In the fall of 2024, Russia recalled its long-serving ambassador to Washington, Anatoli Antonov, from the United States. The 69-year-old diplomat had been serving as ambassador since 2017. The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergei Ryabkov, revealed in an interview that the US government has yet to grant a new diplomatic representative from Russia an agrément as ambassador.
In a conversation with the TASS news agency on Friday, the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister stated:
“There is no movement on the agrément. We are in a waiting mode. Time is passing and of course, we are not yet in the alarm zone, but we are approaching it gradually. That’s why we would like to hear a positive signal from Washington.”
As Ryabkov emphasized, no diplomatic representation can work effectively without an ambassador, especially in a location like the US capital. He believes that Washington, at the beginning of the new government’s term, is interested in normalizing all mechanisms of inter-state communication. “We are therefore calling for this matter to be given the due attention” the high-ranking diplomat said.
In late November of the previous year, Russian media reported that Alexander Darchiev, the director of the North America department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, could replace Antonov as Russia’s new ambassador to Washington, who was relieved of his duties by Putin’s decree on October 1, 2024.
There has been no official confirmation of the information regarding Darchiev, according to the TASS report on Friday. The Foreign Ministry in Moscow told the agency that a decision on the new ambassador to Washington had been made a long time ago, but did not comment publicly on the matter.