Soviet ambassadors are the product of a bureaucracy that rewards discipline and discourages initiative; of a society historically distrustful of foreigners; of a people hiding its latent insecurity by heavyhanded self-assertiveness. With some Soviet diplomats one has the uneasy feeling that they report in a way to suit the preconceptions of their superiors.
Most Soviet diplomats certainly cling rigidly to formal positions, for they can never be accused of unnecessary compromise if they show no initiative.
Dobrynin avoided these professional deformations. He was a classic product of the Communist society. The first member...
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