Meet Sergey Kislyak — the longtime Russian diplomat and alleged spy at the center of the FBI's Russia investigation

Sergey Kislyak, the former Russian Ambassador to the US and alleged spy, has been at the center of the FBI's investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election, including whether members of the Trump campaign colluded with Moscow to tilt the election in his favor.

But Kislyak, 67, was involved with Russian foreign policy in the US long before Trump even announced he was running for president. He's been at the forefront of US-Russia relations for decades.

Here's a look at Kislyak's life:

Kislyak was born in Moscow, but describes himself as "ethnic Ukrainian." Both of his parents were born in Ukraine.

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After graduating from the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute in 1973 and the USSR Academy of Foreign Trade in 1977, he began his career at the Soviet Union's top foreign affairs ministry.

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In the 1980s, he began his foreign service in the US, representing the Soviet Union at the United Nations in New York City and then serving at his country's embassy in DC.

From 1998 to 2003, he moved to Europe to serve as Russia's ambassador to Belgium and NATO.

But it wasn't long before he returned to the US, where he continued to work in Russia's ministry of foreign affairs, often meeting with US officials in George W. Bush's administration.

Over time, Kislyak earned a reputation as a "direct, well-prepared, and persistent" diplomat who kept a relatively low profile.

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In 2008, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev appointed him to be the next ambassador to the US.

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But things escalated during the Obama administration.

In 2014, Russia annexed Crimea, a small peninsula formerly controlled by Ukraine.

In response to the annexation, the Obama administration slapped crippling economic sanctions against Russia.

The sanctions increased tensions between the US and Russia, and as a result, Kislyak's profile grew in Washington.

He began to regularly appear on US news shows and participated in talks at universities to discuss bilateral relations amid the sanctions and crisis in Ukraine.

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“[Kislyak] represents the interests and positions of his government very well," former US ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul told The Washington Post in 2014. "He's a very active ambassador in the positive sense. He was constantly trying to meet with me."

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As the 2016 presidential election approached, Kislyak remained active in Washington, even attending one of Trump's foreign policy speeches during the campaign.

He also met with a number of Trump campaign officials, including then-Sen. Jeff Sessions, but those meetings weren't disclosed until after Trump became president.

When asked if he would name all of the Trump officials he met with during the campaign, Kislyak said: "The list is so long that I'm not going to be able to go through it in 20 minutes."

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Kislyak became the center of the FBI's Trump-Russia investigation when it was revealed that he had met with Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

Flynn resigned on February 13, 2017, after revelations that he had lied over the content of his conversations with Kislyak. Flynn later pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.

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In July 2017, Kislyak's term as ambassador to the US ended and he was replaced by Anatoly Antonov. Kislyak's departure marked the end of a tumultuous relationship with the US government.

US intelligence officials have described Kislyak as a spy, according to a CNN report from March 2017. Kislyak called the suggestion "nonsense."

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After his service in Washington, Kislyak returned to Russia to serve in local politics.

The Russian news agency Sputnik reported over the summer that he is now a senator from the Republic of Mordovia.

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But his name remains part of the national conversation in the US as special counsel Robert Mueller and the FBI continue their investigation.

Meet Sergey Kislyak — the longtime Russian diplomat and alleged spy at the center of the FBI's Russia investigation

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