In 2012, he earned his doctorate of political science from the Institute of World Economy and International Relations in Moscow. His doctoral dissertation was entitled Controlling nuclear weapons as a factor in ensuring national and international security. He is fluent in English and Burmese.[7]
Career
Antonov began his diplomatic career after earning his undergraduate degree in 1978. He spent the next 30 years at the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its successor, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where his area of speciality was control of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.[7] In 2004, he was appointed Director of the Department for Security and Disarmament.[1]
Antonov is considered a hardliner against the West, earning him a reputation as a "bull terrier."[10] In early autumn 2016, he was considered to be the next Russian Ambassador to the United States as the Kremlin assumed that Hillary Clinton would win the presidential election and, therefore, bilateral relations would remain strained. However, despite the fact that Donald Trump won the election, Antonov was still chosen to take over the post from Sergey Kislyak, who had been the ambassador since 2008. In February 2017, Antonov was named the main candidate for this post.[11][12] On 11 May 2017, the Russian Foreign Ministry formally submitted Antonov to the Federal Assembly,[13] which voted to endorse him as ambassador on 18 May following a closed session of the State Duma's foreign policy committee.[14][15][16]
Antonov was recalled to Moscow on 17 March 2021 after US President Joe Biden called Putin a "killer." The decision to return Antonov to Washington, D.C. was made following the results of the 2021 Russia–United States summit.[19]
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Antonov rejects the notion that Russia's invasion of Ukraine is failing, condemns rising "Russophobia," and laments a post-Soviet era in which Russia was "naive," trusted the West, and watched its stature decline.[21]
In February, 2023 Antonov claimed that Washington is attempting to demonise Russia and "fuel the Ukrainian crisis" by accusing Moscow of crimes against humanity.[22]
^Указ Президента Российской Федерации от 21.08.2017 № 395 [Decree No. 395 of the President of the Russian Federation of 21 August 2017] (in Russian). President of the Russian Federation. Retrieved 21 August 2017. Назначить Антонова Анатолия Ивановича Чрезвычайным и Полномочным Послом Российской Федерации в Соединенных Штатах Америки и Постоянным наблюдателем Российской Федерации при Организации американских государств в Вашингтоне, Соединенные Штаты Америки, по совместительству.