It’s not long since Russia emerged from the stone age of public diplomacy.
But its evolution has been so aggressive that EU capitals are preparing to take counter-meaures in an atmosphere of growing alarm.\n \nRewind to 2005, and Russia’s EU embassy in Brussels, for instance, had just 20 staff, few of whom spoke English. Its ambassador, Mikhail Fradkov, a grumpy apparatchik, hid from press. Getting a Russian line on anything was all but impossible.
His successor, Vladimir Chizho...
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Already a member? Login hereAndrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.