On Wednesday 14 April 1976, Oleg Selyeninov, the new Soviet ambassador to the Kingdom of Tonga, stood stiffly at the front porch of the Royal Palace as the Tongan Police band belted out the State Anthem of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics’. And in keeping with the words, ‘the red banner of the glorious Motherland’ - or the Hammer and Sickle flag - flew. With King Tāufaʻāhau beside Selyeninov Ko e fasi ‘o e tu’i ‘o e ‘Otu Tonga (‘song of the king of the Tonga Islands’) was played, ending with the line ‘Grant our earnest supplication, and protect Tupou our King’. It was just a routine diplomatic gathering; Selyeninov was based in Wellington, and cross credited to Nuku’alofa. The four day visit was to basically say hello, and present the king with a letter from Moscow saying, in effect, we recognise each other and Selyeninov is our man in Tonga. As few nations felt it worth permanently stationing plenipotentiaries in Nuku’alofa, such travelling road show credential gigs were not especially unusual.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Michael Field's South Pacific to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.