Surkov, the deputy chief of the presidential administration since 1999, co-chairs the “Working Group on Civil Society” – one of several bodies created in 2009 to “reset” Russian-American relations – with Michael McFaul, US President Barack Obama’s adviser on Russia. The working group may have contributed to ending the war of words, at least on the American side, and McFaul has now been nominated to become US Ambassador to Russia.