MOSCOW, September 05. /ITAR-TASS/. New US Ambassador to Russia John F. Tefft has arrived in Moscow, the embassy's public affairs officer told ITAR-TASS on Friday.

New US Ambassador to Moscow John F. Tefft is looking forward to interaction with Russians, the embassy quoted the diplomat as saying on its Russian-language Twitter page on Friday.

Tefft, a career diplomat and former US ambassador to Ukraine, Georgia and Lithuania, arrived in Moscow on Friday.

"I am very happy to return to Russia. I am looking forward to work and interaction with Russians representing all social strata," he said.

Tefft was nominated by President Barack Obama in July to fill the post that has been vacant since February when Tefft's predecessor, Michael McFaul, resigned.

Unlike the previous ambassador, Michael McFaul, who was a political appointee, John Tefft is a career diplomat. President Obama nominated him for the job July 10.

His previous professional record includes ambassadorial positions in Ukraine, Georgia and Lithuania. He also served as a deputy to Ambassador Thomas Pickering.

From November 1996 through to September 1997, he was a de facto head of the embassy in Moscow in the rank of charge d’affairs.

Tefft, now 64, has held a number of positions in the US Department of State’s headquarters and also in cities outside the US, like Rome, Budapest, or Jerusalem.

Tefft’s recent position was not in civil service, but with the RAND Corporation, a US think tank where he was executive director of the international Business Leaders Forum.