Russian Ambassador to leave Washington at the end of July
The Russian ambassador in the USA, Sergey Kislyak, may leave Washington at the end of July. In recent months, the diplomat has been linked to a series of scandals about possible ties between members of Donald Trump’s campaign team and the Kremlin.
On Thursday, the Director of the Institute for US and Canada Studies, Sergey Rogov, spoke about the plans of the Russian ambassador.
“He will return to Moscow in late July,” Rogov said, speaking at the Primakov Readings international forum in Moscow.
According to Sergey Rogov, he recently spoke personally with the Russian ambassador, and the return of the diplomat to Russia “is connected with the usual rotation of personnel”, and not with any political scandals.
Last Tuesday, the US-Russia business council sent out official invitations to the farewell reception in honor of the Russian ambassador to the United States, which will take place on July 11th at the fashionable Regis Hotel in Washington. Prior to that, the former U.S. ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, reported on social networks about the Russian diplomat’s early departure.
The Kremlin has not officially commented on the change of the head of the Russian diplomatic mission in the U.S. On Thursday, presidential aide Yuri Ushakov refused to answer questions from reporters about it, saying that “such information is kept secret until the official appointment.”
According to Russian media, Anatoly Antonov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, should replace Kislyak in Washington. On May 18th, his candidacy was approved by the State Duma Committee on Foreign Affairs.