WASHINGTON — Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Alexander Darchiev, died in Moscow aged 66, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
Darchiev “passed away suddenly” on Wednesday, just a year and a half after being appointed to the US role, the ministry said in a statement, describing him as an “exceptional professional.”
He had been struggling with a chronic illness, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova.
“Alexander Darchiev served in one of the most demanding areas of Russian foreign policy,” the ministry’s statement added. “We extend our deepest and most heartfelt condolences to Alexander Darchiev’s family and loved ones.”
The Russian ambassador had left the embassy in Washington before returning to Moscow, where he was receiving treatment for a long-term illness, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.
Darchiev, a veteran diplomat known for his stinging condemnations of the West, had served as ambassador to Washington since March 2025. His time in office was marked by a thawing of US-Russia relations as President Donald Trump opened bilateral talks with Moscow and scaled back aid to Ukraine.
A US State Department spokesperson told CNN they were aware of Darchiev’s death and offered condolences to his family and loved ones.
Darchiev was born into the family of a diplomat and minister-counsellor of the Russian Embassy in Hungary, Nikita Ivanovich Darchiev, according to the state-owned TASS news agency.
He first entered diplomatic service in 1992, becoming first secretary and head of the North America department in Russia’s Foreign Ministry.
He served as an adviser to the Russian Embassy in the US in 1997 and later took the post of minister-counsellor from 2005 to 2010. He also previously served as Russia’s ambassador to Canada between 2014 and 2021.
Darchiev returned to the North America department in the Foreign Ministry as its director in 2010 and later held the post again until last year.
Nearly a decade ago, another Russian diplomat died suddenly at age 64. Vitaly Churkin, an ambassador to the UN, passed away following cardiac arrest in 2017, just one day before his 65th birthday.
The average life expectancy for a man in Russia is 68 years old, according to the World Bank.
Source: Saudi Gazette