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

Q: That was my impression as well when I took it. Anyway, where did you go after the
Seminar?
PERINA: The Seminar ended in the summer of 1993, and I went to Belgrade.
Q: Who was the Ambassador?
PERINA: There was no Ambassador. Warren Zimmermann had left the year before, and
he had left the DCM, Bob Rackmales, as Chargé. The war was underway. Yugoslavia
had broken up. We had broken off diplomatic relations with Serbia Montenegro, although
we had an Embassy there. Bob Rackmales had negotiated that the Embassy and staff
would continue to have diplomatic rights and privileges but in a legal sense we did not
have diplomatic relations because we did not recognize Serbia-Montenegro as the
successor state to Yugoslavia. It was a very strange and unique relationship. Bob
Rackmales was Chargé d’Affaires but had been assigned originally to the DCM position,
and I was initially assigned to the DCM slot as his replacement. However, I went to post
to be the Chargé d’Affaires and was reassigned after my first year to be the Chief of
Mission as a permanent Chargé, so that the DCM slot could be vacated and filled. By
then it was clear that we would not have normal diplomatic relations, and an accredited
ambassador, for a long time. When I was assigned to the job, I was told in Washington by
my personnel counselor that there was a 50-50 chance that I would be closing the
Embassy, that is to say that we would completely break off relations with Belgrade. This
was one of the reasons that there weren’t too many people anxious to go. The country
was under UN sanctions. One could not even fly in because all international flights were
cut off as part of the sanctions. I had to fly into Budapest and proceed to Belgrade by car.
It was a very, very strange situation. The Embassy itself had been downsized by about
50% when Warren Zimmermann left so it had a much smaller staff than previously. I
knew I would be working under very difficult conditions, under the threat of closing
down the Embassy on short notice, and with a staff that was greatly downsized. There
were also security concerns and plans for military evacuation of the Embassy if
necessary. I had several special security people on the staff whose only job was to
prepare for such an evacuation and be there to help carry it out. They had videotaped and
mapped the residence and entire compound inside and out, identified landing areas for
helicopters and so on.
Q: You were there from when to when?
PERINA: I was there from 1993 to the early spring of 1996. I ended up being there about
two and a half years.
Q: Before you went, what was your impression of the situation in the former Yugoslavia?
What was our policy?
PERINA: This was a time when the Bosnian War was going full force and all the reports
of atrocities were hitting the Western media. These included the reports on the
concentration camps, the mass rapes, the use of rape as an instrument of war, the sniper
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