(Reuters) -Russia's envoy to the U.S., a Kremlin hard-liner, was returning to Moscow on Saturday, state media reported, with the end of his term coming at a time of the most hostile relations between the two nations in decades.

Russia’s Ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, returned to Moscow on Oct. 5 as his term in Washington concluded, according to state media reports. Antonov's departure marks the end of his assignment during a period of increasingly hostile relations between the two nations.

His stance on Russia's war in Ukraine has shown stalwart support of Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions. "It is obvious to us that the enemy will be defeated and victory will be Russia's," Antonov said on Saturday in an unrelated post on the Telegram messaging app,