WASHINGTON. Alexander Darchiev, Russia's ambassador to the United States, died on Wednesday in Moscow at the age of 66, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced. President Vladimir Putin sent Darchiev to Washington in March 2025 with one main job, rebuilding relations between the two countries. His death leaves the Russian Embassy in Washington without an ambassador on the same day that peace talks on the war in Ukraine ended in Abu Dhabi.
What is known about his death
The ministry announced the death in a short post on X: "The Russian Foreign Ministry announces with profound sorrow that Alexander Darchiev, Ambassador of Russia to the USA, passed away suddenly on November 11, aged 66." A fuller statement called him "an outstanding diplomat, an experienced leader, a kind colleague and a mentor," and said he had worked in "one of the most demanding areas of Russian foreign policy." "We extend our deepest and most heartfelt condolences to Alexander Darchiev's family and loved ones," the statement said.
The first announcement gave no cause of death and did not say where he died. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova later said on Telegram that Darchiev died in Moscow from a chronic illness she did not name, and that the date and place of a farewell ceremony would be announced separately. A source familiar with the matter told CNN that he had left the embassy in Washington and returned to Moscow, where he was receiving treatment for a long-term illness. A U.S. State Department spokesperson told CNN the department was aware of his death and offered condolences to his family and loved ones.
A career spent on America
Darchiev was born on May 14, 1960, in Budapest, Hungary, into a diplomat's family, and studied history at Moscow State University. He joined the Foreign Ministry in 1992 and spent his career working on North America. He served at the embassy in Washington twice, including five years as its deputy chief of mission, ran the ministry's North America department, and spent more than six years as ambassador to Canada, from 2014 to 2021. Reuters noted he was known for his past public denunciations of the West. He succeeded Anatoly Antonov, who left Washington in the fall of 2024.
The mission he was given
Before he even took the post, Darchiev led Russia's team at talks in Istanbul in February and April 2025 on putting the two embassies back to work. The agenda covered staffing levels, visas, banking services, and six Russian diplomatic properties the United States seized between 2016 and 2018. At the February meeting, the American side handed over its formal agreement to his appointment. Putin named him ambassador on March 6, 2025, and on June 11, 2025, Darchiev presented his credentials to President Donald Trump at the White House. "I assured him that I and this embassy under my direction will do everything to restore Russian-American relations and bring them back to normality and common sense," he said afterward. His time in the job came during a thaw. Trump opened talks with Moscow and scaled back aid to Ukraine. Less than a week before Darchiev died, Russian and Ukrainian officials stood together at the White House for an event marking a local ceasefire brokered by First Lady Melania Trump.
The talks he leaves behind
Darchiev died on the day two days of talks among the United States, Russia and Ukraine closed in Abu Dhabi, the first meeting of the three sides since February. He was not part of the Russian delegation, which was led by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky. The talks ended without a ceasefire, though the sides agreed in principle on a large prisoner exchange, and Trump's envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, said they would fly to Moscow on Thursday to meet Putin. The biggest items from Darchiev's 2025 agenda, the seized properties and direct flights between the two countries, had not been publicly settled by the time of his death.
What happens next
The Foreign Ministry named no successor and did not say who will run the embassy in the meantime. Until Moscow appoints a new ambassador, the embassy's deputy chief of mission would normally serve as chargé d'affaires, the acting head. A new ambassador needs a decree from Putin and formal agreement from Washington, the same process Darchiev went through in early 2025. There was no public comment from Putin or the Kremlin in the first day of reporting, and no White House statement in the reports published so far.
Russia's embassy in Washington is now without an ambassador while talks on ending the war go on. Do you think that slows the diplomacy down, or do the real talks happen elsewhere anyway? Tell us what you think.
Reporting note: This story is based on statements by the Russian Foreign Ministry and its spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, reporting by Reuters, the Associated Press and CNN on the death and the Abu Dhabi talks, a Reuters report from June 2025 on the White House credentials ceremony, and the official biography published by the Russian Embassy in Washington.
