A career diplomat, Marie L. Yovanovitch was confirmed as the U.S. Ambassador to Armenia on August 5, 2008. She earned a B.A. in History and Russian Studies from Princeton in 1980 and an M.S. from the National War College in 2001. She joined the Foreign Service in 1986, and served in Ottawa, Moscow, London and Mogadishu before becoming Deputy Director of the Office of Russian Affairs. From 2001 to 2004, she was Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, and from 2004-2005 she was the Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. Before her appointment to Yerevan in 2008, Yovanovitch was Ambassador to the Kyrgyz Republic (2005-2008).

 

In her Senate confirmation hearing, Yovanovitch avoided using the word “genocide,” noting that it was a “policy decision” only top officials (e.g., the President or Secretary of State) could make, instead opting for “ethnic cleansing” and describing the events as “one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century.”