Biden Putin Meeting

U.S. and Russian ambassadors to return to their posts after summit

Anatoly Antonov and John Sullivan previously left Washington and Moscow

President Joe Biden sits across a table from Vladimir Putin, both flanked by aides.

The U.S. and Russia will return their ambassadors to Moscow and D.C., respectively, following President Joe Biden’s summit with Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.

The ambassadors’ return was an anticipated topic of discussion at the summit in Geneva. Russia’s U.S. ambassador, Anatoly Antonov, was called back by the Kremlin in March after Biden called Putin a “killer.” The U.S. ambassador to Russia, John Sullivan, left Moscow in April, publicly stating that the reason for his return to the U.S. was “consultations” with American officials. His departure from Russia came after the U.S. imposed sanctions on Russia and expelled 10 Russian diplomats — and Russia, in turn, expelled 10 U.S. diplomats.

“The two ambassadors, we agreed, should return to their posts and take up their functions,” Putin said at a Wednesday news conference directly following the summit. “It’s a technical question as to exactly when that will happen — tomorrow, the day after tomorrow or whatever.”

Biden and Putin concluded their summit, which Putin called “constructive,” earlier than expected on Wednesday, after about four hours with breaks. Biden will hold his own news conference after Putin’s, to answer questions about the two leaders’ meeting.