US President Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate a number of individuals to key posts in his administration. It is also about the post of head of the diplomatic mission of the United States in Russia.

According to a White House statement released October 11, John Joseph Sullivan from Maryland became a candidate for the post of US Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Moscow. Now this appointment must be approved by the US Senate.

As indicated in the document, since May 2017, he has been the Deputy Secretary of State for the United States (Mike Pompeo is now in this position). At the same time, earlier, Sullivan also worked as Deputy Minister of Commerce and held high posts in the Ministry of Justice and the Pentagon.

The fact that Sullivan will become the US ambassador to Russia on Friday, October 11, The Wall Street Journal reported. It was reported that consent has already been obtained from Moscow. In addition, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told RIA Novosti that the “well-known employee” of the current White House administration will become the new appointee.

  • John Sullivan
  • Reuters
  • © Jorge Adorno

Note that the previous head of the American diplomatic mission was John Huntsman, who spent two years in this post - from October 3, 2017 to October 3, 2019. Returning to the United States, he is expected to stand as a candidate for the governor elections in Utah on November 3, 2020.

In his petition, Huntsman pointed out that the United States "must continue to call Russia to account when its actions threaten us and our allies." In addition, he believes that many contradictions between the countries cannot be resolved, however, there are common interests.

“No restart, no restart, just a clear understanding of our interests and values ​​- and a pragmatic framework for continuing the dialogue will not help,” Huntsman said in a request.

“Sullivan is not known for loud statements”

According to the chairman of the Federation Council Commission on Information Policy Alexei Pushkov, the new ambassador will continue the restrained line of his predecessor. In his opinion, Sullivan does not have a pronounced anti-Russian orientation, in contrast to the former adviser to the US president on national security John Bolton and the American ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, whom the senator described as the “personal enemy” of Nord Stream - 2.

“He is not known for loud statements and belongs more to the camp of experienced bureaucrats than to the camp of ideologists of the Cold War with Russia,” Pushkov wrote on Twitter.

At the same time, Anton Morozov, a member of the State Duma’s international affairs committee, expects a certain reset in relations between the countries, in particular, the resumption of negotiations at the official level, which John Huntsman avoided.

“It was rather unconstructive from his (Huntsman. - RT ) side. Therefore, with the appointment of a new ambassador, we hope that the approach will be more constructive, aimed at strengthening the legal framework between our countries, including START-3, ”RIA Novosti quoted the parliamentarian as saying.

"The new approach of the trump team"

In turn, the director of the Institute for Contemporary State Development, Dmitry Solonnikov, believes that Sullivan can begin to build constructive relations with Russia.

“He is often characterized not as a diplomat, but as a lawyer. This is an important point. He does not weave any intrigues, but follows the spirit and letter of the law. Perhaps this is necessary in the current relations between the USA and Russia. It is important that there is less personal emotions and addictions and more following documents. Also an important point is that he is moving from the post of first deputy secretary of state. This is a very high position. The appointment of such a high-ranking person as ambassador to one of the countries can be assessed not only as a decrease in his status, but also as an understanding of the high significance of the new diplomatic ambassador. This is a clear change in the configuration of US diplomacy in the post-Soviet space and a new approach for the Trump team, ”explained the source.

Meanwhile, Vladimir Vasiliev, the chief researcher at the Institute of the USA and Canada, expressed the opposite point of view in a conversation with RT. The political scientist believes that under Sullivan, Russian-American relations will either remain in a frozen state or will tend to deteriorate.

“It seems to me that the appointment of Sullivan will be purely temporary. I think that he can be appointed for the period of the election campaign and after the election. Today, the situation in America is confused, and it’s hard to say whether Trump will be able to be re-elected or not. If there is a president-democrat, then the ambassador in Moscow will be replaced. Sullivan, from my point of view, is a technical diplomat and does not have as much weight as Huntsman, so I think that his mission is tactical, ”said Vasiliev.