Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak Is Going Home To Russia

[DonViejo]

Source: BuzzFeed News



After nearly ten years at the nexus of US-Russia relations, Washington’s most radioactive diplomat is headed home

Posted on June 25, 2017, at 2:27 p.m.

John Hudson
BuzzFeed News Reporter
Reporting From
Washington, D.C.

Ending one the most turbulent tenures of a Washington-based ambassador in recent memory, the Kremlin has decided to recall its ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak, three individuals familiar with the decision tell BuzzFeed News.

The decision to bring Kislyak back to Russia rather than appoint him to a senior position at the United Nations in New York, as several outlets previously reported, comes amid investigations by the FBI and Congress into the 66-year-old diplomat’s contacts with President Donald Trump’s top aides during the 2016 presidential campaign. “He could use some time away,” said a US-based diplomat.

Though Kislyak’s departure has long been expected, Moscow would not confirm his departure date. The US-Russia Business Council, however, is hosting a going away party for the ambassador on July 11 at the St. Regis Hotel.

As Kislyak’s associations came under intensifying scrutiny in recent weeks, an array of politicians in both parties tripped over themselves in trying to deny any past contacts with Kislyak, whose meetings with Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn have become a central source of intrigue in the broader Russia probe. All three men failed to report their meetings or conversations with the Russian ambassador at various times. At one point, the intrigue spread beyond the Trump camp — in late April, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi claimed she’d never met Kislyak shortly before photos surfaced of her meeting with him alongside other lawmakers in 2010.

Read more: https://www.buzzfeed.com/johnhudson/moscow-is-finally-recalling-russian-ambassador-sergey?utm_term=.ydWZ44GLB#.ajQxZZJav

[Sancho]

1. what a shocker....!

what could cause him to run off at this time?

[Mr.Bill]

2. I guess his work here is done.

Nice job, republicans.

[BumRushDaShow]

5. EXACT words I said to myself and was ready to post that.

His work is done. Long live his work.

[rogue emissary]

3. This may be a morbid prediction, but because of his weight.

I give him 6 months tops before it's announced he's passed away from an apparent "heart attack."

[rurallib]

7. I was sort of wondering what his life expectancy might be

Kisliyak was just too much in the picture for an under the radar operation.

A year tops!

[Scarsdale]

17. Rotund man

if he falls from a window on an upper floor, will he bounce?? Maybe poison will be in his short future. He has to be silenced, his mission is accomplished. Did Addison "Mitch" McConnell request that he be called home??

[bluedigger]

4. He came, he saw, he conquered.

A hero's welcome awaits.

[jmowreader]

6. They're getting him out before he's PNGd

The only thing you can do to someone with diplomatic immunity is expel him. If he's half as dirty as he looks, we'll have no choice but to do just that. Recalling him spares them the indignity.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

8. Putin knows what Kislyak has done. This is practically an admission of guilt. . . . nt

[pecosbob]

9. Now it seem Russia also imports radioactive materials

as well as exporting them (into people's soup).

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

10. He's either gonna be set up for life. Or turn up dead on top of a poor unfortunate hooker in a

couple of months.

[Marcuse]

11. You'll receive the Order of Lenin for this!

[L. Coyote]

12. Mission accomplished, democracy overthrown.

Time to throw a celebration party.

[turbinetree]

13. Protesters at the St. Regis?

And he's going to the St. Regis Hotel and going to have is fucking farewell dinner in the George Washington Room, are there going to be any protesters outside ?

[dobleremolque]

14. "radioactive diplomat..." HAHAHAHAHA!

Given his neck-deep involvement in the Russian interference scandals surrounding the 2016 election, Kislyak should probably be looking over his shoulder for polonium-tipped umbrellas.

[Sunlei]

15. whoa & he was looking forward to some cushie payola retirement "job" IN the USA. I don't think USA-

I don't think USA should let him leave the country until he's deposed (questioned on record) for the investigations.

[Delmette2.0]

20. I agree!

I know there is diplomatic immunity, but doesn't something like this override his diplomat status?

[Fozzledick]

16. So now who will replace him as Trump's handler?

[Scarsdale]

18. Either the "very smart"

wonder boy Jared, or toothy Iwanka.

[Igel]

19. The rumor is it's Anatoly Antonov.

He's under sanction by the EU for his role in the Crimea and Donbas.

He's deputy minister of defense, so he's high up in the military's hierarchy. You can be sure that the close fly-bys of NATO and US planes by Russian jets is somewhere below him in the food chain. And that whereas Kislyak was a member of the 6-nation negotiating committee for Iran's denuclearization, Antonov is probably belly-button deep in the sales of S-300 and S-400 missiles to Iran. He's a hawk and a hardliner, and outspoken about what he thinks of the US and NATO.

Kislyak had a degree from a physics institute and worked with technology and science before becoming ambassador. He was widely viewed by Obama-era state department folk as reasonable and a straight shooter. He represented Russia according to marching order he received without vitriole and hystrionics, and where there wasn't any clear direction was reasonable. Which might explain his dozens of visits to the White House and scores of visits with Senators and Representatives--some of whom, even currently-serving Democrats, later denied ever meeting with him until evidence was provided. I wonder how his role in finessing the Ukraine mess felt, since his parents were Ukrainian by citizenship and while Russian-speaking probably by ethnicity ("Kislyak" means nothing in Russian, but in Ukrainian means either "thick sour milk" or sort of a whiny slacker.)

Instead of having somebody who was involved in multilateral negotiations and was involved in technology, they'll have a general in charge of the Russian diplomatic corps in the US. The GRU will have it much easier, I suspect.

Kislyak only became a bad person in the US media because of his connection with Trump's people and Trump. Before that, he was judged to be fairly good. Now, a recent leak says he's Putin's spymaster in the US. Apparently Obama's folk didn't see that bit of intelligence, things changed since January, or the leak misinterpreted or was misinterpreted. Granted, there was that Russian compound closed by Obama because of spying, but I have trouble believing Obama's crew didn't know about it until the day before they closed it; and if they knew about it, it's very likely they simply monitored it for months or years before needing a symbolic punishment.

As for "handler," read up on how narcissists deal with confrontation and being challenged.