Victoria Newland, the third-ranking US diplomat and frequently criticized for her hawkish views on Russia and its actions in Ukraine, will retire and leave her post this month, the US State Department said.
Newland, a career Foreign Service official who was assistant secretary of state for Europe during the Obama administration but retired after Donald Trump was elected president, returned to government as deputy secretary of state for political affairs in the Biden administration.
She was a candidate to succeed Wendy Sherman as deputy secretary of state and served as deputy after Sherman retired seven months ago, but lost an internal administration personnel battle after President Joe Biden nominated Kurt Campbell for the post. Campbell took office last month.
Nuland worked at the US Embassy in Moscow during the turbulent 1990s and was in the city during the coup attempt against former Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
She then became the US ambassador to NATO before being appointed State Department spokesperson under former Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton during President Barack Obama's first term./BGNES
