The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday that the United States approved the appointment of Alexander Darchiev as the new Russian ambassador to Washington. He currently serves as the director of the North Atlantic Department in the Foreign Ministry and is expected to take up his post in the US "in the near future."

Darchiev previously served as the Russian envoy to Canada from 2014 to 2021. He will replace Anatoly Antonov, who was Moscow's ambassador in Washington from 2017 to October 2024.