OREANDA-NEWS The diplomats serving as the German ambassador to Russia use a secret bottle of vodka during their work. Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, the outgoing German Ambassador to Russia, revealed this tradition in an interview with Der Spiegel.

During the conversation, Lambsdorff, in response to a question about what he would leave to his successor in office, Clemens von Goetze, pointed to the dusty book "Legend of the Kremlin" on the table. According to him, every ambassador to Russia "should read it at least once," as there is a bottle of vodka hidden in the book.

The diplomat complained that when he found the book, there was no bottle in it. He suggested that one of his predecessors had drunk vodka, and explained this fact by the difficulty of contacts with the Russian leadership.

"Maybe a little sip helps sometimes. In any case, I took precautions and poured a new bottle," Lambsdorff added.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova explained the refusal to shake hands with Lambsdorff during a meeting on July 13 with the Russophobic position of the German diplomat. According to her, she used the option at the beginning of the meeting, which is provided to the parties by the rules of the diplomatic protocol.