this point. Most of them were in shell shock when it came.
Q: How did you find your instructions from Washington? Was it sort of a confused
period?
PERINA: On the issues we were dealing with, our instructions were generally okay. The
State Department bureaucracy did continue functioning. Jack Maresca was in any case
the type of ambassador who didn’t really care for instructions very much and relied on
his own judgment. So I think we managed fairly well. Of course, it was a difficult time
just to keep up with events because they moved so quickly and brought so many
surprises.
Q: Well, was there a point when somebody pushed the button and said, “Okay, let’s have
a permanent OSCE organization?” How did this happen?
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