PROUD
DIPLOMAT, INTERNATIONALIST, REALIST
FATHER, BAKER, LINGUIST
FRESH PERSPECTIVES ON FOREIGN POLICY & DIPLOMACY
Ian Proud was a member of His Majesty's Diplomatic Service from 1999 to 2023. He served as the Economic Counsellor at the British Embassy in Moscow from July 2014 to February 2019, at a time when UK-Russia relations were particularly tense. Prior to Moscow, Ian organized the 2013 G8 Summit in Lough Erne, Northern Ireland, working out of 10 Downing Street. He has also served in Afghanistan and in Thailand. Ian speaks Thai and Russian well, and a smattering of other languages to varying degrees. He has recently published his memoir of ten years' diplomatic service in Russa -
LATEST POSTS
A Misfit in Moscow is my memoir of ten years' diplomatic service, focussed on Russia.
British government pronouncements since Russia’s 24 February 2022 invasion of Ukraine have been resolute yet self-congratulatory. The UK is leading the way among western allies in providing Ukraine with the support it needs. Putin’s regime is globally isolated as never before. The Russian economy is crumbling under unprecedented sanctions. Let’s stick with the plan. Our strategy is working!
But is that really true? How engaged was the Conservative government in efforts to prevent conflict in Ukraine after tensions with Russia ramped up ten years ago? Have any of the seven Foreign Secretaries since 2014 altered Putin’s calculus? Have western sanctions really worked? And does ‘the best diplomatic service in the world’ have the skills to understand and outsmart Russia?