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Victoria Nuland
Spokesperson for the United States Department of State
In office May 31, 2011 – February 11, 2013
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	Philip J. Crowley
Succeeded by	Jennifer Psaki
18th United States Permanent Representative to NATO
In office June 20, 2005 – May 2, 2008
President	George W. Bush
Preceded by	R. Nicholas Burns
Succeeded by	Kurt Volker
Personal details
Born	Victoria Jane Nuland 1961 (age 63–64) New York City, New York, U.S.
Spouse	Robert Kagan
Alma mater	Brown University
Profession	Diplomat

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Victoria Jane Nuland (born 1961) is the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs at the United States Department of State.

Early life and education

Nuland is the daughter of Yale bioethics and medicine professor Sherwin B. Nuland, whose original surname was Nudelman. In her father Dr. Nuland's books and interviews, he openly describes a family history of depression and mental illness, which required electroconvulsive therapy and led to his resignation as a clinician at Yale. Victoria’s paternal grandfather was Meyer Nudelman from a family of Jewish immigrants who came to New York City from the Russian Empire.

Victoria Nuland graduated from Choate Rosemary Hall in 1979 and has a B.A. from Brown University. Nuland speaks Russian, French, and a little Chinese. Nuland has two children. Nuland’s husband is historian Robert Kagan, Council on Foreign Relations member, and co-founder of the think-tank "Project for the New American Century" (PNAC).

Career

Nuland is a career Senior Officer of the United States Foreign Service and has worked for both Democratic and Republican administrations. During the Bill Clinton administration, 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. During the George W. Bush administration, she served as the principal deputy foreign policy adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney and then as U.S. ambassador to NATO. During the Barack Obama administration, she was special envoy for Conventional Armed Forces in Europe before assuming the position of State Department spokesperson in summer 2011, which she held until February 2013.

Assistant Secretary

She was nominated to serve as Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs in May 2013 and sworn in to fill that role in September 2013. She reports to Wendy Sherman, the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs.

Controversy

2014 Nuland's controversial reference to the European Union

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On February 6, 2014 Nuland was alleged to have made an obscene reference to the European Union which caused a diplomatic scandal when one version of her January 28, 2014 telephone conversation with the United States Ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey R. Pyatt, was broadcast on YouTube. Nuland was discussing with Pyatt her views of the roles of the Ukrainian opposition leaders in the country’s coming government and the crises in Ukraine. Nuland said Vitali Klitschko should not be allowed into the government because he was too inexperienced, but that the coming PM should talk to him and to Svoboda "four times per week". Subsequently, in one version of the call, Nuland stated that she preferred the United Nations as mediator, instead of the European Union, adding "Fuck the EU" and Pyatt responded, "Oh, exactly ...". "She has been in contact with her EU counterparts, and of course has apologized", State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. A spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton stated on the same day that the EU would not comment on a "leaked alleged" conversation. The next day a spokeswoman, Christiane Wirtz, stated that German Chancellor Angela Merkel termed Nuland's remark "absolutely unacceptable". Furthermore, the president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, has also condemned the remark as "unacceptable".

Multiple versions of the phone recording

There are at least two versions of the audio recording of the Nuland-Pyatt conversation in circulation at YouTube and elsewhere, with quite different meanings.

The wording and syntax of one of them, that was published on 7 February 2014 by GlobalTVz, reveals that Nuland's expletive remark can be understood not as her insulting the EU, but rather as her response to Pyatt's statement that the Russians will try to torpedo the process of increasing EU influence in Ukraine. She is agreeing with Pyatt, and her expletive expresses her agreement with his view that the Russians don't care what the EU thinks or does.

On 4 February 2014, Re Post published a BBC-like version on YouTube. In the version of the audio recording transcribed on the BBC website, location of the F*** phrase is such that it expresses Nuland's own opinion of the EU. This is the version that has been most widely circulated by the BBC and other press sources, and that has caused the diplomatic storm.

It is not presently known which version, if either, corresponds to what Nuland and Pyatt actually said. The fact that various versions of this controversial recording are in circulation has not (as of 28 Feb 2014) been publicly addressed or investigated. It is part of the larger "cui bono" question about who recorded and who released this phone conversation. Nuland herself said that the recordings demonstrated "impressive tradecraft."

Notes

1. The U.S. State Department later said Nuland had apologized. Either Nuland was dismissively referring to slow-moving European efforts to address political paralysis and a looming fiscal crisis in Ukraine, or alternatively she was paraphrasing Pyatt's remark that the Russians would be trying to torpedo EU efforts. But it was the blunt nature of her remarks, rather than U.S. diplomatic calculations, that seemed exceptional. "She has been in contact with her EU counterparts, and of course has apologized", State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said. Asked whether the recording posted on YouTube was authentic, Psaki said: "I didn't say it was inauthentic." White House spokesman Jay Carney alleged that because it had been "tweeted out by the Russian government, it says something about Russia's role". Aide (to Deputy Prime Minister of Russian Government Dmitry Rogozin) Dmitry Loskutov, who was one of the first to draw attention to the posting that he "had stumbled across it while surfing a social networking website", told Associated Press that neither he nor his government had leaked the conversation. The same YouTube account posted also on February 6, 2014 an alleged conversation between two EU officials complaining about U.S. criticism on not supporting sanctions on Ukrainian individuals in response violence against Euromaidan protesters.

References

1. "Bureau of Public Affairs Front Office Changes".
2. Nuland, Sherwin B. Lost in America: A Journey with My Father
3. "Victoria Nuland to be State Department spokesman". Foreign Policy. May 16, 2011.
4. "Obama nominates Nuland for assistant secretary of state". Politico. May 23, 2013. Her confirmation hearing is scheduled for July 11 .
5. Organizational Chart, U.S. Department of State, March 2014
6. ^ Leaked audio reveals embarrassing US exchange on Ukraine, EU, Reuters (6 February 2014)
7. ^ Mardell, Mark (7 February 2014). "BBC Nuland Report". BBC website.
8. Ukraine crisis: Transcript of leaked Nuland-Pyatt call, BBC News (7 February 2014)
9. "Top US diplomat for Europe caught swearing about EU". news.yahoo.com. AFP. February 6, 2014. Retrieved February 6, 2014.
10. Atlas, Terry; Gaouette, Nicole (February 6, 2013). / "Intercepted Phone Call Shows U.S. Role in Ukraine". bloomberg.com. Retrieved February 6, 2014. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
11. AFP (February 6, 2014). "Top US diplomat for Europe sorry for cursing the EU". news.yahoo.com. Retrieved February 6, 2014.
12. Gearan, Anne. In recording of U.S. diplomat, blunt talk on Ukraine, Washington Post, February 6, 2014.
13. "Top US diplomat for Europe sorry for cursing the EU". news.yahoo.com. AFP. February 6, 2014. Retrieved February 6, 2014.
14. ^ / "US blames Russia for leak of undiplomatic language from top official". Guardian. AFP. February 6, 2014. Retrieved February 6, 2014. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
15. ^ Angela Merkel: Victoria Nuland's remarks on EU are unacceptable, The Guardian (7 February 2014)
16. Victoria Nuland gaffe: Angela Merkel condemns EU insult, BBC News (7 February 2014)
17. Template:Fr icon Sylvie Kauffmann, Les cinq leçons du « fuck the EU ! » d'une diplomate américaine, Le Monde, 9 February 2014. Retrieved 2014-02-09
18. "Fuck The EU! Exactly! Victoria Nuland & Geoffrey Pyatt". Retrieved 7 February 2014., includes a transcription of this version.
19. "BBC website: "Impressive Tradecraft"". Retrieved 8 April 2014.

External links

• Official biography at the U.S. State Department
• Official biography at the U.S. State Department (2008 archive)
• Official biography at the U.S. NATO Mission website
• Template:Worldcat id
• Appearances on C-SPAN
  • C-SPAN Q&A interview with Nuland, June 18, 2006

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