Podgorica, (MINA) –  Career member of the U.S. Senior Foreign Service Michael Keays assumed his duties as chargé d'affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Montenegro.

Keays is a career diplomat with more than 33 years of service in the State Department, and assumed his duties in Podgorica on Friday.

According to the U.S. Embassy in Montenegro, he most recently served as a Senior Advisor in the U.S. Department of State Department’s Policy Planning Staff, and will lead the Embassy until a new ambassador is appointed.

Keays previously served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Paramaribo, Suriname for three years, and then for three years as Principal Officer and Consul General at the U.S. Consulate General in Vladivostok, Russia, covering the largest consular district in the world.

The press release adds that his diplomatic postings also include the U.S. embassies in Tel Aviv, Warsaw, Moscow and Kingston, as well as the position of State Department representative in Afghanistan.