US appoints new envoy, Russia approves

The Russian Foreign Ministry has formally approved American diplomat John Tefft’s appointment as the new ambassador to Russia.

US President Barack Obama had announced the appointment on Thursday, as relations between Washington and Moscow have been at odds over the past several months over a political crisis in Ukraine, among other issues. The US Embassy in Moscow has been without an ambassador since February.

Russian political scientists believe the new envoy is an anti-Russian figure, according to rbth.com.

Tefft was the US ambassador to Georgia and Ukraine. He has repeatedly said that Ukraine needs to minimize its energy dependence on Russia.

The newly-appointed ambassador was actively involved in preparing the driving force behind the Euromaidan movement in Kiev, according to an analysis by the Russian Center for International Journalism and Research.

“The activities of the US Agency for International Development and numerous American private funds flourished during his tenure as ambassador from 2009 to 2013. Tefft in particular was a regular speaker at TechCamp, where participants were trained to use digital technology to mobilize protest sentiment,” reads the analysis.

“As a specialist in post-Soviet latitudes, Tefft is well versed in the particularities of the corrupt apparatus of our countries,” Ukrainian political scientist Vadim Karasev told RBTH.

“As the ambassador to Ukraine, he understood the Ukrainian business elites perfectly, and he managed to establish good relations with the key Ukrainian magnates, on whom the country’s political life depended. The Americans always had decent relations with [former Ukrainian] President Viktor Yanukovych. There were more than a few Americans among his advisors, and Tefft was his person in the presidential administration,” Karasev said.

Tefft has been the deputy assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs at the State Department, an international affairs adviser at the National War College and the US ambassador to Lithuania during the Bush administration.