"I am very pleased to see John Sullivan’s nomination to be US ambassador to Russia advance to the full Senate today", Risch said, adding that "I hope the Senate will confirm Mr. Sullivan soon".
US President Donald Trump announced on 11 October his decision to nominate Sullivan, currently serving as deputy secretary of state, as the new ambassador to Russia. If the Senate approves his nomination, Sullivan will replace Jon Huntsman, who completed his tenure in Moscow on 3 October.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said earlier that Russia sees the nomination of John Sullivan as the United States' new ambassador to Russia as a sign that Washington attaches importance to the state of bilateral ties, and hopes that he will work toward improving the relation, adding that he had a "very pleasant" impression of Sullivan, whom he had previously met.
Sullivan used to be in charge of counterterrorism negotiations in Russia as the State Department official. Sullivan pledged late in October to support dialogue with Russia on arms control, terrorism fight, denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and conflicts in Syria and Afghanistan.
