Sergey Kislyak – активные мероприятия

Sergey Kislyak has served as the Russian Ambassador to the United States since 2008 and served as Russia’s first representative to NATO. Prior to serving as Russian Ambassador to the U.S., Kislyak served as Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister under Sergey Lavrov. Given his background as a nuclear physicist, he was involved in arms control negotiations during the Reagan administration. Prior to that he was the First Secretary in the Soviet Embassy in Washington and worked in the USSR delegation to the United Nations. Kislyak attended the Academy of Former Trade in the USSR and then joined the Foreign Serviced in 1977.

Kislyak has become a central figure in the current firestorm over Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. election after the NY Times reported that Michael Flynn, Trump’s National Security Advisor, failed to disclose a meeting with the Russian Ambassador in December of 2016. This meeting took place while the Obama Administration was discussing sanctions in response to Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. The NY Times also reports that officials said there were numerous calls between Kislyak and Flynn after Obama expelled 35 suspected Russian intelligence operatives from the U.S. in response to Russian interference in the U.S. election. Jared Kushner, Trump’s son in law, reportedly also participated in the December meeting with Flynn and Kislyak. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/02/us/politics/kushner-flynn-sessions-russia.html?_r=0

In March of 2017, reports surfaced that U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, during his confirmation hearing, failed to disclose two meetings with Kislyak. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/sessions-spoke-twice-with-russian-ambassador-during-trumps-presidential-campaign-justice-officials-say/2017/03/01/77205eda-feac-11e6-99b4-9e613afeb09f_story.html?utm_term=.cec55cf460bd. Sessions subsequently recused himself from the Department of Justice investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election and potential Trump campaign collusion with Russia. In June of 2017, reports surfaced in the media that Sessions had a third meeting with Kislyak during a presidential campaign event at the D.C. Mayflower Hotel in April of 2016 http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/31/politics/congress-investigating-jeff-sessions-russian-ambassador-meeting/index.html.

Many in intelligence circles believe Kislyak is a Russian intelligence agent and recruits Russian spies, as reported by CNN in March of 2017 http://edition.cnn.com/2017/03/02/world/sergey-kislyak-russian-ambassador-us-profile/. However, other government officials have said they believe this not to be the case. “He likes to operate behind the scenes,” said John R. Beyrle, U.S. ambassador to Russia between 2008 and 2012. “He’s a professional diplomat, not a politician. I’m sure he’s surprised to have acquired such notoriety recently. I’m sure he’s probably not enjoying his time in the limelight.” Patrick Reevell, ABC News http://abcnews.go.com/International/sergei-kislyak-russian-ambassador-spoke-jeff-sessions/story?id=45865497

One day after firing James Comey as the Director of the FBI, who was leading an investigation into Russian interference in the U.S. 2016 election and potential Trump campaign ties to the Russian government, Trump hosted Kislyak and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov in the Oval office. http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/05/10/527755991/trump-meets-with-russias-lavrov-at-the-white-house-today. Additionally, the meeting was closed to U.S. press but open to Russian press – the first picture of the meeting was posted by the Russian Embassy in the U.S. and was a picture of Trump shaking hands with Kislyak.

In May of 2017, the Washington Post reported that Jared Kushner and Kislyak discussed setting up a secret communication channel between the Trump administration and the Russian government using the Russian Embassy or Consulate. This conversation was reportedly intercepted by U.S. officials during routine monitoring of Russian communications. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/russian-ambassador-told-moscow-that-kushner-wanted-secret-communications-channel-with-kremlin/2017/05/26/520a14b4-422d-11e7-9869-bac8b446820a_story.html?tid=sm_tw&utm_term=.c210e7c2de45.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39150526

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/06/why-did-jeff-sessions-really-meet-sergey-kislyak/530091/.

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