MOSCOW, July 9. /ITAR-TASS/. The Kremlin has confirmed the consent to appoint John Tefft ambassador of the USA to Russia. Presidential Aide for Foreign Policy Issues Yuri Ushakov reported this on Wednesday.

“Yes, the agreation has been issued,” he confirmed.

Ushakov declined to comment on “Tefft’s behavior during his service in Georgia and Ukraine”. The presidential aide stated that Tefft is “a professional diplomat”.

The Kremlin’s representative stressed that Tefft has a high professional qualification. “The fact that he used to work in Russia and that he knows our country and speaks Russian is also worth to mention,” Ushakov noted.

John Tefft headed the diplomatic mission in Ukraine between November 2009 and August 2013. In 2000-2003, he was US ambassador to Lithuania, in 2005-2009 — ambassador to Georgia. Between 1996 and 1999, Tefft was deputy ambassador of the USA in Moscow.

In February 2014, the previous US ambassador Michael McFaul announced his resignation. He explained his decision by personal and family reasons. February 26, McFaul left Moscow.