Diplomacy and the Instinct of Self-Preservation — Russian Ambassador Vladimir Tarabrin

Russian Ambassador Vladimir Tarabrin speaks with Dutch journalist Rico Brouwer at the Russian Embassy in The Hague on September 30, 2026. In a wide-ranging conversation they discuss the conflicts in the world and Russia’s relationship with Western countries including the Netherlands, that appears to be in the front line of an anti-Russian camp.

This conversation explores how the maps of our time are being redrawn in more ways then one, and what conditions may be necessary before diplomacy is allowed a chance to solve the conflicts of our time.

Some of the topics discussed are listed in the index below:

0:00:00 introduction
0:06:14 Why the world is changing its maps
0:12:52 Russia’s aims in Ukraine and the state of the war
0:21:41 US/Russia relations
0:29:25 Leipzig drone and European Union relations
0:34:24 NATO, the Netherlands and rising tensions
0:43:04 Ceuta, the Middle East, Arctic geopolitics and the road to peace

Links:
- Russian Embassy in Netherlands - https://netherlands.mid.ru/en/
- Abassador in Potkaars (enbassy) 2024  https://potkaars.nl/blog/2024/11/24/interview-with-ambassador-of-the-russian-federation-mr-vladimir-tarabrin-english
- Abassador in Potkaars (audience) 2025 https://potkaars.nl/blog/2025/9/8/interview-with-the-russian-ambassador-to-the-netherlands-vladimir-tarabrin-english
- Hanneke van der Werf - https://x.com/Strijder124/status/2096838311058841735
- RU Embassy on Hanneke van der Werf - https://x.com/rusembassynl/status/2096993359369809959
 - UN resolution on map projection - https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/un-approves-resolution-support-map-that-shows-africas-true-size-2026-09-04
- Equal Earth Map - https://www.equal-earth.com/index.html
- Tagesschau on Leipzig drone - https://www.tagesschau.de/investigativ/ndr-wdr/drohne-leipzig-110.html
- Spectator article -  https://spectator.com/article/ukraine-is-losing-the-war-kushner-witkoff/
- RU respose to NATO deployment - https://mid.ru/ru/foreign_policy/news/2138730/ https://archive.is/hYqWk
- Potkaars report on UNGA81 https://potkaars.nl/blog/2026/9/24/de-81e-zitting-van-de-algemene-vergadering-van-de-vn-unga-81-8-tm-26-september-2026
- Interview with Martin Armstrong https://potkaars.nl/blog/2026/9/5/martin-armstrong

This video is a co-production with Pinch of Soot https://pinchofsoot.nl/
On Potkaars: https://potkaars.nl/blog/2026/09/30/ambassador-tarabrin

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