A Western diplomat in Russia tells me that he has never been so lonely.
The courts are currently hearing the case of an agent for Russia accused of planning a sexual sting on the investigative journalist Christo Grozev.
Captain John Foreman, ex-British defence attaché in Moscow, said that “every diplomat, Western or otherwise, is a potential target.
The Russians know this and try and ramp the pressure up so diplomats lose judgement or seek solace in booze and the opposite sex.”
In 2009, one British deputy consul-general serving in Russia, James Hudson, quit after video footage revealed him sleeping with two sex workers.
Or just plain Kompromat where an officer has been stupid enough to have an affair in Russia and gets photographed.”
The Western diplomat I spoke to in Moscow is lonelier than ever: “You just have to master yourself,” he winces. »