In 2019, Marie Yovanovitch was serving as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. A seasoned diplomat, Yovanovitch watched the 1993 constitutional crisis and street fighting in Russia. For years, she witnessed Putin’s election meddling, cyberattacks, and vast misinformation in Ukraine. Yet, upon president Volodymyr Zelenskyy being democratically elected, then-President Trump suddenly recalled her from her post. It was in the following month that President Trump made the infamous phone call to president Zelenskyy about investigating his then political rival, now President Biden. The resulting investigation and impeachment hearings would mark the end of Ambassador Yovanovitch’s career in government and Ukraine’s relationship with Russia has been notably unstable since that time. As we near the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, join us on Thursday, February 16 with former Ambassador Yovanovitch to recount her career in public service in Russia and Ukraine and her experience testifying before Congress.
About the Speaker:
Marie Yovanovitch is a senior fellow in the Russia and Eurasia program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Additionally, she is a nonresident fellow at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy of Georgetown University. Yovanovitch served as the U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine (2016-2019), the Republic of Armenia (2008-2011), and the Kyrgyz Republic (2005-2008). From 2003-2004, Ambassador Yovanovitch was the senior advisor to the under secretary of state for political affairs. Prior to that, she served as the deputy chief of mission of the U.S. embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine. Within the Department of State, she worked on the Russia desk, the Office of European Security Affairs, and the Operations Center. She has experience working at various U.S. embassies overseas such as Moscow, London, Ottawa, and Mogadishu.
Ambassador Yovanovitch is a decorated member of the Senior Foreign Service and has been recognized as an advocate for human rights and integrity.
She has served at various levels in academia, including the dean of the School of Language Studies at the Foreign Service Institute and the deputy commandant and international advisor at the Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy of the National Defense University. She served as deputy assistant secretary at the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs and the Nordic, Baltic, and European Countries.
About the moderator:
David McCloskey is a Dallas-based author and a former consultant at McKinsey & Company. McCloskey previously worked as an analyst for the CIA (2008-2014), where he served in field stations across the Middle East throughout the Arab Spring. During his time with the agency, McCloskey was regularly responsible for writing presidential briefs and classified testimonies for Congress, among other duties. He holds an M.A. in international relations and international economics from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.
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