Trump choice for national intelligence director is banned from Russia
Dan Coats was blacklisted by Russia in 2014.
Coats, who served as a Republican senator from Indiana from 1989 to 1999, and then from 2011 to the end of his term on Tuesday, was one of six US legislators and three White House aides blacklisted by Moscow in 2014 in reprisal for US sanctions placed on the country for its seizure of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine.
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The former senator, who had advocated tough sanctions against Moscow, has called the ban an honor.
He was US ambassador to Germany from 2001 to 2005 under the George W. Bush administration, and served on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence as well as economy-related committees during the past six years.
His nomination will have to pass Senate confirmation.
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