Tony Brenton: “Russia and the West should have closer cooperation”

The 12th annual session of the Valdai discussion club is taking place in Sochi. The topic of it is war and peace – the individual, the state and the threat of a big conflict in the 21st century. 130 leading experts from 30 countries are participating in the club’s work. Vestnik Kavkaza interviewed the former ambassador of the UK to Moscow Tony Brenton, who also used to work in the embassy to Egypt, the European Commission and headed the Department of the UK Foreign Ministry for UN Contacts.

-          What is your assessment of the relations between London and the South Caucasus states?

-          The United Kingdom is keen to have good relations with all countries. It’s been a bit difficult in the Caucasus, particularly with Georgia, which I’d visited when I was working in Moscow. And it was a difficult time of course in Georgia’s relations with Russia. We remain very keen to see Georgia’s progress as a democratic successful state. And the same is true for the whole region.

Speaking about Azerbaijan, I think it’s really quite limited, partially because Azerbaijan still has some way to go before democracy becomes properly installed there. But we are very keen, as I’ve said, to see some progress in the region. And when that happens and as that happens, our cooperation will improve.

-          What are the ways to a resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict?

-          If I could resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh problem I would be much more powerful than I am. Obviously, we want to see the problem resolved. Obviously, both sides have strong arguments that they make. We are an outsider to the problem. All we can do is encourage them to find a peaceful resolution to it.

-          Please comment on the anti-terrorist operation of the Russian Air Forces in Syria.

-          Russia acted very boldly, and frankly in a way the West didn’t fully expect. And the West has been very cautious actually and very slow in comparison with the Russian actions. We have some problems with it. We believe that President Assad is a big part of the problem in Syria, and he needs to be removed as quickly as possible. And I’m not sure that Russia shares that view. But we also have a lot of common positions. We are as keen as Russia to prevent Islamic fundamentalism taking over in Syria. And it seems to me we could be cooperating more than we are to achieve that objective.

-          What can you say about Turkish-British relations?

-          We have good relations of course. Turkey is a NATO member. Turkey is the key on the way to tackling Europe’s refugee crisis which is affecting us at the moment. The EU is looking for ways to assist Turkey in accommodating refugees. We are in the UK, and a principle policy for tackling the refugee crisis has been to finance the camps. And the rest of the EU has now moved in the same direction. And we are very keen to see that policy progress and succeed.

-          What can you say about the agreements achieved on the Iranian nuclear problem?

-          We were part of the negotiations which produced the outcome which we all saw earlier this year. They were very intensive negotiations. And the outcome is very satisfactory. Speaking as an ex-diplomat, it’s a triumph for just diplomacy rather than fighting about problems. It still has to be implemented, so that the moment will come and we move toward lifting sanctions. We are doing everything we can to make sure that progress is maintained toward lifting sanctions and towards establishing more normal relations with Iran.

-          Can you see progress in the Israel-Palestine settlement?

-          I started my career 33 years ago, working on the Israel-Palestine conflict. It’s very depressing that now 33 years later the same conflict still continues. And we are seeing the children and the grandchildren of Palestinians now going out with knives on the streets of Jerusalem. I would love to see a more moderate approach by both sides really towards finding a solution, finding a two-state outcome which everybody believes is achievable. It’s so depressing this thing has been going on for so long. And every new generation brings a new circle of enmity. It’s not soluble by confrontation, it is only soluble through compromise by both sides.

-          What are the ways of a settlement of the situation in Ukraine?

-          Ukraine started badly. And what Russia initially did (the siege of Crimea and fostering the rebellion in the Donbas) was a breach of international law and caused a lot of anger in the West. We now have the Minsk peace process, which we all support and which finally seems to be working. So the important thing is that we all maintain progress in the Minsk peace process. As that succeeds, it will provide a basis eventually I hope for sanctions to be lifted and for closer cooperation between Russia and the West that is possible at the moment.

-          War and peace are the topic of Valdai. Have you found any solutions in Sochi which could contribute to peaceful development?

-          I don’t think we are going to solve all of war. If we can achieve some understandings which help Russia and the West to understand each other with regard to Ukraine and with regard to Syria, that will be a little bit of progress. And that we all hope for.

-          What are the prospects of development of relations between the West and Russia?

-          Neither side wants war. We are now a long-long way from war. Everybody knows that a real war between Russia and the West would be catastrophic. Ukraine has caused bad relations, Syria has complicated relations, but even those quite major challenges have kept us a long-long way away from actual war. And I strongly believe that actual war is very unlikely to happen.

-          What are the results of the Western sanctions?

-          When Russia intervened in Ukraine back in January 2014, the West had to react to what happened then. We introduced sanctions. I said at the time that sanctions were not going to work, and they haven’t worked, they’ve done some economic damage, but they haven’t changed Russia’s policy. They are now dependent upon progress of the successful Minsk agreements, which I hope will happen by next year. And if the Minsk agreement does get implemented, then there will be a good basis for at least in Europe (I think America is a different issue), but at least in Europe us beginning to move towards lifting the sanctions. And I very much hope that will happen.