Russia is recalling the Russian Ambassador who has become a central figure in the FBI’s probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, BuzzFeed reports.
Sergey Kislyak secretly met with at least three members of President Donald Trump’s team during the election or transition period, including former national security adviser Michael Flynn, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner and U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Flynn resigned after he failed to report that he had discussions with Kislyak about sanctions on Russia and Sessions recused himself from the federal investigation into Russia meddling after reports surfaced that he, too, spoke with Kislyak during the campaign but didn’t say he did during his confirmation hearing. Kushner, who is also Trump’s son-in-law, spoke with Kislyak about setting up a private back channel with the Kremlin that would avoid monitoring by the U.S.
"He could use some time away," a U.S.-based diplomat told BuzzFeed.
Kislyak, 66, will return to Russia in July. His replacement is said to be Anatoly Antonov, the Russian deputy foreign minister.
Kislyak was also at the White House with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov when Trump exposed highly classified terrorism intelligence during their meeting.
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