Lynne Tracy's tenure as US Ambassador to Russia faces many challenges as relations between the two countries plummet to their lowest point in decades.
When US Ambassador Lynne Tracy presented her credentials at the Kremlin in April, Russian President Vladimir Putin criticized Washington during a televised ceremony, accusing the US of fueling the conflict in Ukraine. That moment gave Tracy a sense of how difficult her new job would be.
Relations between the US and Russia have rarely been as tense since the height of the Cold War. After Russia launched its campaign in Ukraine in late February 2022, the US imposed sanctions, export controls, an oil embargo and price caps to prevent Moscow from continuing the war. Meanwhile, Russia accused the West of fueling the conflict by expanding NATO eastward.
"The US-Russia relationship is in a very difficult state now. It has deteriorated a lot because of the war," Tracy said.
US Ambassador Lynne Tracy in Moscow, Russia. Photo: WSJ
A week after Tracy began her post in January, the Russian Foreign Ministry sent her a note demanding that the US embassy “stop interfering in the internal affairs” of Moscow. The Russian Foreign Ministry warned US diplomats not to “attempt to recruit agents of influence to sow discord in Russian society and incite anti-state protests.”
Two weeks later, the Russian Foreign Ministry summoned Tracy to protest the US's provision of weapons to Ukraine, demanding that Washington and NATO stop intervening in the Ukrainian conflict.
Ms Tracy has been summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry several times since then, notably after she condemned the 25-year prison sentence handed down to journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza, a dual Russian and British citizen. Kara-Murza was arrested on charges of resisting police, spreading false information about the Russian military and treason, after he spoke out against Russia’s campaign in Ukraine.
Russian officials have made their frustration with the US clear. In April, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that dialogue with the US embassy was difficult because there was little on which the two sides could agree.
"Arguing, attacking, and disagreeing with each other is now normal. We clash both publicly and behind the scenes," Mr. Ryabkov said.
However, he noted that Ms. Tracy is a diplomat with extensive experience working with Russia. She served as a contract officer in the consular section of the U.S. Embassy in the Soviet Union in the late 1980s, and then as deputy chief of mission from 2014 to 2017. She served as senior adviser for Russia in the State Department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. Most recently, she was the U.S. ambassador to Armenia, a former Soviet state.
However, basic diplomatic tasks such as ensuring embassy staffing or simply visiting sites in Russia are challenging in the current context.
The tit-for-tat expulsions between Moscow and Washington have reduced the number of staff. Tracy did not disclose the current number of staff at the US diplomatic mission in Russia. But his predecessor, John Sullivan, said in May 2022 that the number was around 130, down from 1,200 in 2021. Nearly half of the remaining staff are US Marines who guard the embassy and other security personnel.
Ambassador Tracy also found it difficult to get out and meet the Russian people, something she had always considered an important part of her job.
She remembers that when she was deputy head of the diplomatic mission, she visited many places such as St. Petersburg, Veliky Novgorod, Yekaterinburg, Perm, Chelyabinsk, Vladivostok, Sakhalin Island and Yakutsk.
But such trips are now few and far between. Over the past year or so, the Russians have become increasingly difficult to reach for U.S. embassy staff, both on official visits and on personal trips, Tracy said.
An embassy spokesman said Ms Tracy was not subject to travel restrictions, but embassy staff who were liaising with her or assisting her on the trip were. They needed approval from the Russian Foreign Ministry to travel within 25 miles of the Kremlin, and travel requests were often denied. Russian diplomats in the US face similar restrictions.
US diplomats have also struggled to reach citizens detained in Russia. The US government has accused Russia of “wrongful imprisonment” of two men, Wall Street Journal reporter Gershkovich and businessman Paul Whelan, who is serving a 16-year prison sentence for espionage.
Tracy said the situation was improving, at least for Gershkovich, who is awaiting trial in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison until at least November 30. She said she could now see Gershkovich once a month. But she criticized Russia’s move to jail the two Americans.
“I think what is sad is that we see Russia treating ordinary citizens as pawns in some of their games. But for these people, this is not a game, this is life,” she said.
Ms. Tracy gets in a car leaving the Russian Foreign Ministry headquarters earlier this year. Photo: Reuters
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected accusations that Russia was “playing politics with innocent Americans” and deliberately targeting US citizens. Peskov said Russia takes appropriate measures against those who violate the law.
The Russian Foreign Ministry affirmed that Moscow complies with the legal system towards those detained, regardless of their nationality.
As tensions between the two countries escalate, Tracy's biggest task is to keep the door to dialogue open.
Observers say this is easier said than done. Expelling low-level diplomats from both sides has become relatively common over the years, with both the US and Russia occasionally recalling their ambassadors.
The US withdrew its diplomatic representation from Moscow in 1980 after the Soviet Union's military intervention in Afghanistan. Russia also recalled its ambassador to Washington after US airstrikes in Iraq in 1998 and after the US accused Moscow of meddling in the 2020 presidential election.
“Maintaining the channel of dialogue is one of our highest priorities,” she said. “We want to keep it open to make sure we don’t misunderstand each other and make miscalculations.”
Thanh Tam (According to WSJ )
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