25 Facts About Victoria Nuland

Victoria Jane Nuland was born on July 1,1961 and is an American diplomat who served as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs from 2021 to 2024.

Between July 2023 and February 2024, Nuland served as acting deputy secretary of state following the retirement of Wendy Sherman.

Victoria Nuland held the rank of career ambassador, the highest diplomatic rank in the US Foreign Service.

Victoria Nuland is the former CEO of the Center for a New American Security, serving from January 2018 until early 2019, and is the Brady-Johnson distinguished practitioner in grand strategy at Yale University and a member of the board of the National Endowment for Democracy.

Victoria Nuland served as a nonresident fellow in the Brookings Institution's foreign policy program and senior counselor at the Albright Stonebridge Group.

On March 5,2024, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that Victoria Nuland would retire "in the coming weeks".

Victoria Nuland earned a bachelor of arts degree from Brown University in 1983, where she studied Russian literature, political science, and history.

Victoria Nuland speaks Russian and French, and a smattering of Chinese.

Victoria Nuland served in Guangzhou, China, from 1985 to 1986, in the State Department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs in 1987, and helped establish the first US embassy in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, in 1988, where she served on the Soviet desk until 1990.

From 1993 to 1996, during Bill Clinton's presidency, Victoria Nuland was chief of staff to deputy secretary of state Strobe Talbott before moving on to serve as deputy director for former Soviet Union affairs.

From 2005 to 2008, during President George W Bush's second term, Nuland served as US ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Brussels, where she concentrated on mobilizing European support for the NATO intervention in Afghanistan.

In May 2013, Victoria Nuland was nominated to act as assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs and was sworn in on September 18,2013.

Victoria Nuland stated that these were preconditions for Ukraine to achieve its European aspirations.

Victoria Nuland told Pyatt that Arseniy Yatsenyuk would be the best candidate to hold this post.

Victoria Nuland was the lead US point person for Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, establishing loan guarantees to Ukraine, including a $1 billion loan guarantee in 2014, and the provisions of non-lethal assistance to the Ukrainian military and border guard.

In 2016, Victoria Nuland urged Ukraine to start prosecuting corrupt officials: "It's time to start locking up people who have ripped off the Ukrainian population for too long and it is time to eradicate the cancer of corruption".

Victoria Nuland left the State Department in January 2017, amid the departure of many other career officials during the early days of the first Trump administration.

Victoria Nuland described an exodus of career foreign service officials and dysfunction within the State Department, and stated that the American judiciary and media were under assault.

On January 5,2021, it was reported that President-elect Joe Biden would nominate Victoria Nuland to serve as under secretary of state for political affairs under Antony Blinken, who had been nominated to serve as secretary of state.

Hearings on Victoria Nuland's nomination were held by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on April 15,2021.

In July 2021, Victoria Nuland met with Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya in Washington.

In March 2022, Victoria Nuland expressed concern that Russia would get control of Ukraine's biological research facilities during its invasion of Ukraine.

On March 5,2024, it was announced Victoria Nuland will retire that month.

Victoria Nuland had hoped to succeed Wendy Sherman as deputy secretary of state, but President Biden nominated Kurt M Campbell to that position.

Victoria Nuland's husband, Robert Kagan, is a historian, foreign policy commentator at the Brookings Institution, and co-founder in 1998 of the neoconservative Project for the New American Century.