DUSHANBE, 21.07.2017. /NIAT “Khovar”/. US President Donald Trump submitted with the Senate a candidacy of Utah’s former Governor Jon Huntsman for an approval to the post of the country’s ambassador to Russia, TASS reports citing the White House press service.
In its statement on Thursday, the White House reported that President Trump sent to the Senate a letter of nomination for «Jon M. Huntsman, Jr., of Utah, to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Russian Federation.»
Huntsman served as the governor of the US state of Utah between 2005 and 2009. He speaks Chinese and is a father of seven children. The politician became the youngest ambassador over a century in the country’s history, when in 1992 he was appointed the US ambassador to Singapore at the age of 32.
Former US President Barack Obama appointed him the country’s ambassador to China in 2009 and he served in that post until 2011. Financial magazine Forbes estimated his wealth in 2016 at $1 billion.
While serving as the governor of Utah, Huntsman elevated the state into the top three in terms of businesses, increasing the volume of the western state’s budget from previous $16.7 million to $22.8 million.
John Tefft is currently serving as the US ambassador to Russia after he was appointed to this post in July 2014. Tefft, 67, previously served as the US ambassador to Ukraine, Georgia and Lithuania as well as charge d’affaires of the United States Embassy in Russia.