Vladimir Putin appoints new Russian ambassador to US
A career Russian diplomat, who gained the reputation of a hawk during his earlier tenure at the Defense Ministry, was named the new ambassador to the United States on Monday. The 62-year old Anatoly Antonov was appointed to the job by President Vladimir Putin‘s order, according to the Kremlin. Antonov takes the job at a time when U.S.-Russia relations are badly strained following the approval of a new wave of U.S. sanctions against Moscow and the Kremlin’s decision to sharply cut the U.S. diplomatic personnel in Russia. He succeeds Sergei Kislyak, who found himself in the center of controversy amid claims of Russia’s interference in the U.S. presidential vote. Kislyak’s contacts with members of Trump’s team have been part of congressional and FBI investigations into possible collusion between Trump campaign and Russia. Russia has denied any interference in the U.S. election. Antonov joined the Foreign Ministry in 1978 and gradually rose through the ranks to take the job of the chief of the ministry’s security and disarmament department in 2004. As part of his job, he led negotiations on various international agreements, including the 2010 New START nuclear arms reduction treaty signed by the United States and Russia. In 2011, Antonov left the Foreign Ministry to become a deputy defense minister in charge of international ties. The job raised Antonov’s profile as he regularly delivered the Russian military’s statement to international media and foreign military attaches. When Russia-West relations sank to post-Cold War lows over the Ukrainian crisis and the war in Syria, Antonov’s visibility earned him a hawkish reputation. Like other senior Russian officials, Antonov minced no words amid the tensions over Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and support for pro-Russia insurgents in eastern Ukraine. Antonov accused the West of engineering the ouster of Ukraine’s former Russia-leaning president in February 2014 as part of efforts to “contain” Russia and waging what he described as an “information war” against it. He also claimed that the West has fueled the Ukrainian crisis in order to justify NATO’s existence and bolster military budgets. The European Union and Canada have put Antonov on their lists of Russian officials sanctioned for their role in the Ukrainian crisis. Antonov also served as the Russian military’s public face on Syria, where Moscow has waged an air campaign in support of President Bashar Assad’s army. Antonov’s stint at the Defense Ministry ended in 2016 and he returned to the Foreign Ministry, taking the post of a deputy minister. He has largely stayed out of the public eye since then. In May, when he met with lawmakers who considered his candidacy for the ambassador’s job, Antonov was quoted as saying that Moscow and Washington should normalize ties and engage in constructive cooperation. He said the U.S. and Russia must pool efforts in the fight against terrorism and work together to strengthen nuclear non-proliferation. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Kremlin: Jeff Sessions controversy an impediment to new relations
The intense attention being given to the new U.S. attorney general’s meetings with Russia’s ambassador could obstruct improved Washington-Moscow relations, the spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday. The spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters he did not know about the meetings last year between Ambassador Sergei Kislyak and Jeff Sessions, who at that time was a U.S. senator. Sessions also was a policy adviser to President Donald Trump’s campaign. News of the two meetings has added fuel to the controversy over whether Russia was improperly involved with Trump’s campaign. It spurred calls in Congress for Sessions to recuse himself from an investigation into alleged Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election. Peskov said it was normal for Russian diplomats to meet with U.S. lawmakers. Sessions’ office has said the meetings were in his capacity as a senator rather than as a Trump campaign adviser. He characterized the reaction to the news of the Sessions meetings as “an emotional atmosphere (that) leads to resistance to the idea of some kind of U.S.-Russia dialogue.” A spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, told The Associated Press that the Russian Embassy would not comment on meetings with American political figures, but she also said they were part of the embassy’s “everyday business.” Zakharova echoed Peskov’s assessment in a briefing on Thursday, saying U.S. news media were overreacting to suggestions of improper contacts between Russia and Trump’s circle. “What is happening now in the West, particularly in the U.S. media, it’s just the manifestation of some kind of media vandalism,” she said. Trump has repeatedly said that he wants to improve relations between Moscow and Washington. But Moscow appears frustrated by the lack of visible progress, as well as by the support from Trump administration officials for continuing sanctions imposed on Russia for its interference in Ukraine. Some Russian news media have cast the controversies over Trump and Russia as attempts by the Democratic Party to undermine the Republican Trump’s agenda. But others suggest that Moscow may have been overly hopeful for a swift reversal of longstanding U.S.-Russia tensions. “You still want to stay in this sweet dream called ‘Trump,’ always pushing away unpleasant news from across the ocean like you fumble for an incessant alarm clock and try to turn it off without opening your eyes and staying under the covers,” commentator Sergei Strokan wrote in the business-focused newspaper Kommersant. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Kremlin stays mum on new US national security adviser
The Kremlin refrained from comment Tuesday on the appointment of the new U.S. national security adviser, but one lawmaker said he was likely to take a hawkish stance toward Russia. Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster was named to the job Monday by President Donald Trump to replace retired Gen. Michael Flynn. Trump fired Flynn last week after it was determined that Flynn had misled Vice President Mike Pence about the nature of his discussions with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. during the presidential transition. Asked about how the Kremlin views the appointment, President Vladimir Putin‘s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he wouldn’t comment on what is Trump’s prerogative to make an appointment. Peskov said in a conference call with reporters that “it’s important to us how our relations will develop and what attitude Washington will take.” “We are patiently following our American partners determining their stance,” he added. Trump’s praise for Putin and his campaign promises to improve U.S. ties with Russia have raised expectations of a thaw between the two countries. Relations between Washington and Moscow have plunged to their lowest point since the Cold War over the Ukrainian crisis, the Syrian war and allegations of Russian meddling in the U.S. election. The Kremlin has taken a wait-and-see approach recently as Trump has encountered an array of challenges and faced a strong opposition in Congress to a rapprochement with Russia. While Peskov spoke with caution, Frants Klintsevich, a deputy head of the defense and security affairs committee in the upper house of parliament, described McMaster as a “100 percent hawk” who represents a threat. “Washington’s defense and intelligence wing will conduct Russophobic policies,” he said, according to RIA Novosti. Another lawmaker, Viktor Ozerov, warned against hasty conclusions, noting it will be Trump who will set a policy course. “The president may listen to advice, but it’s up to him to decide whether to heed it,” Ozerov said in remarks carried by the Interfax news agency. In remarks last year, McMaster said Moscow’s broader goal is to “collapse the post-Cold War security, economic and political order in Europe and replace that order with something that is more sympathetic to Russian interests.” Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Kremlin says Vladimir Putin-Donald Trump meeting in the works
The spokesman for Vladimir Putin says a meeting between the Russian president and U.S. President Donald Trump is in the works. Trump and Putin had a much-anticipated hour-long discussion on Saturday, the first since Trump assumed office last week. Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday lauded the phone call as a “good, constructive conversation” but dismissed suggestions of Trump and Putin may have reached deals in that phone call. Peskov said Kremlin and White House staff have been instructed to prepare a meeting between the two leaders and added that the leaders could reach practical agreements only after they see each other. Speaking earlier in Moscow, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the conversation showed that Russia and American interests “overlap in a number of areas” including fighting terrorism. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
