Talk:Anatoly Antonov

date his ambassadorship begins

 * Antonov will take up his post in Washington, D.C. on September 1. The date he became ambassador, however, is the date of the Russian presidential decree: August 21. "Presented with credentials" is a nice traditional ceremony but it is not akin to a swearing in and it is not recognized in Russia. See the dates of Sergey Kislyak's tenure - he became ambassador on July 26, 2008, the date of Medvedev's decree (see file here), and he ceased being ambassador on August 21, the date of Putin's decree ending his ambassadorship. Kislyak did not cease being ambassador when he had some ceremony in D.C. before he left in July. Antonov has already been approved by the USA as ambassador, which was done prior to the decree. They had a discussion between two people (I can't remember the names, an American with the State Department, but will find an article) because of the special circumstances regarding Antonov being subject to EU sanctions over Ukraine. Antonov is Russian and he is an employee of the Russian government, not the U.S.; therefore; their dates are what we follow in terms of his employment history, even if it's a few days off than when the U.S. considers him becoming ambassador. The same would be true in reverse with an American ambassador to another country. We would follow the U.S. standards as to when someone became ambassador.  —Мандичка YO 😜 10:36, 22 August 2017 (UTC)