Nomination of Ex-Ambassador to Russia fo CIA Chief Positive Signal, AmCham Head Says

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The nomination of former Ambassador to Russia William Burns to the post of CIA Director by the new US President Joe Biden is a positive signal for Russia, Alexis Rodzianko, the head of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia (AmCham), told Sputnik.

The website of Biden's transition team previously reported that William Burns would be nominated for the post of CIA Director. He served as the US Ambassador to Moscow from 2005 to 2008. Burns retired from the foreign service in 2014 after 33 years of a diplomatic career. He currently chairs the Carnegie Endowment.

"All rather anticipate the appointment of former ambassador to Russia William Burns as the head of the CIA as a positive signal. All my colleagues consider him a fairly reasonable person understanding of relations between Russia and the US," Rodzianko said.

US Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Russia William Burns (left) presented his credentials to Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin.

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In his article that was published in the Atlantic magazine in April 2019, Burns said that building relations between the United States and Russia would be a long game, and Washington should be ready to take Moscow's interests into account.

According to the former ambassador, relations between the two countries are hindered by the illusions of Washington and Moscow in relation to each other. In his article, he expressed opinion that it was necessary to abandon these illusions.