For many ambassadors who work on their country's behalf in Washington, D. C., the swirl of high society is the key to America's capital city—it's where friendships form, bonds strengthen, and deals get made. The UAE ambassador holds lavish dinners for friends and government officials, and the wife of the Kuwaiti ambassador is the doyenne of a well-connected crowd of female power brokers. The British ambassador's massive residence, situated on Massachusetts Avenue next door to the vice-president's mansion, is the setting of some of the city's swankiest parties. Meanwhile, the French ambassador—whose compound in the Kalorama neighborhood is a couple blocks from the new homes of both Barack Obama and Ivanka Trump—for years has hosted the tony after-party for the White House Correspondents' Association dinner, a coveted invite that has made the ambassador's social secretary a power unto herself.
The Russian embassy, for decades a hostile outpost in the heart of its enemy's capital, had long been absent from such festivities. But on a warm May evening in 2010, Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador, hosted a black-tie benefit for the Washington National Opera. Though Kislyak, whose well-tailored suits struggle to contain his substantial girth, had been ambassador for nearly two years, many saw the benefit as his coming-out party in Washington. The ostentatious event—half Narnia, half
Eyes Wide Shut—took construction crews two weeks to prepare and cost more than half a million dollars, a tab picked up by opera benefactor Susan Lehrman. The result was an unsubtle reminder of Russia's erstwhile imperial glory.
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