John Beyrle, America's new ambassador to Russia, is a vessel for warm feelings despite the cold relations between Moscow and Washington today. That Beyrle speaks fluent Russian and has seen the country through the Soviet war in Afghanistan to the death of Andropov is noteworthy, but not the reason he was the subject of the New York Times Saturday profile. In fact, the profile was really about John’s late father, Joe, a P.O.W. during World War II who escaped from a German camp only to voluntarily join the Red Army in fighting the Nazis. He wrapped his boots with burlap and drank his remedial shots of vodka with the best of them—opportunities to go home notwithstanding. As the legend goes, a starving Joe Beyrle crossed the eastern front by foot and approached a Soviet tank battalion with the only three words he knew in Russian: “I am an American comrade.” Whoa. Who's got the movie rights to this one?

But, other than an exceptionally engaging backstory and (we can only assume) a unique perspective on Russia, what does John Beyrle bring to the job? Well, unprecedented cultural resonance. The Russians tend to feel they don't get enough credit for defeating the Nazis; now here comes a man who says that his father’s proudest moment was receiving four medals for service in the Red Army from Boris Yeltsin. Weird.

And, since weird only begets more weird, we’ll be paying special attention to how Russia takes to John Beyrle in the coming months, and how the media choose to commend or condemn the new envoy.

New U.S. Envoy to Russia Echoes Father Who Fought for Soviets [New York Times]

Photo courtesy of The New York Times