Who will be the next US Ambassador to Russia?

Editor-in-Chief of the magazine “Russia in Global Affairs”, political scientist Fyodor Lukyanov, speaks about the imminent change of the US Ambassador to Russia:

– The decision of American Ambassador Jon Huntsman to leave Russia is expected; he has been talking about this for a long time. Everyone is wondering: what will happen to Russian-American relations? I will answer: of course, there is some personal influence, but in general the policy is not determined by the ambassador.

Huntsman found himself in a situation where he really wanted to do something, and he had ambition, authority and weight. But as the Russian people say, you can’t break a butt with a whip. Now relations between Russia and the United States are at an extremely low level, and no ambassador, no matter who is appointed, will change this.

Our situation is the product of so many processes. This is the rather low interest of the American president in Russia, and an extremely unfavorable internal situation, when Russia is an instrument of the internal political struggle in America.

And the deeper America enters the next election period, the more the Russian card will be played, although, I think, now less than before. They were tired of it too, there were already other topics going on. But since Trump’s opponents have firmly tied him to Moscow (fairly or unfairly, it doesn’t matter), then, of course, there will again be pressures associated with the desire to demonstrate toughness towards Russia.

The ambassador has clear functionality. When an ambassador goes beyond functionality, it turns out to be McFaul, this is even worse. Therefore, it is better if it is just a professional diplomat. Like Huntsman's predecessor, Jon Tefft. Despite the fact that he had completely clear views, which in no way included sympathy for Russian politics, he was a very competent, correct professional.

In general, most of the American ambassadors to Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union were high-quality, serious professionals. And Jack Matlock at the very beginning, who was still in Soviet times, and Ambassador Pickering, and Collins. These are such respectable diplomats of the old school. In addition, William Burns, later First Deputy, was a good ambassador during a very difficult time. Secretary of State, John Byerly. The exceptions were, perhaps, Alexander Vershbow, who considered it necessary to participate in the internal political situation, and McFaul.

Who will be the next American ambassador to the Russian Federation? They could move the ambassador from Germany or appoint the current special envoy for the Korean issue. But these are still rumors.

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The material was published in the Sobesednik publication No. 30-2019 under the title “Who will be the next US Ambassador to the Russian Federation?”