MOSCOW, December 25. /TASS/. A temporary absence of the Russian ambassador in the United States has nothing to do with politics, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday.
"This is not a demarche. The politics has nothing to do with this," Lavrov said during the 60 Minutes program on the Rossiya-1 TV channel.
According to Lavrov, "the date of the new ambassador’s arrival depends on the optimal dates regarding his appearance in Washington," taking into account the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump on January 20 next year.
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.