Russia has accepted U.S. President Joe Biden’s diplomat nominee Lynne Tracy as the new U.S. ambassador to Moscow.
Tracy has received the approval of the Russian Foreign Ministry for her assumption of office, the so-called agrément, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Thursday, according to the state news agency TASS.
Biden had recently nominated the diplomat.
After the U.S. president’s nomination, the U.S. Senate still has to approve the appointment by vote before the ambassador can be officially appointed and sent to the receiving state.
Tracy, who speaks Russian, previously served as U.S. ambassador to Armenia.
She also served as senior adviser for Russia in the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs and as deputy chief of mission at the U.S. embassy in Moscow.
The previous U.S. ambassador to Moscow, John Sullivan, had left Russia earlier this month to retire.
The diplomat had repeatedly raised publicly the issues of authoritarian tendencies, arbitrary justice, and the violation of human rights in Russia.
Reuters/NAN
