Russia will soon name Alexander Darchiev, currently head of the foreign ministry's North American department, as its new ambassador to Washington, the Kommersant newspaper reported on Sunday, citing three unidentified sources.

If confirmed, Darchiev will face one of the toughest diplomatic jobs in Washington as Russian and U.S. diplomats say the relationship between the two countries is worse than at any time since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis due to disagreements over the Ukraine war.

Relations reached crisis point this month over Ukraine's use of U.S. and British missiles to strike Russian territory and Russia lowered its nuclear threshold.

Darchiev will also have to build ties with the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump.

Darchiev, who served as Russia's ambassador to Ottawa from 2014 to 2021, studied history at Moscow State University, and speaks fluent English and French.

He has spent his entire career focused on the United States and North America.

There was no official confirmation of his appointment. Anatoly Antonov served as Russian ambassador to Washington from 2017 until last month.

When asked about a new ambassador to Washington, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier this month that a candidate had been selected but gave no name.

An unidentified source in Russia's foreign ministry told state news agency RIA that the name of the new ambassador had been decided some time ago.

"It's been an open secret for a couple of months now. Everyone knew," RIA quoted the source saying of the Kommersant report.