NOVOSIBIRSK, May 2. Modern relations between Russia and The United States is such that it is difficult to imagine a more important and appropriate time for public diplomacy to break the current impasse, said former UN inspector for monitoring the elimination of nuclear weapons in Iraq, ex-US Marine Corps intelligence officer Scott Ritter.
Ritter as an independent military expert in Novosibirsk for the first time in Russia presented his book on nuclear security «Disarmament Race». The book tells the story of the conclusion and fulfillment of obligations under the Treaty on the Elimination of Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) in the late 1980s.
“It’s hard for me to imagine a time more important and suitable for public diplomacy. With all due respect to the authorities of Russia and the United States, they obviously do not cope with this task. The countries do not get along with each other, are in tense relations and, in this case, not even it matters who is on the «right» or «wrong» side of history, because if they don't agree among themselves, there will be no history at all,» he said at the presentation.
Ritter believes that it is necessary to find a way out of this impasse, and only dialogue, mutually interested communication can become the way to this.
«Now, in fact, we are setting an example for our governments, because we communicate with you. We would like to see the same from the authorities. They should sit down at the negotiating table. That is why people's diplomacy is so important now,» — he said.
Former US intelligence officer noted that Russophobia that has seized America hinders any dialogue between countries. On his return to the United States, he would like to turn his trip to Russia as part of the tour to present the book «The Disarmament Race» into «an effective tool for educating the American people.»
«I'm lucky that I was able to come here, tell this story, meet and communicate with Russian people, because together we can breathe new life into our relations, into the magic that reigned in the days of disarmament. We must learn again to understand each other, to hear each other, to be friends, it's possible,» says Ritter.