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Monday, May 19, 2008

New U.S. Ambassador with a Past

Picture of John R. BeyrleMay 15, 2008 - Kommersant by Sergey Strokan - U.S. President George W. Bush has announced his decision to appoint John Beyrle the new ambassador to Russia. Beyrle had been ambassador to Bulgaria. The U.S. Senate has to confirm that appointment, but Beyrle could arrive in Moscow this summer. Beyrle’s appointment is tied to hopes of normalizing Russian-U.S. relations, which have been going through a difficult period. Beyrle may be considered a symbol of friendship. He speaks Russian well and has worked in Russia twice before. His father was the only American soldier to serve in the Soviet Army. Beyrle’s candidacy for ambassador to Russia became known from an official notice distributed by the White House on Tuesday. The presidential press service said in a statement that Beyrle has already worked in Russia twice. One of those times was between 2003 and 2005, when he was deputy chief of mission in Russia. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice first mentioned a change of ambassadors in Moscow in January. It was announced at that time that current Ambassador William Burns would return to Washington to take the third-highest post in the State Department, under secretary of state for political affairs, replacing Nicholas Burns (no relation). American media reported at that time, citing State Department sources, that 54-year-old Beyrle was the main candidate for new ambassador to Russia. After his official nominations, according to established procedure, Beyrle has to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. The U.S. embassy in Moscow was unable to suggest when Beyrle would arrive in Moscow. “The nomination and confirmation process depends on the working schedule of the U.S. Senate,” an embassy spokesman explained. Nonetheless, Kommersant has learned that Beyrle may be confirmed by the upper house of the Congress before its summer vacation in August. Beyrle will not have an easy time ahead of him in Moscow. He is coming to the Russian capital at one of the difficult periods in U.S.-Russian relations, one which current Ambassador Burns has called a period of great disappointment and serious doubts. A look at Beyrle’s record suggests, however, that he may be the type of ambassador with the best chance of normalizing relations. His previous experience in Russia, beginning in Soviet times, is particular evidence of that. Beyrle’s first assignment was in Moscow, shortly after beginning at the State Department in 1983. He was an eyewitness to Gorbachev’s perestroika as an embassy employee. His second appointment in Moscow came during the Putin era, when he worked as deputy chief of mission from 2003 to 2005. Beyrle was a presidential aide, director for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia affairs of the U.S. National Security Council and acting special advisor on the former USSR to the Secretary of State during his time in Washington between assignments overseas. H speaks Russian, Bulgarian and Czech. The most curious and symbol fact from Beyrle’s biography is his father, Joseph Beyrle’s, ties to Russia. The elder Beyrle, who died in 2004 at the age of 82, is known as the only American who fought against the Nazis as a member of both the American and Soviet forces. His unique story was told in the 2002 book The Simple Sounds of Freedom: The True Story of the Only Soldier to Fight for Both America and the Soviet Union in World War II. Carl Levine, chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, wrote the foreword to the book, which tells of Joseph Beyrle’s capture by the Nazis, his escape and his fight against Hitler with the Soviet Army. The American storm trooper was taken prisoner by the Germans in 1944. In January 1945, he escaped and fought for three weeks with a Soviet tank battalion. He was wounded and hospitalized and met Soviet Marshall Georgy Zhukov, who helped him return to the American forces, which thought that he was dead. In 1994, Joseph Beyrle was among a group of veterans who received medals from U.S. president Bill Clinton and Russian president Boris Yeltsin. Clinton said in his speech at that event that Beyrle’s son works in the White House as one of his advisors on Russia. The current appointment of John Beyrle in Moscow may be very timely as a symbol of Russian-American cooperation.

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