Americas

Americas

US Senators demand to delay approval of Michael McFaulâ€™s nomination as US ambassador to Russia

14 December 2011 10:25 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Habil Suelymanzadeh â€“ APA. A group of American Senators demanded to delay approval of Michael McFaulâ€™s nomination as the US Ambassador to Russia on the grounds that he might disclose classified data concerning missile defense systems in Europe to Russia, APA reports referring to Kommersant newspaper.
Michael McFaul acknowledged that the White House found it possible to impart some missile data to Moscow but made it clear that this information did not include missile telemetry and that it would be disclosed to convince Moscow that the missilesâ€™ flying speed was too low to pose a threat to Russian ballistic missiles.
â€œThe Senators delayed the approval of McFaulâ€™s nomination for two times. President Obama has a chance to appoint McFaul without the Senateâ€™s approval when the Senators are on holidays later in Decemberâ€, the newspaper said.
Another ambassador waiting for his approval by the end of the year is US Ambassador to Azerbaijan Matthew Bryza. Pro-Armenian Senators decline to approve Bryzaâ€™s appointment making reference to Bryzaâ€™s â€œprivate relationsâ€ with Azerbaijan and Turkey. According to the US legislation, approval of the candidacy should be based on consensus. It reduces the chance of Obamaâ€™s nominees to be approved.