WASHINGTON. May 30 (Interfax) - Special Assistant to the U.S. President on Russian and Eurasian Affairs has on Sunday declined to comment to Interfax on the New York Times article about his forthcoming appointment as U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation.
When asked by Interfax about the content of the article, McFaul cited the tough rules prohibiting U.S. officials from commenting on such topics until the formal announcement of the appointment.
McFaul, the architect behind the U.S.-Russian "reset," could be appointed as U.S. ambassador to Moscow, according to the New York Times' Sunday issue. The newspaper has learnt this from unnamed sources in the U.S. presidential administration, and this was discussed at the meeting between the U.S. and Russian presidents in Deauville (France). In most cases, information published in the New York Times, the most influential and informed U.S. newspaper, is correct.
The three-year stint of current U.S. Ambassador to Moscow John Beyrle, one of the leading U.S. diplomats and experts on Russia, who is fluent in Russian, expires in 2011.
McFaul is not a career diplomat and is known as a political researcher with a life-long interest in Russian studies, Russia's domestic policy and democracy in post-Soviet republics. Graduate and professor of Stanford University in California, he lived and worked in Russia during the perestroika until the mid-1990s as senior researcher at Carnegie Moscow Center. He is fluent in Russian and has many contacts among political elites in the post-Soviet countries.
In 2008, McFaul worked for then Senator Barack Obama's campaign headquarters and was in charge of the foreign policy of the Democratic Party's presidential candidate.
McFaul is largely credited with the significant improvements that occurred in the U.S.-Russian relations since Obama's election as the U.S. president. In particular, the two countries signed and ratified a new strategic arms reductions treaty (START) and reached an agreement on the transit of U.S. military cargo for Afghanistan through Russia (which significantly reduces U.S. dependence on the Pakistan route), set up a presidential commission consisting of officials from various ministries and government departments from both countries, from the health care ministry to the working sub-group on mass media. The U.S. and Russia have also narrowed the gap on Iran.
The "reset" concept in the U.S.-Russian relations was repeatedly criticized in the U.S. as one that ignores the development of democracy and rule of law in Russia. McFaul repeatedly told his critics that the "reset" is double-track, which means working both with the Russian government where the U.S. and Russian interests coincide, and with Russian opposition and civil society activists.
In accordance with the appointment procedure, after the formal nomination of McFaul as Ambassador to Russia, his candidacy must be approved by the U.S. Senate.