"We obviously, because we do exchanges with Russia, know Ambassador Kislyak. He is a very consummate professional diplomat," O'Keefe said on the sidelines of Sister Cities International's 61st Annual Conference in Virginia Beach on Thursday.
O’Keefe expressed his best wishes to Kislyak in his future endeavors.
"I wish him all the best in whatever he is going to do next," O’Keefe added.
The Izvestiya newspaper cited Russian Academy of Sciences US and Canadian Studies Institute Scientific Coordinator Sergey Rogov that Kislyak will return to Moscow on July 22.
Rogov said Kislyak may revise his plans if the United States delays issuing the agreement for the next Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov.
Kislyak has been Russia’s ambassador to the United States since July 2008.
In May, a source told Sputnik that Russian State Duma’s International Affairs Committee supported Deputy Foreign Minister Antonov as a candidate for the post of Russia’s ambassador in Washington replacing Kislyak.
