Sergey Kislyak, Russian ambassador at centre of U.S. election controversy, ends term
Announcement comes as House set to vote on Russia sanctions package, White House signals acceptance
Russian ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak — a high-profile figure in the controversy over alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election — has concluded his assignment in Washington.
The Russian Embassy announced on Twitter that Kislyak's tenure ended on Saturday.
Kislyak's successor has not been announced, although it is widely expected to be Anatoly Antonov, a deputy foreign minister and former deputy defence minister seen as a hardliner regarding the United States.
A Washington fixture with a sprawling network, Kislyak has emerged as a central figure in the investigations into Russian interference in the election and whether any associates of U.S. President Donald Trump were involved. Trump has repeatedly dismissed the story as "fake news," but the investigations have shown no signs of stopping, with a focus on top aides heightening.
- Russia and the Trump administration: a timeline
- Trump campaign reportedly had at least 18 undisclosed contacts with Russians
Trump's first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, was fired after the White House concluded he had not been truthful about conversations he had with Kislyak. Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation after acknowledging two previously undisclosed contacts with Kislyak.
Sanctions vote approaches
The announcement about the end of Kislyak's ambassadorship comes as the Republican-led House is set to vote on a sweeping Russia sanctions package that defies the White House. It demands that Trump get permission from Congress before lifting or easing the economic penalties against Moscow.
Lawmakers are scheduled to consider the sanctions package as early as Tuesday, and the bill could be sent to Trump before Congress breaks for the August recess. The legislation is aimed at punishing Moscow for meddling in the presidential election and for its military aggression in Ukraine and Syria.
The White House indicated Sunday that Trump would sign the sweeping sanctions measure.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the newly appointed White House press secretary, said the administration is supportive of being tough on Russia and "particularly putting these sanctions in place."
"We support where the legislation is now and will continue to work with the House and Senate to put those tough sanctions in place on Russia until the situation in Ukraine is fully resolved," Sanders said on ABC's This Week.
Congressional Republicans and Democrats announced Saturday that they'd settled lingering issues with the bill, which also includes stiff economic penalties against Iran and North Korea. The sanctions targeting Russia, however, have drawn the most attention because of Trump's persistent push for warmer relations with President Vladimir Putin and the ongoing investigations into election interference.
Controversial meetings
On Friday, the Washington Post reported that Kislyak said he discussed election-related issues with Sessions when the men met last year. The Post cited anonymous U.S. officials who described U.S. intelligence intercepts of Kislyak's descriptions of his meetings with Sessions. The Justice Department said Sessions stands by his previous assertion that he never had conversations with Russian officials about any type of interference with the election.
The president's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner has also been criticized for failing to immediately disclose a meeting with Kislyak on his security clearance questionnaire. In that December meeting, he proposed a secret back channel between the Kremlin and the Trump transition team.
During a long diplomatic career, Kislyak has led the life of a fairly typical global envoy, making himself a reliable presence on the circuit of receptions, teas and forums that make up the calendar of any ambassador.
Well connected
Kislyak, 66, who was appointed to his post in 2008, is regularly spotted walking around town, heading to and from meetings. Early in his tenure, he often opened the doors of the Russian Embassy, hosting dinners for foreign policy professionals, Pentagon officials, journalists and Capitol Hill staffers.
His first foreign posting was to New York where he worked at the Soviet delegation at the United Nations in the early 1980s. He spent the following years as the first secretary and then councillor at the Soviet Embassy in Washington before returning to Moscow in 1989, where he took a succession of senior jobs at the Foreign Ministry.
He did a stint as Russian ambassador to Belgium and simultaneously served as Moscow's envoy at NATO. He then returned to Moscow to serve as a deputy foreign minister, overseeing relations with the United States and arms control issues before being sent to Washington.