Who is Alexander Darchiyev? Russia's new ambassador to the US

Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed senior veteran diplomat Alexander Darchiev as ambassador to the United States on Thursday, to lead a rapprochement with that has stunned Ukraine and Washington's European allies.

The Foreign Ministry said last week Washington had given it the green light at a meeting between Russian and US officials in Turkey to appoint Darchiev, who now serves as head of the Foreign Ministry's North America department.

That six-hour meeting in Istanbul last Thursday, where the delegations worked to try to restore normal function of their embassies, was the latest sign of a thaw between the two countries.

President Donald Trump has upended previous policy on the war in Ukraine, opening up bilateral talks with Moscow and pausing military aid to Kyiv after clashing with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in the White House last week.

Moscow and Washington had been embroiled in a series of diplomatic rows over staffing and embassy properties in recent years that Russia says has strained relations.

Russia has had no ambassador in Washington since last October when the previous envoy, Anatoly Antonov, left his post.

Darchiev, 64, has served two long spells in Russia's Washington embassy and was ambassador to Canada from 2014 to 2021.