NOTES OF A BURMESE DIPLOMAT

N. LISTOPADOV

Doctor of Historical Sciences

On January 4, 2008, Myanmar celebrated the 60th anniversary of independence, and on February 18 of the same year, the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and Myanmar was celebrated. I decided to respond to these events with a story about my modest experience of participating in the development of Russian-Myanmar cooperation as a Burmese translator, an employee of the Soviet and then Russian embassy in Rangoon (now Yangon) in the 80s and 90s of the XX century.

I first went to Myanmar, then Burma, in October 1982. At that time, this country pursued a policy of self-isolation in the international arena, thereby striving to equidistant from the participants of the "cold war", which in Indochina turned into a "hot"one. In 1979, the Burmese leadership took the unprecedented step of withdrawing from the Non-Aligned Movement, considering that the Movement was no longer truly non-Aligned, in order to protect itself from accusations of leaning in one direction or another in regional and world affairs. The situation for Myanmar was compounded by the decades-long standoff between Moscow and Beijing. Beijing was jealous of Soviet activity in the neighboring country, which it considered its sphere of influence. China had considerable leverage over the Burmese government, the underground Communist Party of Burma (CPB), which was under its influence.

Soviet-Burmese relations were going through difficult times. The Burmese government decided to limit ties with Moscow in order not to irritate Beijing, given the Soviet-Chinese contradictions. Contacts at the highest political level have come to naught. Trade and economic cooperation was characterized by a very small volume. Nevertheless, the Soviet presence in Burma was felt. There was a large embassy, and almost all the diplomats were knowledgeable in Burmese or Chinese. The offices of trade and economic advisers, a Cultural center, representative offices of APN and Sovexportfilm, correspondent offices of TASS and the Izvestia newspaper worked in Rangoon.

The lack of intensive political interaction was to some extent compensated for by regular cultural and sports exchanges. In the dry season corresponding to our winter, Soviet artists and athletes, and from different republics, were frequent guests in Myanmar. I remember that the first cultural delegation I was assigned to work with was the Moldovan ensemble "Fluerash". Rangoon residents warmly received incendiary Moldovan dances and songs. And what an impression on the Burmese people was made by the Soviet weightlifters led by Jabotinsky himself! The ambassador hosted a dinner party in honor of the Olympic champion. We can safely say that in terms of cultural and sports relations with Burma, we were far ahead of all other countries, even China. Not least, of course, because Soviet culture and sports were at their best. These exchanges were mutual. Burmese artists and athletes visited the USSR. The Burmese Marionette Theater has successfully toured Moscow.

Unfortunately, when the muses spoke, the cannons were not silent. I have heard from employees of the Ministry of Culture of Myanmar that every fact of Russian-Burmese cooperation, even in the field of culture, was followed by Beijing's reaction: there was an armed attack by the PBC. Such was the severity of the Russian-Chinese confrontation.

In 1984, a new building of the USSR Embassy was opened in Rangoon. It has become the most modern building in the Burmese capital. The Soviet Ambassador V. N. Kuznetsov was so proud of the new embassy that, in violation of the then existing instructions, he arranged for the leadership of the Burmese Foreign Ministry, headed by Minister U Chit Hlaing, a retired admiral, to take a tour of the entire embassy complex. The guests were taken to the underground floor, where a centralized air conditioning system was installed, then to the roof and even invited to the holy of holies - the ambassador's office. The Burmese were simply amazed by this openness, which was unusual for us at the time.

In general, Vladimir Nikolaevich, my first ambassador, was a colorful person, a war veteran. Despite his almost 70-year-old age, he is very energetic. To us young diplomats, he repeated: "You should always think about how to promote Soviet-Burmese cooperation. Go to bed with this thought and get up in the morning with it." To the best of our abilities, we tried to act in this way. Of course, we were proud to represent a great country, a superpower, and work in the best embassy in Rangoon. It was the first in the Burmese capital, where there was a satellite dish. All of Rangoon was eager to get to our embassy to watch live matches from the World Cup in Mexico City.

The Cultural Center often hosted various events: film screenings, exhibitions, seminars... And we, young diplomats, actively participated in them. The most useful thing was to meet interesting people, sometimes famous, about

which we knew from books. Take the well-known politician and publicist Takin Chit Maun or the former minister and labor leader Takin Lwin. Both of them were great friends of our country. In general, many Burmese people gravitated to the USSR. Even such as the grandson of the last Burmese king, Thibault, Prince Topheyalei. The Prince held very left-wing views. I remember his fiery speech at the evening dedicated to the next anniversary of Lenin's birth.

Burma was a "country of socialist orientation", as its very name indicated under the 1974 Constitution-the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma. True, the Burmese leadership, led by General U Ne Win, understood" socialism "in its own way and went to it in its own" Burmese " way. Apparently, this is why there were limited contacts between our countries in the ideological sphere. It should be emphasized that "Burmese socialism" did not cost us a penny. Nor did we impose a socialist ideology on the Burmese. Just at that time, the ideas of socialism, one might say, were in the air.

"PESNYARY" IN BURMA

In 1985, Sergey Pavlovich Pavlov became the USSR Ambassador to Burma. Prior to that, he was first secretary of the Komsomol Central Committee, chairman of the State Committee for Physical Culture and Sports, one of the organizers of the Olympic Games-80 in Moscow, Ambassador to Mongolia. The Burmese were impressed that the Soviet ambassador to Rangoon had appointed such a prominent figure.

S. P. Pavlov developed an active career. He often met with Burmese leaders. Most of all, of course, with Foreign Minister Wu Ye Gaung, who was close to General Ne Win.

I had to accompany the ambassador everywhere as an interpreter. I once got the attention of the all-powerful U Ne Win, who noted my knowledge of the Burmese language. It was especially difficult to translate the ambassador's conversations at the Foreign Ministry, because diplomats in general, and Burmese in particular, are characterized by a streamlined language, a desire to avoid certainty in their judgments. Sometimes there were difficulties of a different nature. Many Burmese people chew betel, and when the person chewing it speaks, instead of articulate sounds, a gurgle is heard. Go find out what's being said. Of course, Burmese diplomats do not chew betel during negotiations. But there were exceptions. One of the deputy Foreign Ministers worked in the United States before being appointed to this post. There he picked up free manners. When he received our ambassador, he crossed his legs and popped a betel nut into his mouth. I had to adapt to the gurgling speech of the deputy minister, who, by the way, treated us very well.

In general, while serving as the ambassador's interpreter, I kept abreast of all developments in Soviet-Burmese relations. Once, in the mid-80s, Rangoon was transited by the Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Ya. P. Ryabov, who was on a visit to Indonesia. During a meeting at the airport, he told a representative of the Burmese leadership: "The Soviet Union is a friend of Burma. You can count on us."

The Burmese people did not accept assurances of friendship very enthusiastically and avoided political interaction. On the other hand, they persistently urged the Soviet side to show solidarity with Burma and buy a large batch of rice from them. Then the Burmese experienced difficulties with its export, including due to the poor quality of this product. I remember that the Deputy Prime Minister, General Thura Kyaw Tin, told our ambassador: "You buy rice from Thailand, not from us. Is Thailand a friend of the USSR?" As you know, Thailand was a close ally of the United States in the region. With great difficulty, S. P. Pavlov, who had his own connections in the Soviet political establishment, managed to persuade Moscow to buy a large batch of Burmese rice, which was sent as aid to Vietnam. This gesture increased the prestige of the Soviet ambassador.

S. P. Pavlov's "sporting past" turned out to be very popular. Soviet sports delegations came to Burma one after another. And our athletes didn't always win the matches against the Burmese. For example, badminton competitions-

well, the hosts won - this sport is very developed in Burma. Ultimately, friendship won out. Colonel Aung Din, General Director of the Department of Sports and Physical Education, constantly turned to Sergey Pavlovich for "sports advice".

But sport is a sport, and it was necessary to expand contacts in other areas as well. In 1985, the Soviet Embassy held many events dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War. In Burma, this was met with a positive response. After all, during the war years, Burmese patriots contributed to the fight against militaristic Japan.

In March 1986, I had the opportunity to work with a delegation of Soviet writers, which included the famous Uzbek writer U. Umarbekov, the wonderful Russian poet V. Kostrov, and the Estonian intellectual writer L. Meri. Subsequently, Burmese newspapers were happy to write about the fact that an Estonian writer who visited their country, took the highest state post, became the president of Estonia.

The tour of the Belarusian ensemble Pesnyary was a great success in Rangoon. There were a lot of young people at his concerts. The fact is that the Burmese authorities considered rock music "decadent" and, to put it mildly, did not encourage it in the country. But it seems that everyone liked Pesnyary-both teenagers and respectable managers. S. P. Pavlov arranged a dinner in honor of Belarusian artists. Burmese Minister of Culture asked the head of the ensemble Vladimir Mulyavin: "Why isn't there a single woman in the ensemble?". He answered very succinctly: "So that there are fewer problems." But in the Leningrad pop ensemble "Lyra" there were women. His tour was also successful.

Let's not forget how sympathetically Burmese people responded to the Chernobyl accident. The most ordinary people, very straitened in their means, who denied themselves an extra bowl of rice, came to our embassy and donated money for the victims. You can't help but think of the Burmese proverb: you can't cover all the needy with a blanket, but you can warm everyone with love.

For an orientalist, Myanmar at that time was a real paradise, because it was little affected by external influences and preserved the traditional way of life based on Buddhism. But even traditional Burmese society wanted change, modernization. The paramilitary bureaucratic system with its autarky clearly slid into stagnation, did not give room for socio-economic development. Myanmar was increasingly lagging behind its neighbors.

TIME FOR CHANGE

Perestroika was raging in the USSR, and an internal political crisis was brewing in Burma. The explosion occurred in the summer of 1988, when mass spontaneous protests broke out in the country against the regime of the Burmese Socialist Program Party. It all ended with the next generation of armed forces leaders seizing power in September of the same year. Social orientation is a thing of the past. A course was set for a market economy and an "open door" policy.

In 1990, V. I. Shabalin, a Sinologist and Doctor of Economics, became the last Soviet Ambassador to Myanmar. In addition, prior to his appointment to Rangoon, he served as Deputy Head of the International Department of the CPSU Central Committee. Vadim Ivanovich had to work in very difficult conditions. The Power he represented ceased to exist...

At that time, I had to accompany the Pamir football team from Dushanbe on a trip around the country. She came to represent the USSR, and left already with the team of independent Tajikistan. The Burmese could not understand what had happened to the superpower. For them, we have become a kind of, in the Chinese phrase, "teachers on the contrary." Burmese leaders emphasized that

under no circumstances will they allow such a situation in their own country.

It was an uneasy time, full of uncertainty. The Cultural Center and other representative offices have ceased to operate. There were rumors that the embassy in Myanmar would be closed altogether. How can one not recall the statement of Confucius about the severity of life in an era of change? Fortunately, this did not happen, because Myanmar is a fairly significant country for Russia, at least because of its geopolitical location at the junction of regions. Nevertheless, the damage to the quality of work during the time of troubles was significant. Suffice it to say that the Embassy did not have a Burmese-speaking specialist at all for some time.

The positive aspects of the first half of the 1990s in Russian-Burmese relations include the development of cooperation between Buddhists of the two countries. Delegations of Burmese monks headed by respected abbots visited us, and Buryat lamas visited Myanmar. Nine young Buddhists from Buryatia, Kalmykia and Moscow were trained at Rangoon Pali University. The Burmese specifically asked that there be exactly 9 students. The fact is that in Myanmar this figure is considered very important, happy: nine close disciples of the Buddha are known, 9 planets are revered, and a ring with nine precious stones is worn as a talisman.

Contacts between Buddhists were very significant, because Buddhism is the way of life in Myanmar, and monks are the most revered people. Sometimes, as recent events have shown, they actively interfere in political life. From time to time, our embassy hosted treats for Buddhist monks. Burmese ministers and generals took part in these ceremonies. In other cases, they were difficult to get into the embassy.

The embassy staff also sought to have as many Burmese acquaintances and friends as possible. Burmese people are very friendly, hospitable people, easy to get in touch with. But the problem was that the military authorities looked askance at the connections of Burmese with foreigners. This is especially true for civil servants. I had to rely on people of liberal professions, entrepreneurs. My Burmese friends included Buddhist monks, writers, journalists, scientists, and artists. I am proud to have been invited to visit by the first-rate movie star and singer Cho Pyeong.

During the years of my work at the Embassy, famous Burmese writers G. F. Minina and A. G. Gavrilova visited Myanmar more than once. Her soft voice was familiar to many Burmese listeners. Unfortunately, in the mid-1990s, Burmese broadcasting ceased. Galina Fyodorovna translated Burmese fiction into Russian, and she had many friends among the local intelligentsia. A. G. Gavrilova, alas, has already passed away, taught Burmese studies at the Institute of Asian and African Countries at the Lomonosov Moscow State University. You should have seen how warm the Burmese people were to our Burmese women. It's worth a lot. Such human contacts cannot be replaced by any political speeches.

In 1992, V. V. Nazarov, a career diplomat who had worked in Myanmar for many years, became Ambassador. For the first time, such a high position was occupied by a Burmanist. Of course, this circumstance helped Valery Vartanovich in his activities, first of all, in establishing trusting contacts with the Burmese. He developed a friendly relationship with Foreign Minister Wu Oung-jo. According to a Burmese proverb, friendships help you better understand each other's views. The new Ambassador tried to fill the bilateral relations in various spheres with real content. We have especially succeeded in developing military-technical cooperation. The ground was set for signing major contracts for the supply of Russian Mi-17 helicopters and MiG-29 aircraft to Myanmar.

In May 1994, my second business trip to Myanmar ended. In just over 10 years, dramatic changes have taken place in both Russia and Myanmar. The Cold War is a thing of the past. Russian-Chinese relations have returned to normal. Myanmar has ceased to be seen as a hotbed of rivalry between great Powers. However, in the international arena, the country's military leadership is facing new challenges. Western countries, especially the United States, have harshly criticized and harshly pressured the Myanmar government "for violating the norms of democracy and human rights." Trade and economic sanctions have been imposed against Myanmar.

Russia sees what is happening in this country as its internal affair and is ready to step up bilateral cooperation.

* V. Nazarov's memoirs " Burma. Hot August 1968", see No. 8 of our magazine, pp. 76-80.

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