US President Joe Biden officially nominated Lynn Tracy, who is currently the ambassador to Armenia, for the post of ambassador to Russia.
This is stated in the message of the White House dated September 20.
Prior to that, Tracy was a senior advisor for Russia in the State Departmentʼs Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, and before that, she was deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.
Her other overseas assignments include serving as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Turkmenistan, and she was the Chief of Staff at the Embassy in Pakistan and Kazakhstan. Lynn Tracy speaks Russian.
On September 4, 2022, the US ambassador to Russia John Sullivan completed his work as the head of the American diplomatic mission in the Russian Federation and left Moscow on Sunday. Until Ambassador Sullivanʼs successor arrives, Elizabeth Rudd will serve as US Chargé dʼAffaires in Moscow.
- After the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Sullivan was not recalled from Moscow — he continued to fulfill his duties as ambassador. Meanwhile, the U.S. Embassy staff has shrunk from 1,200 in 2017 to about 130, half of whom are Marines and security personnel. In February 2022, Moscow ordered to expel Deputy John Sullivan.