To work in the United States begins the new Ambassador of the Russian Federation Anatoly Antonov. The decree about the dismissal of his predecessor Sergei Kislyak, who is involved in the case of intervention of Russia in the American presidential election, and appointing Anatoly Antonov on the website of the President of Russia was published on Monday 21 August.
Anatoly Antonov, a Russian career diplomat and the military. The foreign service came in 1978 the Soviet foreign Ministry. From 2004 to 2011 he worked as the Director of the Department for security Affairs and disarmament Ministry of foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, which, as Russian “Kommersant” called “by the Department without right for mistake”. From 2011 to 2016, was Deputy Minister of defense of the Russian Federation, returning again to the foreign Ministry already in the position of Deputy head Sergei Lavrov.
Now the American and Russian media estimate the quality of the business Anatoly Antonov and what he can be better than its predecessor Sergei Kislyak. Many people write that the new Russian Ambassador in America falls on a difficult period of confrontation between the two countries, while Kislyak began working in Washington in 2008 in the notorious period of the reset. Surely, this is the “reboot” was a military invasion of Russia to Georgia.
But few of the Western, as well, especially the Russian media, asks how States could give approval to the work of Antonov Ambassador of the Russian Federation. In 2015, the EU and Canada have included the newly appointed Anatoly Antonov in the sanctions lists with the phrase “involved in the delivery to Ukraine of the Russian military”. Neither the Ministry of foreign Affairs of Canada, nor the Ministry of foreign Affairs of Ukraine, nor Brussels objected on the appointment of Anatoly Antonova with the new Ambassador of the Russian Federation in the United States. According to experts, this is because the Antonov is not included in the sanctions lists of the United States.
“If it is not included in (sanction. – Ed.) list of the United States, in this case the American government would be difficult not to accredit it, even at today’s “climate” between the two countries. Embarrassed that he included in the sanctions lists of the EU and Canada, but I have not heard from them about any complaints in this regard”, – said the “Today” researcher, German Marshall Fund of the United States Nicolas Boucher.
In an interview with “Today,” former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst said that over the last few months, us policy towards Moscow became more rigid. But the question remains, why Washington gave Russia the agrement to the appointment of Antonov. Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Steven Pifer explains that host countries do not choose the Ambassador that the foreign state sends to the destination. They can decide to grant or not to grant agrement. “In my experience, to grant approval is rarely denied. While the Ambassador Antonov came under some associated with Ukraine the sanctions that were the result of political decisions that were taken at the level above it,” – said “Today,” former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Steven Pifer.
