Via Politico:
Congressional leaders won’t meet with him. Neither will the vice president or the White House chief of staff.
And the Russian ambassador says he is at his wit’s end.
In a letter to Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) earlier this month, Anatoly Antonov asked for help in obtaining meetings with a slew of U.S. lawmakers and officials. The March 9 letter was written two days after a POLITICO story detailed some of Antonov’s travails in securing meetings in Washington.
“I would be very grateful for your advice on how to develop contacts with members of U.S. Congress, departments and agencies, as well as for your possible assistance in setting up such meetings,” Antonov wrote in the letter, obtained by POLITICO.
Hatch has previously confirmed he met with Antonov, but a Hatch spokeswoman did not immediately reply for comment on this story. The Russian Embassy also did not reply. A White House spokesman declined comment.
Antonov went on to list 20 top U.S. elected and administration officials that have refused or ignored his requests for meetings. White House chief of staff John Kelly, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Defense Department undersecretary of defense for policy John Rood are all listed as “officially” declining Antonov’s overtures.