Donald Trump earned only the briefest of reprieves in the wake of his well-reviewed address to Congress before the full weight of the Russia scandal looming over his administration, which aides had spent weeks holding back, came crashing down on him once again. At the center of the latest intrigue was a familiar name: Sergey Kislyak.

Over the past year, the Russian ambassador to the United States has emerged as one of the most interesting, and well-connected, people in Washington. It was Michael Flynn’s undisclosed calls with Kislyak that ultimately led to the former national security adviser’s resignation last month. On Wednesday, Kislyak was again thrust into the spotlight when The Washington Post reported that he had met with Attorney General Jeff Sessions twice in the months just before the presidential election, including a private meeting in the then senator’s office, neither of which Sessions saw fit to mention to Congress during his confirmation hearing. The revelation incited a firestorm on Capitol Hill over whether Sessions perjured himself, culminating in his recusal from the ongoing federal investigation into Trump’s Russia ties on Thursday afternoon. A flood of smaller stories followed, as it was reported that Trump adviser Jared Kushner and campaign official J.D. Gordon also met with the charismatic diplomat, at Trump Tower and at the Republican National Convention, respectively.

In the past 48 hours, it seems, media profiles of Kislyak have become nearly as ubiquitous as Kislyak himself. “Who is Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador rattling Trump’s presidency?” wondered The Guardian. NBC News invited readers to “Meet Sergey Kislyak, the Shadowy Apparatchik at the Center of Trump’s Russia Crisis.” “Moscow’s man in Washington is at the center of the political moment,” declared The Washington Post, while The New York Times stated, in its usual distinctive style, “Sergey Kislyak, Russian Envoy, Cultivated Powerful Network in U.S.”

Kislyak, it seems, is the Zelig of the Trump campaign and transition, appearing repeatedly as a link between Trump associates and the Kremlin at a time when Russia was was conducting a far-reaching cyber and disinformation operation to influence the outcome of the 2016 election. Those who know the man suggest his omnipresence is both more political, and less sinister, than it appears. “Let’s not be naive folks. Kislyak obviously was meeting with Sessions because of his role in Trump world,” Michael McFaul, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia, tweeted Thursday. But, he added, “That’s his job.” Paul Saunders, a Russia specialist at the Center for the National Interest, told the Post, “It seems entirely routine for the ambassador of a foreign government to want to meet with senators, for example, and especially one who is a member of the Armed Services Committee.” Last November, during a speech at Stanford, Kislyak said as much himself. “It is normal diplomatic work that we have been doing: It is our job to understand, to know people, both on the side of the Republicans and Democrats,” he said, according to the Times. “I personally have been working in the United States for so long that I know almost everybody.”

Moscow appeared to roll its eyes at the uproar over Kislyak’s connections with members of the Trump administration. “I will reveal a military secret to you: Diplomats work, and their work consists of carrying out contacts in the country where they are present,” Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, told the Times. “This is on record everywhere. If they do not carry out these contacts, do not participate in negotiations, then they are not diplomats.”