State Dept. Says Ambassador Tracy To Work With Russia To Potentially Resume Visa Issuance

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th January, 2023) New US ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy will be tasked with working with the host country to improve the mission's staffing, including to potentially resume visa issuance in Moscow, State Department spokesperson Ned price said.

"Her focus will be to provide leadership to the embassy to maintain this bilateral relationship in a period of extraordinarily heightened tensions and to work with the Russian government to improve staffing at the US Embassy platform so that our embassy can perform basic functions, like potentially even visa issuance," Price said during a Foreign Press Center briefing on Friday.

Price attributed the mission's "inability" to provide visa services in Russia to Moscow making it illegal for the US embassy in April 2021 to employ both Russian and third-country nationals � many of whom worked in the mission's consular section.

On Tuesday, Price said that Ambassador Tracy would begin her work in Moscow in the coming days.

During her career in the Foreign Service, Tracy has served in a number of US foreign missions, including in Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, and Kyrgyzstan.

Between 2014 and 2017, Tracy served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Moscow and received a Distinguished Honor Award for her contribution while in this role.