The current Russian Ambassador to the United States, Sergei Kislyak, will be appointed to the Federation Council after his tenure in Washington comes to an end, the Vedomosti newspaper reported on Wednesday, citing two unidentified sources in the Russian presidential administration.
Kislyak could be appointed to his new post after regional elections in September, Vedomosti said.
In March, the U.S. Politico magazine labeled the 66-year-old Kislyak as “Washington’s most dangerous diplomat.” He has been Moscow’s man in Washington since 2008 but kept a low public profile until he found himself at the epicenter of the scandal surrounding the Trump Administration’s ties to Russia.
“Kislyak has been a subject of permanent trolling in the U.S. in recent months,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told the state-run Rossia-1 television channel last Friday.
According to Vedomosti, Kislyak’s upcoming job change can hardly be called a promotion as the Federation Council, Russia’s upper chamber of parliament, has little actual power.
“It’s the destination of those who can’t be placed anywhere else, but are not ready to retire,” the newspaper cited political scientist Abbas Gallyamov as saying. “To get out of there and get back to an upward trend is something that only very few have managed to do.”
Kislyak, who returns to Moscow on July 22, will be replaced by deputy foreign minister Anatoly Antonov.
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