Obama counsel assumes the post of US Ambassador to Russia Saturday

Michael McFaul, Adviser of the President of United States, Barack Obama, assumes this Saturday the post of Ambassador in Russia, according to American in Moscow diplomatic sources reported today

McFaul, who was a member of the National Security Council, replacing John Beyrle, who was in Office since 2008, will be the first American Ambassador of this century is not diplomatic career.

The new Ambassador, which sworn today in Washington with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, American has worked in recent years as Advisor to the Casa Blanca expert Russia and Eurasia, according to agencies Russian.

Clinton described McFaul as one of the architects of the resumption of bilateral relations U.S.-Russia in 2009, after the arrival to power of Obama, which allowed, among other things, the signing of the new Treaty on nuclear disarmament START.

Clinton described relations with Russia as the most complicated and u000aimportant for United States and predicted that "the next few months will be crucial for Russia's democracy".

Diplomats and Russian political scientists hailed the appointment of McFaul, which occurs on the eve of the March 4 presidential elections and amid protests by the fraud of Government in the legislative of December last.

Bilateral relations have deteriorated in recent months because of differences over the deployment of the missile shield in Europe and the refusal of Moscow to support sanctions against regimes in Iran and Syria.

In addition, in December Clinton statements about fraud in the Russian legislative elections were sung by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as one of the triggers of the largest anti-Government protests in over 20 years.

McFaul, 48 years old and he was confirmed to the post of Ambassador by the Senate last December, studied in u000athe University of Leningrad during the last years of the Soviet Union.

Author of more than 20 books on democracy, McFaul speaks Russian fluently and replaces John Beyrle, head of the American legation from 2008.

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