Duma deputy expects U.S. to appoint career diplomat as ambassador
MOSCOW. Feb 4 (Interfax) - There are no political grounds in U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul's plans to leave the office, and he is likely to be replaced by a career diplomat with a long service record, says Leonid Kalashnikov, a deputy chairman of the Russian State Duma international affairs committee.
"I don't see political reasons in the ambassador's departure, although the family ones that McFaul himself is referring to might also be misleading," Kalashnikov told Interfax on Tuesday.
The U.S. could have decided to replace the ambassador if only because, "after all, he has served in Russia for five years," he said.
"If this had been done through his recall, it'd have looked ungracefully," Kalashnikov said.
The U.S. is likely to use purely diplomatic approaches in its relations with Russia from now on, he said.
"They'll appoint a diplomat with a long record, considering that McFaul's informal approach has produced more harm," Kalashnikov said.
Kalashnikov himself admitted that he liked it that the U.S. ambassador to Russia was not a professional diplomat.
"Practice shows that diplomats are raised in a certain manner and taught to hide their feelings and thoughts. McFaul didn't do so and acted sincerely," he said.
McFaul said earlier on Tuesday that he would return home after the end of the Olympic Games in Sochi and plans to work at Stanford University.