Lynne Tracy, the US ambassador to Russia, will soon leave her post, her embassy said on Thursday, after serving through one of the most tense and difficult periods in relations between Moscow and Washington.

Axar.az reports, citing Reuters, Tracy, a career diplomat, arrived in Moscow in January 2023 and was greeted by protesters chanting anti-US slogans when she went to the Foreign Ministry to present her credentials. Russia had questioned her suitability for the post, suggesting she might feel more at home in a hawkish think-tank.

Her term was dominated by the Ukraine war, which plunged US-Russia ties to a level described by the Kremlin last year as “below zero.”

She was notably involved in efforts to win the release of US citizens jailed in Russia including journalist Evan Gershkovich and former marine Paul Whelan, who were eventually freed in August 2024 as part of a big East-West prisoner swap.

Tracy’s tenure is likely to be similar in duration to her predecessor, John Sullivan, who served as ambassador for two years and seven months from February 2020 to September 2022.