Victoria Newland, the third person in the hierarchy of the State Department, who has often been criticized for her aggressive attitude towards Russia and its actions in Ukraine, will leave her post this month, the US State Department announced today, as quoted by the Associated Press.
Newland, a career diplomat who served as assistant secretary of state for Europe during President Barack Obama’s administration but stepped down after the election of Donald Trump, has returned to President Joe Biden’s administration as deputy secretary of state for political affairs, BTA recalls. .
She was a candidate for the Deputy Secretary of State position held by Wendy Sherman and served as her acting secretary. deputy after Sherman’s retirement seven months ago, but lost the battle for the job after President Joe Biden nominated Kurt Campbell as deputy secretary of state. He took office last month.
Newland served in the US Embassy in Moscow during the turbulent time of the late 1990s and was in the Russian capital during the attempted coup against former Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
She then became the U.S. permanent representative to NATO before being selected as State Department spokeswoman under former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during President Barack Obama’s first term.
As a spokeswoman and later as assistant secretary of state for Europe, she drew the ire of many Russian leaders for her outspoken defense of Ukraine, especially after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014.
Former Secretary of State John Kerry has repeatedly recalled that when Newland left the post of spokeswoman during his tenure to become the top diplomat for Europe, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov congratulated him on “getting rid of that woman.” But Kerry replied that he didn’t get rid of her, but “raised her.”
Current Secretary of State Anthony Blinken praised Newland for her three and a half decades of public service and thanked her for her role in shaping U.S. policy around the world under six presidents and 10 secretaries of state.
“But her leadership qualities in Ukraine are what diplomats and students of foreign policy will be studying for years to come,” Blinken said in a statement.
“Her efforts have been indispensable in opposing Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, in organizing a global coalition to ensure his strategic failure, and in helping Ukraine work towards the day when it can stand firmly on its own two feet – democratically, economically and militarily,” added the Secretary of State.
Newland will be replaced on an interim basis by another career diplomat, John Bass, a former ambassador to Afghanistan who oversaw the US withdrawal from the country. He is currently Under Secretary of State for Management.
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