MOSCOW, December 6. /TASS/. Russia’s new ambassador to the United States will have to work hard cooperating with the so-called "Trumpists" in the US Congress as well as expert circles since many of them are not that much "blind-fold," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Friday.
"Patient and persistent work with 'Trumpists' in the Congress and expert circles will be required, given that many of them have only recently entered politics and are not as blind-fold as politicians who had been exercising their powers for a long time already," Ryabkov said in an interview with Russia’s Komsomolskaya Pravda daily web portal kp.ru.
Earlier this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed Anatoly Antonov as Russia’s Ambassador to the United States. On October 5, the US Embassy told TASS that Antonov was wrapping up his mission in Washington and the diplomat returned to Moscow the next day.
Antonov, 69, has served as Russia’s Ambassador to the United States since 2017. He headed the Russian Embassy during the most turbulent period in the history of Moscow-Washington relations.
The past few years have seen quite an unprecedented worsening of bilateral ties, which Russia blames on the United States. At that, Washington has imposed restrictions on Russian diplomats working in the United States. In 2017, it closed Russia’s Consulate General in San Francisco, California, and ordered the closure of the Russian diplomatic mission in Seattle, Washington, in 2018.
On November 20, Peskov told journalists that the Kremlin had already decided on the candidacy of Russia’s new ambassador to the United States, and his appointment could be expected in the nearest future.