PART TWENTY EIGHT: THE POLISH EMBASSY CRISIS
I am going to start off by apologizing to Tongera, but as always I like to try and tie in recent news events into this timeline whenever possible, and right now I have a lot in the news that is influencing my direction of this TL. Originally we were going to see what is going on in Yugoslavia in this post, but I felt that this newest development with the embassy protest all over the world would tie in very well with the TL and so I postponed my original plan and added this update. Also, for all of you who were thinking I was a hardcore George Bush-hating Democrat, I threw you a curveball as George Bush gets some love in this TL. He receives a short lived boost with American voters with his response to a Russian mob threatening the American embassy. But like so many things in diplomacy, it is the unintended consequences that always come back to bite you. Tragically, his strong response, though popular in the United States, irritates America’s allies when it is followed by the Polish Embassy Crisis.
UIS Presidential Candidate Vladimir Putin in an interview with the BBC on August 1, 2011.
Discussing his controversial statement that the July Riots were orchestrated by UIS President Alexander Lebed
BBC: You recently made the controversial claim than Vladimir Zhirinovsky did not in fact orchestrate the July riots in Moscow back in 1992, that in fact they were orchestrated by General Alexander Lebed.
Putin: Yes.
BBC: Let me give you this opportunity to address that statement. An opportunity to set the record straight once and for all-
Putin: I stand by my position. All you need to look at is the end result. Why was Gennady Burbulis, a staunch supporter of Ivan Silayev, promoted, and Vladimir Ivashko, a staunch conservative who opposed “shock therapy”, executed? Because it was never about shock therapy! Burbulis supported General Lebed when he declared martial law and Ivashko opposed it! That was why there was no rhyme or reason to those who were targeted. If you challenged Lebed you were arrested or killed, if you didn’t you were left alone. He created a military dictatorship in the UIS and put Vladimir Zhirinovsky at the head of it so that they could have a bad guy to blame all of his war crimes on after he crushed all of the other republics!
BBC: But that statement calls into question everything we know about Vladimir Zhirinovsky. Are you saying that the numerous violent protests at various Western embassies were all organized by the Lebed?
Putin: Yes. Nothing distracts the world from a purge more than a group of nazis screaming “Kill the Jews!” Hundreds of politicians who opposed his promotion to Marshal of the UIS or who called for major cuts to the military were arrested, beaten, or even killed. Thousands more were forced out of the country. And yet the world seemed to ignore this! Why? Because they couldn’t get enough of Lebed’s paid actors acting like fools outside the US embassy. Almost all of the embassy protests were organized by General Lebed.
BBC: Almost all?
Putin: Yes. The incident at the Polish embassy was all Zhirinovsky’s idea.
MSNBC interview with Robert Strauss, American ambassador to the UDR and UIS
December 10, 2001
MSNBC: Mr. Strauss, who ordered the Marines to fire live ammunition into the protesters in Moscow?
Strauss: First of all, the moment they jumped over the embassy gate and bum rushed us with AK-47’s they stopped being protesters and became invaders. Second of all, the American response was hardly excessive considering it was estimated that over five hundred Russian invaders had just violated U.S. territory and we successfully repelled them in only twenty seconds with only six fatalities on their side.
MSNBC: But wasn’t the end result one in which the Russian government became even more volatile and belligerent?
Strauss: I am sure kicking Hitler’s ass all across Normandy really pissed him off too.
MSNBC: But you were widely criticized by the Polish government for your statement right after the incident when you said: “if you invade America and don’t expect to get shot then you’re an idiot.” Do you regret that statement?
Strauss (long pause): Yes I do. I had not slept in over four days. I was on edge. We all were. When I saw the Marines had repelled the threat my emotions were all over the place and I just forgot that there was an AP reporter standing right next to me. I honestly didn’t expect that reporter to send that quote across the wire and send it all over the world.
MSNBC: Do you think it was the main reason the Polish embassy crisis ended the way it did?
Strauss: I really don’t get you guys sometimes.
MSNBC: You guys?
Strauss: The liberal media. Who’s to say that the Polish embassy crisis wouldn’t have happened anyways, only coupled with the American embassy crisis as well? The Russians stormed the Polish and American embassies at exactly the same time, so obviously it was a coordinated attack. And you guys seem to ignore the fact that as soon as the Russians realized that the American embassy was prepared to fight back then suddenly the Moscow Police was miraculously able to secure the location and repel the protesters. Have you ever considered that they needed to clear the scene before they lost control of the mob they sent! I think it was obvious that if we didn’t use live ammunition the only difference would have been that the Russians in the American embassy would have suffered the same fate as those in the Polish embassy.
American Marines at the U.S. embassy in Moscow watch as the Moscow Police clear wounded protesters and clear the embassy complex after a failed attempt by protester at storming the U.S. embassy (AP)
Revolution in Russia!
Anti-Zhirinovsky protests gain traction as over one hundred thousand Russians flock to the former Polish embassy
August 13, 2002 – 13:35 GMT
By John Cecil Johnston
Associated Press
(MOSCOW) For the thirteenth straight day, Russian defied executive order 1095, prohibiting gatherings at the sight of the former Polish embassy in Moscow, as over one hundred thousand flocked to the abandoned building chanting “this is where it started! This is where it ends!”
The protests started on August 1st when a twenty-year old Russian student named Fedor Maslov walked past a pro-Zhirinovsky march celebrating the Polish embassy crisis on live Russian television. He then proceeded to place a wreath of flowers draped in the Polish flag to commemorate the Polish citizens killed. Maslov was immediately seized and beaten to death by the marchers live on Russian TV, prompting hundreds of young Russians to show up at the embassy the following day to lay a wreath of flowers as well. UIS President Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s executive order barring any display of pro-Polish sentiment at the embassy complex has gone unheeded since, and has quickly spiraled into what the opposition is now calling the “Maslov Revolution.”
“Fedor Maslov had no illusions about what would happen when he walked right in front of those fascists and put that wreath at the sight of the Polish embassy,” commented Alina Vitsin, an eighteen year old student at the Moscow State University, “he was willing to give his life for freedom! And we are not willing to let his sacrifice be for nothing! Zhirinovsky might think he can crush this movement, but every Russian is Fedor Maslov today! We are all willing to give our lives for freedom!”
President Zhirinovsky held a press conference yesterday promising that the murderers of Fedor Maslov would be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, as well as to form a special committee to address the long list of issues that the protesters have demanded. However, the “Committee for a New Russia”, which consisted of forty-three student leaders, has indicated that they will not end the Maslov Revolution as long as Vladimir Zhirinovsky is still in power. Among the demands they have made were the lifting of martial law, the loosening of the Liberal Democratic Party’s control of the government, and most importantly, the resignation of Vladimir Zhirinovsky.
“The Polish people at this embassy were some of the early victims of Vladimir Zhirinovsky,” Vitsin said, “but we are all victims of Zhirinovsky. We will stand here and protest what he did to our Polish brothers and sisters because we want the world to know that all Russians are not like Vladimir Zhirinovsky. That some of us believe in freedom too.”
UPDATE – 14:15 GMT: Reports from Odessa and Kiev have indicated that students in those cities have just seized control of the local offices of the Liberal Democratic Party of the Ukraine. More details to come.
Russian Protesters breech walls of Polish embassy in Moscow, seize staff!
Hungary, Italy and France announce that embassies will be closed. Americans send Marines to secure U.S. Embassy complex after firefight between American troops and protesters!
Published August 2, 1992
Newsweek
Updated 3:22 p.m. ET
MOSCOW, RUSSIA - Violent protests outside the Polish embassy in Moscow spiraled out of control yesterday and supporters of Russian president Vladimir Zhirinovsky stormed the walls of the embassy complex and seized control of the Polish embassy. The Russians, who had been protesting Polish admission into NATO for over two weeks at the embassy complex, seized the Polish ambassador as the international community condemned the inaction of the Russian government.
“Clearly this could not have happened without the expressed support of the Russian government,” German chancellor Helmut Kohl angrily declared during an emergency session of the German parliament. “We condemn Russian president Vladimir Zhirinovsky for his vile and despicable provocation and call on the safe release of all of the hostages.”
The move prompted dozens of countries to close their embassies and evacuate their staff. However, Russian protesters armed with RPG have threatened to shoot down any helicopters that attempted to fly out from any embassy complex. The Russian government has also indicated that if foreign nationals attempt to flee by vehicle that the Russian government retains the right to pull over those vehicles and seize any Russian citizen that attempted to seek amnesty at that embassy.
“Once they leave the embassy they reenter Russia,” commented newly appointed KGB head Vladimir Putin, “and therefore if they have been charged with treason they will be detained.”
The scene at the French embassy was emotional as over a three hundred Russian citizens who had sought asylum at the embassy pleaded with French embassy officials as they were loaded onto a bus bound for the airport. One young woman attempted to hand her infant child to a French official begging her to take him with them. Shortly after the buses left and the Russian government received the official notice from the French government that the embassy was closed, armed protesters moved into the complex and seized almost all of the remaining Russian nationals. Although the French government had demanded that the asylum seekers be given safe passage to Paris, UIS spokesperson Ivan Piternov told the international press that several were “tragically killed” when the a bus they had been loaded in crashed outside of Moscow.
The situation at the Polish embassy was particularly volatile, with the Polish ambassador to the UIS, Stanisław Ciosek, paraded in front of VHS video camera and forced to read a prepared statement that called on NATO to “defend Polish territorial sovereignty.”
“The embassy of Poland in Moscow is, under international law, Polish territory,” Ciosek said on the tape, “and the Russian people have violated the territorial integrity of the Polish nation. Under the NATO charter it is the duty of NATO to launch a military offensive to drive back these invaders. We call on NATO to uphold the promise that they made to the Polish nation when they admitted our country into NATO.”
Over a dozen witnesses who were permitted to leave the embassy complex have indicated that the taunt of NATO membership was a frequent theme of the hostage takers.
“They kept taunting us and telling us that we would be saved,” commented Italian nationalist Gianfranco Malignaggi, who was in the embassy attempting to secure an exit visa for his Polish-Russian girlfriend, “they kept saying NATO will come to your rescue as they laughed.”
Although reports from inside the embassy remain unreliable, the foreign nationals who had been released have indicated that at least half of the Russian nationals who had been hiding at the embassy have been executed. Malignaggi indicated that 23-yer old Yuri Kekelidze was in fact shot by the Russians in the early hours of the crisis. The photo of Kekelidze, blindfolded and beaten, hugging his Polish girlfriend in front of the embassy complex (see cover) before being dragged away remains one of the most iconic images of the crisis. American President George Bush said in a press conference yesterday that the fate of Kekelidze mirrored the fate of freedom for all Russians and called on the Russian government to guarantee his safety.
French oppose military intervention in Poland; NATO treaty in jeopardy
August 21, 1992
By the CNN Wire Staff
(PARIS, FRANCE) – In a stunning defeat for both American President George Bush and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, the French ambassador to NATO was quoted on French television yesterday as saying that the French government will not support a military buildup on the Polish-Russian border and that it will oppose “any provocation or escalation of the current situation.”
The move is seen as a stinging defeat for the German Chancellor, who called the Polish embassy crisis last week a “clear violation of the NATO charter, and one in which we must respond forcefully to.”
Kohl called on NATO to deploy over one million troops to the Polish-UIS border as a show of force to counter the increasingly belligerent actions of the Russian President: Vladimir Zhirinovsky. Although his proposal was supported by U.S. President George Bush, as well as tepidly by British Prime Minister John Major, no other NATO nation openly supported the Kohl proposal. However, none took as strong a position opposing intervention as the French, and the refusal by the French government has already opened a floodgate. The Italian, Norwegian, Greek, and Dutch governments have all indicated that unless the agreement to deploy was unanimous that they too would not send troops into Poland.
“Clearly we are dealing with a very, very sensitive situation,” commented Italian Prime Minister Giuliano Amato, “we cannot forget that the UIS is still a nuclear power and that this situation could spiral into a nuclear war if we act recklessly.”
Amato’s Italian Socialist Party is staunchly opposed to any military intervention in the former Soviet bloc, and has indicated that if Italian troops are deployed to Poland that the Amato coalition would almost certainly collapse. Still, international observers were shocked at the disunity in NATO over the Polish embassy crisis, and several American officials have already indicated that the crisis “might have dealt a fatal blow to NATO.”
“Chancellor Kohl really backed us into a corner,” commended one White House official who wished to remain anonymous, “and now we are looking at a situation where NATO looks like a paper tiger. That only gives the Russian government more propaganda.”
The president’s anger at the German Chancellor was undeniable as President Bush saw Kohl’s “one million troop demand” quickly overtake all of the attention from the Republican National Convention in Houston. Bush, who received a boost in the polls after the Polish embassy crisis captured the world’s attention just two weeks before the convention, saw the failure of the Kohl proposal hijack all of the world's attention during the convention. Many Republican strategists have already admitted that the President lost a golden opportunity to boost his sagging poll numbers when the French refusal came at the same time as his acceptance speech in Houston.
Kohl really messed this all up,” added the White House aid, “I can’t honestly believe he really though the French would let themselves be dictated to by the Germans.”
CNN interview with James Baker, former Secretary of State under President George H.W. Bush
July 13, 1997
CNN: How damaging was the Polish embassy crisis to the Bush campaign?
Baker: It was absolutely devastating. Bush was slowly regaining some traction on the issue of Russia. He was taking a hard line and poll numbers were slowly rising. People were starting to realize that he really was tough on Russia and we were slowly digging ourselves out of that hole. But just two weeks before the election we see Russian thugs invade the Polish embassy and openly defy NATO to come and do something about it.
CNN: But didn’t the American response give President Bush a badly needed boost in the polls?
Baker: If you mean when the American Marines repelled the invasion attempt of the US embassy, then yes. The image of old glory flying over the embassy with American Marines pacing back and forth in front of the gate as the Russians fascists meekly collected their dead was a powerful image. The fact that Zhirinovsky tried to storm our embassy and we hit him right in the face and left him with a black eye was a major boost for us domestically, but sadly it was an international diplomatic disaster.
CNN: How so?
Baker: The French blamed us for the increase in violence. When the Russian mobs seized Russian asylum seekers at the French embassy and killed several hundred of them, the French felt that we escalated the situation and caused that to happen. And considering the Polish embassy crisis lasted four days, the Poles were furious with us too. They felt that the Russians would have left within ten minutes of seizing the building if it hadn’t been for us. That after the American response at our embassy that the Russians had to make an example of the Poles to save face. In their opinion that was why they kept using them to challenge NATO.
CNN: How upset was the White House at German chancellor Helmut Kohl after the crisis ended?
Baker: We were absolutely furious. With the release of the remaining Poles at the embassy on August 4th the situation was slowly calming down. But then Helmut Kohl had to unilaterally call for one million NATO troops on the Polish border and that the Polish embassy crisis was in fact a violation of the NATO charter. Well, President Bush couldn’t be seen as being softer than the Germans a week before the convention, so he was forced to back the Kohl plan. But considering the French were still mad at us, and considering the French still didn’t trust the unified German republic, they naturally balked. Once they balked the rest of NATO except Britain and Turkey followed suit. It was a massive PR disaster, and it happened right during the convention.
CNN: Do you think it weakened NATO, or at least the prestige of NATO?
Baker: Obviously. Within a week of the Kohl proposal falling apart Zhirinovsky recognized the independence of the Republic of Serbian Krajina in Croatia and admitted it into the UIS as a direct provocation to NATO.
