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The State Department has appointed Alexander "Sasha" Kasanoff as US special envoy to the Western Balkans, BGNES reported.
News of his appointment was spread by multiple media outlets in Pristina and Belgrade. Alexander "Sasha" Kasanoff is Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Western Balkans in charge of press and public diplomacy in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, the State Department said in an official statement.
Kasanoff previously served as executive assistant to former Undersecretary for Political Affairs Victoria Newland and Acting Undersecretary for Political Affairs John Bass. "Sasha" has worked in Ireland, Turkmenistan, Chile and Ukraine. He received the James Clement Dunne Award for Excellence for his work as a political advisor at the U.S. Embassy in Kiev during the Maidan revolution and Russia's subsequent invasion of Ukraine.
Kasakoff's Washington assignments include: director of the Office of Global Policy and Programs in the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, deputy director of the Executive Secretariat, director of the Office of Eastern European Affairs, and deputy director of the Office of Caucasus and Regional Conflict Affairs. He is a graduate of the National War College, the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and Hamilton College. Alexander "Sasha" Kasanoff speaks French, Italian, Russian and Spanish.
"Sasha" replaces the infamous Gabriel Escobar, who was dismissed from his post after a major investigation of The Frontliner in March. The investigation detailed financial ties between Escobar's family and Serbian government authorities, suggesting his neutrality in the sensitive dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia had been compromised.
The documents revealed that there were financial links between Escobar's (Serbian) wife and Serbia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "The Frontliner also uncovered a December 23, 2019 contract between the law firm McGinnis Lochridge LLP and the government of Republika Srpska, headed by pro-Russian President Milorad Dodik. That contract provides for monthly payments of $80,000 to the law firm for advising and representing Republika Srpska on international legal matters. The document shows an alleged family relationship between Manuel Escobar, a partner in the law firm, and Gabriel Escobar.
In May of this year, the U.S. State Department announced Escobar's retirement from the post, but called it a "regular rotation," not a firing. I BGNES
