Top State Department official Victoria Nuland to retire in coming weeks

By Jennifer Hansler, CNN

(CNN) — Top State Department official Victoria Nuland will retire in the coming weeks, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Tuesday.

Nuland departs her role as undersecretary of state for political affairs – where she played a key role in the US response to the war in Ukraine – as funding for Kyiv continues to stall in Congress and Russia advances on the battlefield.

The current US Ambassador to NATO, Julianne Smith, is expected to be nominated to replace Nuland, according to a source familiar. In the meantime, Undersecretary of State for Management John Bass has been asked to serve as acting undersecretary, Blinken said.

Nuland had for months serves as acting deputy secretary of state following Wendy Sherman’s retirement last July. She was not nominated to fill that role. It instead went to senior national security council official Kurt Campbell, who was sworn-in in mid-February.

Blinken praised Nuland as “truly exceptional.”

“Over the past three years, Toria has led this Department on everything from addressing complex crises in the Sahel, Haiti, and the Middle East, to broadening and strengthening America’s alliances and partnerships across Europe and the Indo-Pacific,” Blinken said in a statement.

“But it’s Toria’s leadership on Ukraine that diplomats and students of foreign policy will study for years to come,” he continued. “Her efforts have been indispensable to confronting Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, marshaling a global coalition to ensure his strategic failure, and helping Ukraine work toward the day when it will be able to stand strongly on its own feet – democratically, economically, and militarily.”

Blinken said he admired the fact that Nuland “always speaks her mind – to my benefit and to the benefit of our foreign policy.”

“She always stands up for and invests in America’s diplomats – mentoring them, lifting them up, and ensuring they and their families have what they deserve, and what our mission demands. She finds light in the darkest moments, makes you laugh when you need it most, and always has your back,” he said.

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