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