The Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Ambassador Alexander Darchiev had died at 66 on Wednesday, Nov. 11.
The Foreign Ministry called the death sudden, but its announcement gave no additional information. Maria Zakharova, the ministry’s spokeswoman, later said on her Telegram channel that Darchiev died in Moscow from a chronic illness. She did not identify the condition. EconoTimes previously covered Zakharova’s account of his cause of death.
Before his U.S. appointment in March 2025, Darchiev served as Russia’s ambassador to Canada from 2021 to 2024 and led the Foreign Ministry’s North America department from 2014 to 2020. A March 6, 2025, executive order also named him Russia’s permanent observer to the Organization of American States.
The Foreign Ministry praised Darchiev as an “outstanding diplomat” and a “kind colleague.” Agence France-Presse reported that Darchiev specialized in ties between Russia and the United States.
