Old India hand Alipov is new Russian envoy

New Delhi, January 13

Russian President Vladimir Putin has appointed old India hand Denis Alipov as the new envoy to India.

Nikolay Kudashev, who had been the Russian envoy to India since October 2017, has been shifted to the relatively insignificant post as ambassador to Singapore.

Alipov was the Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) at the Russian embassy in New Delhi during the tenure of Alexander Kadakin as ambassador and was till recently Acting Director of the Second Asia Department in the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Meanwhile, the process of appointing a new US ambassador to India moved a step forward after the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s nomination. His case will now go before the full Senate. Garcetti was named the new envoy for India in July last year.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has described this as a “huge problem”. Under the Biden administration, only 16 per cent of ambassadors have been confirmed whereas at this point in the last three administrations, the percentage was between 70 and 90.