U.S. ambassador to Russia to return to Washington for "consultations"

Washington — United States Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan will be returning to the U.S. this week to meet with the Biden administration, he said Tuesday, after the Kremlin suggested days ago he travel back to Washington amid growing tensions between the two countries.

Sullivan, appointed by former President Donald Trump, said in a statement released by the U.S. embassy in Moscow that he is making the trip to "speak directly with my new colleagues in the Biden administration in Washington about the current state of bilateral relations between the United States and Russia." He also said he has not seen his family for more than a year and will return to Russia in the "coming weeks" before any meeting between President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin.