How do countries give notice to each other of plans?

February 21, 2023 5:31 AM

How do countries that have tense diplomatic relations "stay in contact" with each other? What methods are used? It's often referred to as "diplomatic back channel", but is this email, phone calls? Men in suits who meet on park benches? Bob in Accounting's wife who is friends with someone from the embassy and said something?

A recent BBC article about Biden's trip to Kyiv stated "Russia was notified of the trip a few hours before Mr Biden's departure, according to the US national security adviser Jake Sullivan."

"He said the US "did so for deconfliction purposes… I won't get into how they responded or what the precise nature of our message was, but I can confirm we provided that notice"."

In this circumstance, what sort of methods are used for countries to discuss this / "give notice"? Email? Phone call? How might this go? I appreciate that this is a vague question, I'm just curious if there are any articles that outline how this works, or people talking about how it happens?

posted by philsi to Law & Government (6 answers total)

While the situation around Russia-US relations is intentionally vague at present, remember that sitcom trope where Alice tells Bob to tell Cindy that they aren't speaking, but could Cindy pass the salt? It's often like that, but with nations.

Related concepts:
Shuttle diplomacy
Protecting power
posted by zamboni at 5:57 AM on February 21, 2023 [3 favorites]

There is a secure, dedicated communications link between the Pentagon and the Kremlin that was established in 1963. It provides for both telephone and email communications. There's a similar link between Washington and Beijing (and between Beijing and Moscow).

For issues specifically related to the conflict in Ukraine, the US and Russia established a similar, dedicated system.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 6:49 AM on February 21, 2023 [2 favorites]

The most basic way countries communicate is through embassies. For instance, if the U.S. wants to communicate with Russia, the ambassador to Russia delivers a message to the Russian foreign minister. Or the State Department summons the Russian ambassador.
posted by Stuka at 8:50 AM on February 21, 2023 [1 favorite]

The US still maintains a staffed embassy in Russia, so it is likely that diplomatic relations are still largely functioning in some way as usual: typically the information would go from the US State Department to the US Embassy in Russia, and the ambassador (or their staff) would have standing contacts in the Russian government. For something that is higher security like this, it probably had a more limited group of people who were informed and involved. The technology behind it is probably as stated above: phone calls on secured lines or encrypted emails, but it may also just be in-person formal meetings.

Generally speaking, whether or not foreign relations are tense, it is still the responsibility of the staff of a diplomatic mission to maintain a positive working relationship with their contacts in their posted country. This is a lot easier on an individual basis where there are personal relationships than it is on a country to country basis.

(Maybe I'm just being cynical, but honestly, if US-Russia relations were so tense, the US wouldn't actually have a diplomatic mission there)
posted by urbanlenny at 8:57 AM on February 21, 2023 [1 favorite]

Between embassies, other than diplomats meeting at lunches or dinners, there's a thing called note verbale that is sort of like an official letter. I know this because I worked for an embassy for a bit, although I myself was never a diplomat.
posted by LoonyLovegood at 9:18 AM on February 21, 2023

As others have said, when two countries have diplomatic relations there are official channels for communication. Back channel communication can still be used for a variety of reasons. When countries do not have diplomatic relations, all communication is back channel.

A quick duck duck go reveals plenty of discussion:

A good succinct overview of backchannels at Political Dictionary

Harvard Law School Program on Negotiation: The Pros and Cons of Back-Channel Negotiations

Wikipedia: Track II Diplomacy

The World: What exactly are back channels, and when is it OK to use them?

Historical Overview of the Back Channel Diplomacy in American Foreign Policy

posted by Winnie the Proust at 9:32 AM on February 21, 2023 [1 favorite]