Media: Russia to recall its U.S. Ambassador
Russia recalls its ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak, who played a key role in Russia’s interference in the 2016 elections, BuzzFeedNews reports citing three anonymous sources.
According to BuzzFeedNews, Kislyak and his family will leave Washington next month after a farewell reception in his honor. The reception will be held July 11th at the St. Regis Hotel, two blocks from the White House.
Earlier it was reported that the 66-year-old Kislyak will go to New York and lead the Russian delegation to the UN. Returning home will mark the end of the ambassador's 10-year tenure as the head of the Russian diplomatic presence in the United States and make him another victim of a growing scandal surrounding Moscow’s actions.
Kislyak is one of the key figures in the investigations into the possibility of Russian interference into the US Presidential elections. The investigations are being conducted by a special prosecutor and various committees of Congress.
In March, the Washington Post reported that there were two meetings between Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Kislyak in September 2015 and July 2016. According to the newspaper, Sessions did not mention them during his appointment to the post of Attorney General after Trump took office. After the report appeared in the Washington Post, Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives demanded Sessions’ resignation for lying under oath.
In February, because of the scandal associated with meetings with Kislyak, Trump fired his national security adviser Michael Flynn. It was noted that during this time, there were discussions about lifting American sanctions from Russia.
Flynn and another ex-Trump advisor, Paul Manafort, are part of the FBI investigation into a possible connection between Trump’s election team and Russian authorities. Evidence of this is also sought by Congress, which is conducting its own investigation.