MOSCOW, February 26 (RIA Novosti) – US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul was due to leave Moscow on Wednesday, ending a two-year stint at times marred by diplomatic mishaps and failure to smooth over often testy relations between the two nations.
McFaul’s future replacement is not yet known, although Russian daily Kommersant has linked a number of career diplomats with experience of the post-Soviet world with the post.
The outgoing ambassador has said that he plans to return to work at Stanford University, where he taught ahead of joining the civil service.
President Barack Obama proposed McFaul as a candidate to the post as US Ambassador in September 2011, before which he had served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Russia and Eurasian Affairs at the National Security Council.
McFaul has cited the simplification of the bilateral visa regime between the two countries and the increase in trade turnover as major achievements over his tenure. He also describes the development of closer positions on nuclear non-proliferation in North Korea and Iran as a highlight of his tenure.
McFaul’s detractors in Russia have in the past noted that he has devoted what they feel is excess attention to the opposition groups.
The ambassador has rebutted those charges, arguing that it was his role to reach out to civil society in Russia, while stressing that his daily work was to maintain contacts with Russian government officials.
Announcing his intention to leave his post, McFaul wrote earlier this month that he deemed his tenure a success.
“Since we set out to reset relations with Russia five years ago (yes, I am not afraid to use the word “reset”!), we have achieved a lot,” he wrote in a blog post on February 4.
On Wednesday, Kommersant cited its own sources as saying that possible replacements for McFaul include John Tefft, a former ambassador to Ukraine, Georgia and Lithuania; Steven Pifer, an arms control specialist who served as the US envoy to Ukraine in the late 1990s; and Carlos Pascual, who acted as ambassador to Ukraine from 2000 to 2003, after acting as Special Assistant to the President and National Senior Council Director for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia.
Another potential nominee named by the newspaper is Acting Undersecretary for Arms Control and International Security Rose Gottemoeller, who was the chief US negotiator of the New START treaty with Russia.
Deputy Chief of Mission Sheila Gwaltney will take over ambassadorial duties after McFaul's departure.
