By Jonathan Landay and Arshad Mohammed
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has made John Sullivan’s hard work as U.S. ambassador to Moscow even more difficult, dealing with the Kremlin’s nuclear unrest and threats to sever ties while keeping his embassy running at one-tenth. of regular staff.
“It was really bad two and a half years ago,” Sullivan recalled of his arrival in January 2020. “It’s getting worse.”
Severe personnel cuts imposed by the Russian government have not yet forced him to clean embassy bathrooms or polish floors, as has been speculated in Washington, although he has said he knows how to do both.
The grandson of Irish immigrants exposed this week in an interview about being Washington’s man in Moscow five weeks after a war in which US-supplied weapons are killing troops in the country where he is and sanctions imposed by the US and allies are on the way. devastating Russia’s economy.
So far, he said, his meetings with Russian Foreign Ministry officials “have not been personally offensive or hostile,” nor has there been a serious backlash against the embassy.
“The security situation here is not much different than it was a month, six months ago,” he said by video call from an office overlooking the embassy yard lightly covered with fresh snow. “But that could change at the host government’s discretion in a minute.”
Sullivan is dealing with circumstances that no previous US ambassador to Russia has faced, said John Herbst, a former US envoy to Ukraine with the Atlantic Council think tank. “We are really in a period of hostile relations with Moscow.”
know more
+ New Montana: 3rd generation Chevrolet pickup arrives in 2023
+ Omicron: Unexpected symptom of infection in children worries medical teams
+ Mercadão de SP vendors threaten customers with fruit scam
+ Video: Mother is attacked on social media for wearing tight clothes to take her son to school
+ Horoscope: check today’s forecast for your sign
+ What is known about fluorone?
+ Trick to squeeze lemons becomes a craze on social media
+ ‘Monster Ichthyosaur’ is discovered in Colombia
+ One twin became vegan, the other ate meat. Check the result
+ See which were the most stolen cars in SP in 2021
+ Expedition identifies giant squid responsible for ship sinking in 2011
+ US Agency warns: never wash raw chicken meat
#Ambassador #Moscow #speaks #difficult #times #relations #Russia