Lynne M. Tracy has become the new U.S. ambassador to Russia, taking on the task of representing American interests during a time of tense relations between the two countries, and “standing up to Putin”.
The former Director for Central Asia at the National Security Council and Ohio-born diplomat was confirmed by the U.S Senate on Wednesday, with an overwhelming majority of 93 to 2 votes, just hours before President Joe Biden welcomed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the White House for a meeting.
Addressing the Senate before voting commenced, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tracy will need to stand up to Russian President Vladimir Putin while managing billions of dollars in emergency aid to Ukraine.
“President Zelensky could not arrive at a more crucial moment for the Senate,” the New York Democrat said. “We’re not only voting to approve more emergency wartime funding, but today, here in the Senate, we will also vote to confirm the U.S. Ambassador to Russia.”
New Jersey Democrat Bob Menendez, who presides as the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was eager to see the Senate confirm Tracy as soon as possible.
“She is a career diplomat with an exceptional record of leadership and public service,” Menendez said. “She has the courage to carry out her duties in the face of a hostile government and represent America beyond the Kremlin walls.”
“And she has the experience to lead the mission in one of the most challenging and difficult places our diplomats work today.”
Tracy is currently the U.S. ambassador to Armenia — the landlocked country that shares its borders with Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan, which has a population of just under 3 million people. She was appointed to the role in February 2019.
She was a senior adviser on Russian issues in the State Department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs between 2001 to 2002, before transferring to Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, as a Political Officer.
Her previous diplomatic posts include Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Pakistan.
In August, 2008, a vehicle she was traveling in was sprayed with bullets, but thankfully no one in the vehicle sustained injuries. A year later, then-US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton awarded Tracy with a Secretary’s Award for Heroism for her quick thinking, returning to the post on the same day, and her dedication to finishing her mission despite the threats to her life she faced.
Tracy is a fluent Russian speaker who completed a degree in Soviet studies from the University of Georgia before studying law at the University of Akron.
At her confirmation hearing last month, she told Menendez’s committee she was grateful for the confidence the nation’s leaders “placed in me during a period of unprecedented tension in US-Russia relations, brought about by Russia’s war on Ukraine.”
“The United States remains committed to supporting Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity and to helping Ukraine defend itself,” she said during the hearing, adding that her top priorities included the situation of U.S. citizens detained in Russia and of Russian citizens who are standing up against Putin’s repressive regime.
“We are also imposing unprecedented economic costs on Russia and welcome the continued close coordination with Congress on sanctions and other tools,” she said.
“I will press the Russian government to live up to its obligations, including as they relate to providing timely and consistent consular access and to the fair treatment of our citizens who are detained.”
“I will devote my attention and energy to supporting the welfare and well-being of every US citizen detained in Russia.”
She also promised to “reach out to the Russian people at all levels of society” to encourage a deeper understanding between Americans and Russians in order to stabilise relations between the two countries.
“Even in the darkest days of the Soviet Union, citizens of goodwill in both our countries formed people-to-people ties,” Tracy said.