Sergei Kislyak

WASHINGTON: Russia's ambassador to Washington Sergei Kislyak, a key figure in ongoing U.S. investigations into Moscow's meddling in the 2016 presidential election, ended his tenure on Saturday. The Russian embassy in Washington said on its Twitter feed that Minister-Counseler and Deputy Chief of Mission Denis V. Gonchar would serve as Charge d'Affaires until Kislyak's successor arrived. Kislyak, who held the post since 2008, is expected to be replaced by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Anatoly Antonov. Antonov's…

WASHINGTON: Donald Trump's administration was left red-faced on Thursday after the Kremlin surprised them by releasing pictures of a closed-door meeting between the US president and Russia's top diplomat. The images -- issued by the Russian state news agency TASS, and subsequently published by much of the global media -- showed a grinning Trump shaking hands with Sergei Lavrov and the Russian ambassador in Washington, Sergei Kislyak, during an Oval Office meeting. That Wednesday meeting was already being seen as a…