US Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy attends a ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier ahead of Victory Day celebrations in Moscow, Russia, 25 April 2025. Photo: EPA-EFE/MAXIM SHIPENKOV

US Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy has completed her posting to Moscow and will soon depart the country after more than three years of service there, the US Embassy announced on Friday.

“We thank her for her constant diplomacy, deep respect for Russian culture, and dedicated service to her country. Ambassador Tracy’s commitment to dialogue, even in difficult times, is an example of true diplomatic leadership,” the announcement read.

A career member of the American Foreign Service, Tracy became the first female US ambassador to Russia when President Joe Biden appointed her in January 2023 to succeed John Sullivan.

During her tenure, Tracy oversaw US-Russian relations following the invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent implementation of punitive sanctions by the West, and helped secure the release of several US citizens held in Russia, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.

In February 2024, she and UK Ambassador to Russia Nigel Casey laid flowers at the Solovetsky Stone in Moscow, a monument to victims of political repression, after the death of opposition figure Alexey Navalny.

Previously, Tracy served as the US Ambassador to Armenia (2019-2022), Deputy Chief of Mission to Moscow (2014-2017) — the Embassy’s second most senior position — and completed other diplomatic postings in Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, and Kyrgyzstan.

In farewell comments accompanying the US Embassy’s post, Tracy said she had been inspired by meeting Russians “who love their country and work every day for a better future”, and expressed her desire that work should continue to “improve [US-Russian] relations and support connections with the Russian people”.

She concluded her remarks with a verse from Alexander Pushkin’s poem To Chaadaev, considered one of his earliest civic-minded works:

While freedom kindles us, my friend,

While honour calls us and we hear it,

Come: to our country let us tend

The noble promptings of the spirit.