Sullivan concludes tenure as U.S. ambassador to Russia, leaves Moscow
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – John Sullivan, a Trump appointee who instructed Reuters earlier this yr it will take “a crowbar” to get him out of Moscow, has left Russia after ending his tenure as U.S. ambassador there, the U.S. embassy within the nation stated on Sunday.
“U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation John J. Sullivan has concluded his tenure as U.S. envoy and departed Moscow as we speak,” the embassy stated on its web site. It stated Sullivan, who was named to the submit in 2019 by former President Donald Trump, had served within the submit for nearly three years.
An official of the U.S. State Division stated Sullivan had served “a typical tour size for U.S. Ambassadors to Russia.”
“Ambassador Sullivan’s departure is deliberate and a part of a standard diplomatic rotation. He has served a full tenure as U.S. Ambassador to Russia, managing one of the crucial bilateral relationships on the planet throughout unprecedented occasions,” stated the official, who didn’t need to be in any other case recognized.
The embassy stated Sullivan would retire from public service, after a profession spanning 4 a long time and 5 U.S. presidents, together with service as deputy secretary of state and in senior positions on the Departments of Justice, Protection, and Commerce.
It stated Elizabeth Rood, who has served as deputy chief of mission since June, would assume duties as cost d’affaires on the Moscow embassy till a successor arrives.
Sullivan served as ambassador to Moscow throughout Russia’s February invasion of Ukraine, which plunged U.S.-Russia relations to depths not seen for the reason that Chilly Warfare.
A loquacious grandson of Irish immigrants, Sullivan instructed Reuters in an interview in March that he wished to remain on as ambassador to advocate for People detained in Russia, together with basketball star Brittney Griner and former Marines Trevor Reed and Paul Whelan. Reed was launched in April.
He stated he had instructed colleagues at house “they are going to have to make use of a crowbar to pry me out of right here as a result of I am not leaving till … they both throw me out or the president simply says, ‘Look, you gotta come house.'”
As relations deteriorated, Trump’s Democratic successor, Joe Biden, determined to retain Sullivan, an institution Republican lawyer who doesn’t communicate Russian however whose affection for Russia dates to his childhood admiration of the Soviet hockey group.
On Saturday, Sullivan attended the funeral of the final Soviet chief Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow. Gorbachev, who ended the Chilly Warfare with out bloodshed however failed to forestall the collapse of the Soviet Union, died on Tuesday aged 91. Present Russian chief Vladimir Putin didn’t attend the memorial occasion.
The State Division official stated america would “proceed to condemn unequivocally the Kremlin’s aggressive conflict towards Ukraine and stay steadfast in our dedication to supporting Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
The official stated Washington deliberate to announce the subsequent ambassador to Moscow “quickly,” however declined to say who that is likely to be.
(Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Enhancing by Andrea Ricci)
