Anatoly Antonov will take over from Sergey Kislyak, the country’s longstanding top diplomat in Washington who became embroiled in the scandal surrounding possible collusion between Moscow and the Trump campaign. Antonov, 62, is seen as a hardliner and no-nonsense negotiator. Putin did not initially respond, apparently having received signals that the incoming Trump team would be more favourable towards Russia. On Monday, the US embassy in Moscow announced it was suspending issuing non-immigration visas to Russians until 1 September. After that, the Moscow embassy will resume issuing tourist and other short-term visas, but visas at the three US consulates in St Petersburg, Ekaterinburg and Vladivostok will remain suspended indefinitely.

Source: The Guardian August 21, 2017 13:26 UTC