In late August, President Trump told reporters that Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan “very well could be” the next US ambassador to Russia, a statement that came after Jon Huntsman handed in his resignation letter to Trump earlier that month.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has cited an unnamed State Department source as saying that President Donald Trump plans to formally announce Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's deputy John Sullivan as the new US ambassador to Russia.
According to the source, Moscow has already agreed “to accredit Sullivan to serve in the post – a precursor to a formal nomination.” The White House declined to comment on the matter.
The source claimed that in his current capacity, the 59-year-old conducts several dialogues with Russia, including those related to countering terrorism and strategic security issues. Earlier this year, Sullivan met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov to discuss arms control in light of the US withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.
The WSJ source also argued that it was Sullivan who played a key role in expelling 60 Russian diplomats from the US after last year's poisoning of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the UK.
Also last year, Sullivan went on a tour of Eastern Europe, where he told reporters that he sees Russia's influence in the region as both “destabilizing” and “malign.”
At the same time,…
