Soviets to Name New Ambassador to U.S.
The Soviet Union, shuffling the top level of its foreign service, is expected to send a new ambassador to Washington in time for the June summit meeting between President Bush and Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, Administration officials said Wednesday.
Alexander A. Bessmertnykh would replace Yuri V. Dubinin, who has headed the Soviet Embassy here since 1986 and is slated to become ambassador to France, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Bessmertnykh, a 56-year-old expert on the United States, Canada and the Middle East, is now first deputy foreign minister.
An arms control specialist and a graduate of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, he is considered particularly close to Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze.
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