Americas

Americas

US Senator lifts hold on ambassador to Russia

16 December 2011 09:08 (UTC +04:00)

Baku - APA. A key US senator lifted his hold Thursday on President Barack Obama’s nominee for ambassador to Moscow, paving the way for Michael McFaul’s confirmation to the critical post, APA reports referring to AFP. Senator Mark Kirk had sought assurance the United States would not hand over classified information to Russia on the US missile defense system, which he feared Moscow would pass on to Iran, before withdrawing his block on the nomination. "I lifted the hold," Kirk said, because "we saw the passage of the modified amendment as part of the new defense law that President Obama will likely sign as soon as this weekend." McFaul, who was Obama’s chief Russia adviser on the National Security Council, was considered one of the architects of the so-called "reset" of Soviet-US relations that took place shortly after the president took office in early 2009.
Nomination of US Ambassador to Azerbaijan Matthew Bryza is also expected to be approved by the Senate by the yearend. According to the US legislation, the nominees should be approved on the basis of consensus.