Russia’s ambassador to the U.S., Alexander Darchiev, died “suddenly” on Wednesday in Russia, according to Moscow officials. He was 66.
No cause of death has been given, but Fox News confirmed he died in Russia.
The Russian foreign ministry called him “an outstanding diplomat, an experienced leader, a kind colleague and a mentor.”
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He had served as the U.S. ambassador since March 2025.
Formerly the Russian ambassador to Canada from 2014 to 2021, Mr. Darchiev was known for his incendiary remarks directed at the West.
“Apparently, Washington will need time to get used to the fact that its hegemony is in the past, and will have to reckon with the national interests of Russia, which has its own sphere of influence and responsibility,” he said in March 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a month earlier.
His death comes as Russian, Ukrainian and American diplomats are in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, for talks on ending the four-year-plus war in Ukraine.
Mr. Darchiev is not the first Russian foreign ambassador to die while in office, with three occurring in 2017 alone.
In January 2017, Russian ambassador to India Alexander Kadakin died in a New Delhi hospital of a heart attack at 67. A month later, U.N. ambassador Vitaly Churkin died at 64 while at his desk in New York City; no official cause was given for his death.
In August 2017, the ambassador to Sudan, Mirgayas Shirinsky, was found dead at 60 in his pool in Khartoum. Sudanese police ruled out foul play and say it was likely natural causes.
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