Moscow, 28 February 2025 (dpa/MIA) – Alexander Darchiev has been appointed Russia's new ambassador to Washington and has received formal assent from the US authorities, the Foreign Ministry announced in Moscow on Friday.

Darchiev, 64, has to date been director of the North Atlantic department in the ministry and succeeds Anatoly Antonov, who had been recalled.

Darchiev led the Russian side in talks in Istanbul on Thursday with US diplomat Sonata Coulter on a reset of relations between the two countries.

The US side had handed over a diplomatic note in Istanbul agreeing to the appointment, the ministry said. Darchiev is to take up his position in the coming days.

Russian media report that Lynne Tracy, who has been US ambassador to Moscow since 2023, is to be replaced.

The Russian government gazette, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, reports that the US special envoy for Libya, Richard Norland, is to take over from Tracy. There has been no confirmation of this thus far from Washington.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump revived relations between their two countries in a phone call earlier this month, in which they discussed ending the war in Ukraine and a possible summit. No date has been set.

Photo: MIA archive