Russia approves new US envoy as tensions high over Ukraine

FE Team | Published: July 10, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

MOSCOW, July 9 (AFP): Russia said Wednesday it had approved the candidacy of the former US ambassador to Kiev as Washington's new envoy to Moscow, at a time of sharply heightened tensions over Ukraine.
If he is approved by the US Senate, veteran diplomat John Tefft-known for backing the pro-Western aspirations of former Soviet states-will succeed Michael McFaul, who abruptly quit his post in February after just two years on the job.
He will take over at a hugely sensitive time, with the two countries locked in a tug-of-war over the fate of ex-Soviet Ukraine, and Washington threatening Russia with fresh sanctions.
Announcing that Moscow had given its authorisation to Tefft, President Vladimir Putin's top foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov described him as a "first-class diplomat".
Ushakov, Moscow's former ambassador to Washington, told reporters that he knew Tefft well, that he used to work in Russia and speaks the language.
Described by colleagues as a larger-than-life diplomat "with a steel trap mind," Tefft was deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in Moscow from 1996 to 1999.
However, many in Russia will see Tefft's nomination as a snub and Ushakov indicated that the US diplomat's previous postings had not gone unnoticed.
"The way he behaved in Georgia and Ukraine-I will leave that without comment because everyone is well aware of this," Putin's aide said, without elaborating.
Tefft served as US ambassador to Ukraine from 2009 to 2013 and was Washington's representative in Georgia during its five-day war with Russia in 2008.
Working in Kiev under then president Viktor Yanukovych, who was ousted in a pro-Western uprising in February, Tefft sought to promote the rule of law and respect for human rights.
"John was tireless in his efforts to get Ukraine to do the right thing," US deputy assistant secretary for democracy, human rights and labour, Thomas Melia, said in September.
During his stint in Tbilisi, Tefft accused Moscow of supporting Georgian separatists a year before the war broke out, Britain's Guardian newspaper has reported, citing WikiLeaks.