MOSCOW: Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Alexander Darchiev, has died aged ‌66, ‌the ​Russian Foreign ‌Ministry ⁠said ​on Wednesday.

Ministry ⁠spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said later on Telegram that Darchiev had died ⁠in Moscow from ‌a ‌chronic ​illness.

Putin ‌appointed Darchiev, a ‌veteran diplomat known in the past for his public ‌denunciations of the West, as ⁠ambassador ⁠to Washington in March 2025 to lead a rapprochement with the Trump administration that has rattled Ukraine and ​European ​countries.