The White House has announced the nomination of Jon Huntsman as the Ambassador to Russia. His name is due to be forwarded to the Senate for confirmation. According to Washington Post, President Donald Trump had since nominated Huntsman for the position but delayed the announcement in order to allow the Russian Government approve his selection.
"The White House confirmed in March that it would name Huntsman to the Russia post but delayed formally naming him and sending the nomination to the Senate for confirmation as the United States waited for the Kremlin to approve his selection"
The report added that Kremlin had approved the nomination on Monday night, the same time White House approved Russian Anatoly Anatov to serve as Russia Ambassador to the US.
"The Kremlin approved Huntsman's appointment Monday night about the same time that the United States approved Russian politician Anatoly Antonov to serve as Russia's ambassador in Washington, according to a person familiar with the situation who was not authorized to speak publicly about pending appointments. Ambassadors must be approved by the governments of the countries that will host them."
Huntsman's nomination comes to many as a surprise because of some political events that preceded the US Presidential Election. Huntsman who had earlier supported Trump's presidential outing, called him to drop out of the race after the "locker room" video in which Trump was captured making comments about women was released.
Trump had also in 2011 and 2012 described Huntsman, who was serving as Ambassador to Beijing as "lightweight and weak". He claimed that because of his inexperience, China was exploiting the US greatly.
