SANTA FE /New Mexico/, February 28. /TASS/. Interaction on bilateral humanitarian issues can be the clue to improving relations between Russia and the United States, retired US official and diplomat Bill Richardson, who participates in a non-governmental dialogue on the exchange of prisoners between Moscow and Washington, has told TASS in an interview.
To geopolitics through humanitarian sphere?
"My view has always been that with humanitarian issues, with human rights issues, you make progress in the area of bilateral relations, geopolitical relations, tensions. That you start with humanitarian exchanges, human rights issues, and I believe, eventually, hopefully, that will be a key to improving the relationship that is very bad," Richardson said.
He would advise the Russian and US governments to "try to decouple a lot of these geopolitical intentions from humanitarian cases and let the legal systems work their way."
"My recommendation would be that humanitarian issues can lead to better geopolitical relations, better political relations, better bilateral relations. And I think that is needed [in both Moscow and Washington]," the ex-diplomat said. In the past Richardson held high positions in the US administration and spent 14 years in the House of Representatives. Also, he was twice elected New Mexico’s governor.
He stated that "the United States and Russia are the maximum nuclear powers in the world."
"We have to avoid a nuclear standoff in the Ukraine, that has to be totally off the table. I think it is. But I worry that we're not talking on arms control, on nuclear issues," said Richardson, a former US Secretary of Energy. The national nuclear military complex is administered by the US Department of Energy.
Richardson recalled that during his tenure as Secretary of Energy there were a number of different agreements and arrangements relating to the nuclear sphere between Moscow and Washington. "We had arms control agreements, we had energy agreements. And all of those have vanished and been pushed aside. I think it's very important in this area <...> that we try to normalize the relationship so these issues can come back," he said. At the same time, Richardson avoided answering a request for a comment on the motives that prompted Moscow to decide the other day to pause participation in the Russian-US Treaty on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (New START). In fact, Richardson, blamed Russia for what has happened.
Productive interaction
Richardson, a former diplomat and government minister, who recently visited Russia to participate in meetings aimed at organizing prisoner exchanges, spoke highly of his interaction with Russian officials and private individuals.
"I have been in touch with my Russian counterparts. I have been in touch with the Russian Embassy in Washington. <...> I appreciate the access on these prisoner releases that my organization and myself have gotten with Russian officials and Russian non-officials. It's been productive," Richardson said, adding that he was referring, among other things, to the ongoing interaction on cases of US citizens in Russian custody: Paul Whelan, Marc Fogel, and a "couple of others."
Richardson repeatedly stated that he and his aides did not work for the US government, although they coordinated their activities with the authorities. Nor did they interfere with the work within the framework of the official channel for discussing prisoner exchange prospects, created by Moscow and Washington a couple of years ago, which operates through the Russian and US special services.
"In the case of Russia, we respect that there is a US-Russian official channel. We don't mess with that. But we have other ways to talk to both governments to say, ‘I think this may work, this may not work, try to do this.’ We work with other Russians, besides the government. We work with organizations in Russia and the US that may be helpful," Richardson explained.
As 'catalysts'
According to Richardson, in prisoner exchange negotiations, "the official channel is the main channel." But the ex-diplomat and his entourage sometimes act, as he put it, as "catalysts."
"My point in our organization is that we do have direct discussions. I've had on these cases - [Brittney] Griner, Trevor Reed, [Taylor] Dudley [US citizens earlier released by Moscow] - positive discussions with the Russian government, the Russian Federation, also with the [US] administration. And then we push both sides to accelerate their efforts," said Richardson.
"I think there are more opportunities, if we decouple the geopolitical tensions and deal with these issues directly. Grassroots - that can help," he stated. Richardson acknowledged that between the official and unofficial channels for discussing prisoner exchanges "there's always little tension."
"Negotiation and good faith"
Richardson said he currently had no plans to make another trip to Russia, "but that doesn't mean that the last-minute trip can't be done," if necessary.
He declined to give details of why in 2019 the previous US administration, led by President Donald Trump, rejected a proposal for exchanging Russian Viktor Bout, who was then in a US prison, for Whelan. Also, he refrained from comment on possible formulas for new prisoner exchanges between Russia and the US.
"I don't want to get into formulas one for one, two for two, but I just want to see it done. <...> It just takes negotiation and good faith. And [you need to] separate the negative tension from humanitarian issues," the retired diplomat said. He did not deny that his organization proposed the initiative to exchange Bout for Whelan.
"It was being discussed in the government. I don't want to take credit for it," Richardson added.
His foundation, he said, was "involved helping Russian detainees in the United States on medical treatment."
"We have done that, helped them," said Richardson.
He speculated that the Russian government's hypothetical decision to release convicted spy Whelan "would bring on a lot of humanitarian positive movement, if it happened, in America," benefiting Russian prisoners. In conclusion, Richardson spoke in favor of continuing the practice of "prisoner exchange" and "some geopolitical trade off."
In the Bill Clinton administration Richardson served first as the US Permanent Representative to the UN (1997-1998), and then as Secretary of Energy (1998-2001). In 2003-2011, he was New Mexico's governor.
Subsequently, Richardson set up his own non-profit center based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, whose goal is to promote "global peace and dialogue by identifying and working on areas of opportunity for engagement and citizen diplomacy with countries and communities not usually open to more formal diplomatic channels." In the past, he repeatedly paid visits to the DPRK in order to help resolve its nuclear problem. Richardson also traveled to Venezuela, where he met with President Nicolas Maduro and discussed with him the possibility of securing the release of US citizens in custody there. In recent years, he has repeatedly dealt with other cases related to the release of various US citizens detained outside their country for some reason.