New U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul told RIA Novosti that he will come to Moscow in late January next year to assume his post.
McFaul, who was President Barack Obama's chief adviser on Russia, was approved for the post Last Saturday by the U.S. Senate.
American experts believe that current U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Byerly, who has been in this post since 2008, will leave Moscow next week.
President Obama nominated McFaul, who is considered one of the architects of the "reset" in Russian-U.S. relations, for the ambassador's post in September.
McFaul, 48, is a Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director, Russia and Eurasia Affairs, for the White House National Security Staff. He speaks fluent Russian.
McFaul was born and raised in Montana. He received his B.A. in International Relations and Slavic Languages and his M.A. in Slavic and East European Studies from Stanford University in 1986.
McFaul, along with the acting chief of the Kremlin administration, Vladislav Surkov, is a co-chair of the U.S.-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission’s Civil Society Working Group.
