The first ambassador from Moscow in nearly 25 years arrived here Saturday and was to present his credentials Monday to President Chaim Herzog.
The only problem is that Ambassador-designate Alexander Bubin, who came overland from Egypt on Saturday, is not sure himself what country he represents.
Bubin said that since his letter of assignment came from the Soviet Foreign Ministry in Moscow, he would present himself as the Soviet ambassador when he appeared at the presidential residence in Jerusalem.
But the Russian republic took over the Foreign Ministry last week, and the Soviet Union as a political entity will apparently cease to exist as a nation on Dec. 31.
It will be replaced by the Commonwealth of Independent States, a confederation of 11 republics that were part of the old Soviet Union.
The commonwealth, announced two weeks ago by Russia, Ukraine and Byelorussia, was formally established Saturday during a meeting of leaders of the republics in Alma Ata, Kazakhstan.
Russia, the largest of the republics, which claims the Soviet Union’s position as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, has said it will assume the Soviet Union’s foreign policy obligations for the time being.
But Bubin said he would not know until a later date the state he actually represents.
In a telephone interview from Moscow published last week, Bubin told the Israeli daily Ma’ariv that he would represent “the legal heirs of the Soviet Union.”
Whatever that turns out to be, Bubin is probably the last Soviet envoy to present his credentials to a head of state anywhere.
And the ceremonies at Herzog’s residence will probably be the last time the Soviet national anthem is performed at an official occasion overseas.
FREE EMIGRATION URGED
In New York, meanwhile, Shoshana Cardin, chairman of the National Conference on Soviet Jewry, urged the new commonwealth to “adhere to policies of free emigration and pursuit of religious and cultural rights for Jewish citizens.”
Cardin’s statement also called on the 11 republics “to continue to pursue the full diplomatic relations with Israel, which were resumed by the Soviet Union under President (Mikhail) Gorbachev’s leadership.”
The Soviet Union broke diplomatic relations with Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War. They were restored on Oct. 18, 1991, when then-Soviet Foreign Minister Boris Pankin signed an agreement with Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy in Jerusalem.
Bubin, a former political commentator, received his official letter of appointment from Gorbachev on Dec. 16, a formality duly recorded by the official Soviet news agency, Tass.
Israel’s ambassador in Moscow, Arye Levin, is accredited to the Soviet Union and presented his credentials to Gorbachev.
Bubin pointed out that Gorbachev remains the constitutional head of state of the Soviet Union until it ceases to exist.
Asked by Ma’ariv if he was sorry to be leaving his homeland at this historic moment, Bubin replied, “I dare say it will be interesting in Israel, too.”
Referring to Soviet immigrants in Israel, Bubin said he expected to find “half a million broken threads, which I hope to reconnect to us.”
The new envoy paid an unofficial visit Sunday to the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem. The reopened Soviet Embassy is in Tel Aviv.
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