3rd June 2015
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
Guest post by Keith Allan, Consul General in St. Petersburg The Russian ice-breaker, the Krasin, was built in Newcastle in 1916-17 and went on to play an important role in the Arctic Convoys of World War II. In this blog, Consul General Keith Allan talks about his recent visit to Newcastle University where a model […]
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7th May 2015
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
A number of military anniversaries are being celebrated at the moment. Earlier this month there were striking images from the centenary of the Gallipoli landings. I’m sure there will be similar scenes throughout the period leading to 2018 and the centenary of the ending of World War I. In Russia we have been marking the […]
Read more on Triumph and Tragedy: remembering World War II – Guest post by Jon Sharp, Consul General in Ekaterinburg | Reply
5th March 2015
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
International Women’s Day is a huge festival in Russia, and the biggest sales day of the year for florists across the country. But yesterday in Ekaterinburg we marked the occasion with a more practical demonstration of what International Women’s Day means. With support from our Consulate in Ekaterinburg, the directors of womens’ crisis centres and […]
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28th November 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
St Andrew may not be my name saint, but he is my adopted one. I’ve been following him around all my life, born in Scotland and serving in three of the other countries that have St Andrew as their patron saint – Ukraine, Romania and Russia. Indeed he was in the background before I was […]
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14th November 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
This week I have been commemorating Remembrance Day in the Russian Arctic port city of Murmansk, destination of the famous Arctic Convoys that ran the gauntlet of German submarines on the northern supply route between Britain and the Soviet Union during the Second World War. I have also been reflecting on a different convoy in […]
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3rd September 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
On Thursday 4 and Friday 5 September the UK will host the NATO Summit in Newport, Wales. It will be the largest gathering of international leaders ever to take place in Britain. It will also be the first UK-hosted NATO Summit since the London meeting in 1990, which marked the end of the Cold War. […]
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1st July 2014
Geneva, Switzerland
It’s been a difficult month. Like many other Council goers I’ve been trying to find enough time for the essential trinity of work, family and football. This is a struggle at the best of times but I feel that however many late-night shifts I’ve put in trying to make time for my council workload, my […]
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23rd June 2014
Geneva, Switzerland
I wonder what Napoleon Bonaparte would have made of the Human Rights Council. I suspect the man who said an army marches on its stomach would ask how on earth we all survive. By week 2, the typical Council diet goes something like this: Breakfast: coffee, and gummy bears (5 minutes). Lunch: a sandwich that […]
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28th April 2014
This post was published when the author was in a previous role
The Tsar Liberator faces the National Assembly. Newly cleaned, with touches of gold, the statue of the Tsar leading his troops in liberation of Bulgaria is impressive. But his watchful stance and position opposite parliament, the symbol of Bulgarian democracy, brings with it some ambiguity, brought into sharper focus by the situation in Ukraine. The […]
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25th April 2014
Dublin, Ireland
I last commented publicly on the subject of European security at the Institute for Strategic Studies in Krakow in May 2013. A lot has happened since then. The crisis in Ukraine and Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea is of course the most significant development. I wrote recently about how Russia’s actions are completely indefensible and what […]
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