New U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul said he will arrive in Moscow in late January next year, RIA Novosti reported
The nomination of McFaul, who was President Barack Obama's chief adviser on Russia, was approved last weekend by the U.S. Senate. American experts believe that current U.S. ambassador to Russia John Byerly, who has been in this post since 2008, will leave Moscow next week.
President Obama nominated McFaul, who is considered one of the architects of the "reset" in Russian-U.S. relations, in September. McFaul, 48, is a Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director, Russia and Eurasia Affairs, for the White House National Security Staff. He speaks fluent Russian.
McFaul was born and raised in Montana. He received his B.A. in International Relations and Slavic Languages and his M.A. in Slavic and East European Studies from Stanford University in 1986.
McFaul, along with the acting chief of the Kremlin administration, Vladislav Surkov, is a co-chair of the U.S.-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission’s Civil Society Working Group.
