Aleksander “Sasha” Kasanof is the man chosen to succeed Gabriel Escobar.
Kasanof, as the website of the US Department of State shows, as of Friday, July 19, is the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Front as well as for Press and Public Diplomacy in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs.
Sasha previously served as Executive Assistant to former Under Secretary for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland and Acting Under Secretary for Political Affairs John Bass. He has served overseas in Ireland, Turkmenistan, Chile and Ukraine, according to the US State Department website.
DASH reveals that he received the James Clement Dunn Award for Excellence for his work as a Political Counselor at the US Embassy in Kyiv during the Maidan Revolution and Russia’s subsequent invasion of Ukraine.
Sasha’s assignments in Washington 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 Staff, Director of the Office of Eastern European Affairs, and Deputy Director of the Office of Caucasus Affairs and Regional Conflicts. He is a graduate of the National War College, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and Hamilton College. Sasha speaks French, Italian, Russian and Spanish.
