THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2025 77 that led Russia to further invade Ukraine in February 2022, and the many attempts by the Biden administration to forestall it, will not be disappointed. From assessing Putin’s publications and speeches on Ukraine to recounting behind-the-scenes details of U.S. national security council meetings and efforts by the CIA director and senior State Department officials to meet with Putin and his team in Moscow, Ambassador Sullivan provides both sides of the story. As we learn, its ultimate ending— wider war in Ukraine—was reluctantly accepted by U.S. officials as the likely outcome weeks, if not months, prior to the actual incursion. Humor and Positivity Beyond issues of war and peace, the ambassador returns again and again to the people who supported him throughout his tenure in Moscow—embassy employees and their family members. Sullivan’s cataloging of their struggles during the pandemic, the Russian government’s ban on embassy hiring and retention of Russian national employees, the meritless expulsions, and the closure of two consulates is juxtaposed by the work he and his team did to overcome (or at least manage) those challenges. From building a two-story outdoor bar made of ice in the winter (named “Sullivan’s Post 5” by the Marine Security Guards) and hosting employees and families for dinners at his residence, to coming up with entertaining pop-culture derived code words to confound the security services who monitor nonsecure conversations at the embassy, Sullivan was relentless in efforts to improve operational effectiveness and morale. As someone who served for more than two years with the ambassador, I can attest that the positivity he exuded and his self-described Bostonian sense of humor were contagious. Sullivan’s focus on people’s welfare extended far beyond the walls of his embassy. His advocacy for multiple U.S. citizens who were unjustly arrested, convicted, and imprisoned is well documented in his memoir, as is his decision—unprecedented for any U.S. ambassador to Russia—to visit those same Americans, who were serving sentences in harsh conditions in Sovietera prisons eight hours outside Moscow. He brought the same passion to his engagements with the American Chamber of Commerce, warning them of the coming conflict and the perils of continuing to do business in Moscow. Whether it was due to the pandemic or Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the ambassador also led his BOOKS Service Under Siege Midnight in Moscow: A Memoir from the Front Lines of Russia’s War Against the West John J. Sullivan, Little, Brown and Company, 2024, $32.50/hardcover, e-book available, 416 pages. Reviewed by Bart Gorman John Sullivan’s Midnight in Moscow is novelistic nonfiction at its finest— an insider’s account of Vladimir Putin and his sycophantic regime that threatens the post–World War II international order. The former ambassador to Russia’s book is replete with seemingly nonstop crises—COVID-19, mass expulsions of embassy personnel, harassment of his employees by the local security services, the deterioration of America’s diplomatic platform, the unlawful imprisonment of U.S. citizens, and the Kremlin’s illegal (and ultimately failed) invasion of Ukraine that the author and his team sounded the alarm about for months. Like any good memoir, Midnight in Moscow is universalistic and truthful. Those who are not Russia specialists will appreciate the historical and political context Sullivan provides to explain the irrational and violent actions the Russian government takes. More experienced “Russia hands” may find some of Sullivan’s extended reflections on Russian history too extensive; nevertheless, they should look closer at the many connections he makes between modern Russia and its imperial and Soviet predecessors to get a better sense of the firm grip Putin holds on his country. Readers seeking an exhaustive account of the decision-making process Sullivan was relentless in efforts to improve operational effectiveness and morale.
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