Who encouraged Kislyak?
Michael McFaul
He was the architect of the "Russian Reset"
And why exactly would Kislyak be throwing a big party in his 'honor'?
Would think they knew each other well if he is throwing a party for him, no?
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/02/world/europe/sergey-kislyak-russian-ambassador.html
Sergey I. Kislyak, the longtime Russian ambassador to the United States, hosted a dazzling dinner in his three-story, Beaux-Arts mansion four blocks north of the White House to toast Michael A. McFaul just weeks before he took up his post as the American envoy to Russia.
It was, Mr. McFaul recalled, an “over-the-top, extraordinary dinner,” including five courses of Russian fusion cuisine for 50 seated guests who shared one main characteristic: They were government officials intimately involved in formulating Russia policy for the Obama administration, including senior figures from the Defense and State Departments.