U.S. Senate confirms Barberton native Lynne Tracy as U.S. ambassador to Russia

WASHINGTON, D. C. – The U.S. Senate confirmed Barberton native Lynne M. Tracy to be the U.S. ambassador to Russia in a 93 to 2 vote on Wednesday in the run-up to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s address to a joint session of Congress and meeting with President Joe Biden.

Tracy currently serves as U.S. ambassador to Armenia. Before that, she was a senior adviser on Russian issues in the State Department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. She previously was the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, and she has held diplomatic posts in Turkmenistan, Pakistan and Kazakhstan.

While serving in Pakistan, gunmen sprayed her car with bullets as she was being driven to work. No one was hurt in the attack. After that incident, she received a State Department award from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. She has a bachelor’s degree in Soviet studies from the University of Georgia and a law degree from the University of Akron. She speaks Russian.

In a speech before the vote, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said Tracy will be tasked with standing up to Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose forces have invaded Ukraine. He also noted that a $1.7 trillion bill before Congress that would fund the federal government through 2023 contains billions of dollars to aid Ukraine’s war effort.

“President Zelensky could not arrive at a more crucial moment for the Senate,” said Schumer. “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.”

The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, New Jersey Democrat Bob Menendez, urged the Senate to confirm Tracy without delay

“She is a career diplomat with an exceptional record of leadership and public service,” said Menendez. “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.”

At her November confirmation hearing before Menendez’s committee, Tracy said she was grateful for the confidence the nation’s leaders “placed in me during a period of unprecedented tension in U.S.-Russia relations, brought about by Russia’s war on Ukraine.” She said one of her top priorities will be addressing the plight of U.S. citizens detained in Russia and of Russians who are speaking out against the country’s repression.

“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. “We are also imposing unprecedented economic costs on Russia and welcome the continued close coordination with Congress on sanctions and other tools.”

She also pledged to “reach out to the Russian people at all levels of society” to promote mutual understanding between Americans and Russians as a way to contribute to stable relations between the superpowers.

“Even in the darkest days of the Soviet Union, citizens of goodwill in both our countries formed people-to-people ties,” said Tracy.