MOSCOW, January 1. /TASS/. When modern Russia’s presidential protocol was still being shaped in the early 1990s, both foreign models and domestic traditions were borne in mind, the Kremlin’s former Chief of Protocol, Vladimir Shevchenko told TASS in an interview marking the 30th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s breakup. In addition, he explained why the French version, and not the US one, for instance, was used as a prototype.
“The presidential protocol that I had created [under Mikhail Gorbachev] stayed in effect for just under 18 months. We were not destined to finalize it. When the Soviet Union collapsed, I proceeded with creating a Russian presidential protocol,” Shevchenko revealed.
He recalled that before that, the Soviet Union had only the Foreign Ministry’s official protocol. This explains why experience had to be borrowed from other countries with presidential rule.
“The Americans, as I found out, have never had any special protocol at all. All of their procedures looked eclectic to us. The French version was used as a basis, while other features and details were borrowed from our own previous practices,” Shevchenko specified.
The United States eventually appreciated the protocol procedures Russian specialists came up with, he recalls.
“We deservedly earned this appreciation, for we always sought to be the best in all respects,” the ex-presidential protocol chief insisted.
His ideas have since been used by his counterparts in other former Soviet nations. Shevchenko still calls some of them his disciples.
“We worked a lot in CIS circles, and naturally, they used our protocol as a benchmark,” Shevchenko explained.
At first, the shortage of funding was a serious constraint, Shevchenko laments.
“Frankly speaking, funds were scarce from the very first days when the presidential protocol began to be pieced together in 1990. Financial problems already made themselves felt back then. At first, we had to limit the list of participants delegated to negotiations abroad,” he said.
Forced to cut corners, the Shevchenko-led team displayed great resourcefulness.
“Before I stepped down (in 2000 – TASS), I had a team of 13-15 to rely on. To get the job done, I could count only on a handful of aides,” Shevchenko recalls. “These days, the protocol service has a far larger staff,” he noted.
The core of his team was made up of specialists he had worked with at the Soviet Communist Party Central Committee’s office responsible for servicing delegations.
“In the 1980s-1990s there was already a well-organized team, and when the USSR broke up, I kept it together and recruited it to work on Russia’s official protocol,” he recalls.
In other countries, the transition from the Soviet protocol to Russia’s new protocol procedures was calm: “There had been the red flag. Fine. Today, it has been replaced by the three-color one.” Many traditions, for instance, the laying of wreaths and flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the foot of the Kremlin wall have been preserved.
In many respects, the official protocols of different countries look alike.
“There are welcome and farewell ceremonies, conversations in private behind closed doors and with other delegates present, luncheons or banquets and some cultural events,” Shevchenko explained. “At the same time, in making preparations [for a foreign leader’s visit to Russia], it has to be elaborated on in detail what is acceptable here, and whenever Russian officials go abroad, the host’s customs and traditions are to be scrutinized just as thoroughly.”
Shevchenko stressed that “this is crucial”, because local and ethnic traditions exist in the protocols of all countries and they should be studied and respected so as to avoid any awkward situations.”
Shevchenko avoided commenting on any aspects of Russia’s current presidential protocol, but said that in general he was “proud of Russia.”
“I can see that on the Russian side everything is done in a very spectacular and competent way. This says it all,” he emphasized.
Customs vary around the world. The Kremlin’s former chief of protocol is strongly critical of the latest trends he sees in some countries.
Shevchenko shared an opinion by one of his British colleagues, who in response to his bewilderment at some personalities’ inappropriate attire at international meetings, replied: “Soon, there will come a day, when you’ll jump out of your seat with astonishment when someone shows up [at an official ceremony] in a black tie and tails wearing sneakers.”
Shevchenko is now 82. In 1990, he created and led the protocol office of the Soviet Union’s first president, Mikhail Gorbachev. This service did not last, though. Following the August 1991 coup and the signing of the Belovezh Accords on December 8, 1991, the country’s days were numbered. On December 25, Gorbachev announced his resignation, and on December 26, the upper house of the Soviet parliament, the Supreme Soviet, voted in favor of a declaration to dissolve the Soviet Union.
In January 1992, Shevchenko took the reins of then President Boris Yeltsin’s protocol department, staying in charge of it until 2000. And up till 2011, he had held the position of a Russian presidential advisor.
Shevchenko described America’s protocol as eclectic, because the United States, like some other countries, has decentralized protocol services. Protocol functions are distributed among different bodies of all levels of power.
The centralized model is its antipode: one service is responsible for international contacts by officials representing all branches of power. This type of model exists in France, which the architect of Russia’s presidential protocol used as his inspiration.