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Appointment of Russia’s ambassador to UK not linked with election campaign — Kremlin

Putin on November 5 signed a decree to appoint Russia’s former OSCE envoy Andrei Kelin as Russia’s ambassador to Britain
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov Mikhail Metzel/TASS
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov
© Mikhail Metzel/TASS

MOSCOW, November 6. /TASS/. Andrei Kelin’s appointment as Russia’s new ambassador to Britain is in no way connected with the election campaign in that country, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media.

"The appointments of chiefs of diplomatic missions are never connected with the internal political agendas of the countries to which they are appointed. There is no such connection this time and there cannot be any," Peskov said.

He described Kelin as one of Russia’s brightest diplomats.

"Just as the ambassador of any other country his main mission is to promote the development of relations between his home country and the host country," Peskov said, adding that Russia’s ambassador to Britain was faced with a no easy task.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on November 5 signed a decree to appoint Russia’s former OSCE envoy Andrei Kelin as Russia’s ambassador to Britain. The decree was published on the official Internet-portal of legal information. From 2015 and up to his latest appointment Kelin was the director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s pan-European cooperation department. In 2011-2015, he was Russia’s permanent representative at the OSCE in Vienna.

Russia’s previous ambassador to Britain in 2011-2019 Alexander Yakovenko is currently in charge of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Diplomatic Academy.