When the Russians have “Advised” to the United States’ ambassador to Moscow, John Sullivan, to return to Washington, the Americans began by making it known that this was out of the question. “Scoop: the American ambassador resists pressure from the Kremlin to leave Russia”, announced, Tuesday, April 20, the Axios site. A few hours later, the same site publishes a new article: “ The American ambassador to Russia will return home briefly (source: State Department) ”.
In a statement, John Sullivan, named under Donald Trump, explains that he is “Important for [lui] to speak with directly with [ses] colleagues of the Biden administration, in Washington, on the state of bilateral relations between Russia and the United States ”. “I will return to Moscow before any meeting between Presidents Biden and Putin”, he adds again. In order not to risk escalation and / or humiliation – the last time their ambassador was declared persona non grata, it was in 1952, under Stalin – the United States chose to recall its representative itself. .
In fact, the two powers of the Cold War no longer have ambassadors in post. Moscow recalled his, Anatoly Antonov, ” for consultation “, March 17, after President Joe Biden called President Vladimir Putin a “killer” on television and assured that the latter “Would pay the price” of the alleged Russian interference attempt in the 2020 US presidential election.
The “Price” quickly fell: Thursday, April 15, the Americans announced the expulsion of ten diplomats, an event included in a package of sanctions against Russia, which retaliated by doing the same. An escalation which takes place while Moscow is massing troops on the Ukrainian border and the health of the opponent Alexeï Navalny is causing the most serious concerns. “We have made it known [aux Russes] that there will be consequences if Mr. Navalny dies ”, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan warned on CNN in particular.
American de-escalation
But if, on the Kremlin side, we are talking about “Extremely tense situation”, the American administration seems, in reality, to be playing de-escalation. Mr. Biden has admittedly taken sanctions, but he had warned Vladimir Putin two days earlier during a telephone conversation and had offered him a meeting in a third country. Mr. Biden called the discussion “Sincere and respectful”: “I was clear with President Putin that we could have gone further, but that I chose not to. I chose to be proportionate. The United States is not seeking to start a new round of escalation and conflict with Russia. We want a stable and predictable relationship. “
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