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Marie Yovanovitch
Senior Fellow, Russia and Eurasia Program

about


Marie Yovanovitch is a senior fellow in the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She is also a nonresident fellow at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy of Georgetown University. Previously, she served as the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine (2016-2019), the Republic of Armenia (2008-2011), and the Kyrgyz Republic (2005-2008). She also served as the dean of the School of Language Studies at the Foreign Service Institute and as the deputy commandant and international advisor at the Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy of the National Defense University. Earlier she served as the principal deputy assistant secretary for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, where she coordinated policy on European and global security issues. Before that, she was the bureau’s deputy assistant secretary responsible for issues related to the Nordic, Baltic, and central European countries. 

In 2003-2004, Ambassador Yovanovitch was the senior advisor to the under secretary of state for political affairs. Prior to that, she was the deputy chief of mission of the U.S. embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine. Within the Department of State, Ambassador Yovanovitch has worked on the Russia desk, the Office of European Security Affairs, and the Operations Center. She has also worked overseas at the U.S. embassies in Moscow, London, Ottawa, and Mogadishu. 

A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, Ambassador Yovanovitch has earned the Senior Foreign Service Performance Award eight times and the State Department’s Superior Honor Award on nine occasions. She is also the recipient of two Presidential Distinguished Service Awards and the secretary’s Diplomacy in Human Rights Award. In 2020, Georgetown University granted her the Trainor Award for Excellence in the Conduct of Diplomacy, and Indiana University awarded her the inaugural Richard G. Lugar Award for Public Integrity.

Ambassador Yovanovitch is a graduate of Princeton University where she earned a B.A. in history and Russian studies. She studied at the Pushkin Institute and received an M.S. from the National Defense University.


education
B.A., History and Russian Studies, Princeton University, M.S., National Defense University

All work from Marie Yovanovitch

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18 Results
event
U.S. Role for a New Regional Order in the South Caucasus
July 24, 2024

The South Caucasus's geography—the borders the region shares with Russia​— has long overshadowed its politics. But with Moscow occupied with its war against Ukraine, countries in the region are developing alternative foreign policy priorities and recalibrating relations with the West. As Armenia moves closer to the United States and Europe, the government in Georgia is lurching towards Moscow – despite opposition from its society. Meanwhile, Armenia and Azerbaijan are in talks for a historic chance for a peace treaty which could serve as the bedrock of a new regional order.  

What is the significance of the South Caucasus for the West? How likely is a peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan? What can the U.S. do to encourage regional cooperation and reconciliation? And how should the U.S. support democratic aspirations of Georgian society? 

Join the Carnegie Endowment’s Europe program to discuss the U.S. role for a new order in the South Caucasus with Ambassador Yuri Kim, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasian Affairs;, Marie Yovanovitch, former Ambassador to Armenia and Ukraine and senior fellow in Carnegie’s Russia and Eurasia Program; and Dan Baer, director of the Europe Program at Carnegie and former U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

In The Media
in the media
Ukraine Is Committed to Europe and Democracy

Ukrainians deserve credit for fighting for their democracy.

· January 25, 2024
The Bulwark
podcast
What Peace for Ukraine?

Judy Dempsey and Marie Yovanovitch assess Western support for Ukraine’s war effort, the country’s democratic transition, and the prospects for peace.

· September 13, 2023
In The Media
in the media
Biden Needs to Tell American People ‘What the Stakes Are’ in Ukraine

A conversation about Ukrainian President Zelenskyy’s trip to Hiroshima, Japan, to meet with G7 leaders and global security assistance to Ukraine.

· May 19, 2023
NBC News
In The Media
in the media
Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine on Report Wagner Offered Intelligence in Exchange for Territory

A conversation about the report that the head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, offered to share intelligence on Russian troop positions with Kyiv in exchange for the Ukrainians ceding territory around the embattled city of Bakhmut.

· May 16, 2023
CNN
In The Media
in the media
Wagner Chief Offered to Give Russian Troop Locations to Ukraine

A discussion of the recent report that Yevgeniy Prigozhin, head of private mercenary group Wagner Group, offered to give Russian troop locations to Ukraine.

· May 15, 2023
MSNBC
In The Media
in the media
Marie Yovanovitch: U.S. Needs to Provide Aid ‘As Quickly as Possible’ to Ukraine

Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch discusses with Nicolle Wallace the Biden administration's renewed commitment to aiding Ukraine and what lies ahead as the second year of war begins.

· February 28, 2023
MSNBC
In The Media
in the media
Putin and the Presidents

If Russia stomps all over Ukraine and takes it over, it affects the entire international order that we have been living under since World War II.

· January 31, 2023
PBS
In The Media
in the media
Marie Yovanovitch: Zelenskyy’s Speech Was Extraordinary and Historic

This fight is not over. It's going to be brutal in the coming months, perhaps even longer, and Ukraine still needs American help. Zelenskyy memorably said that this is not charity, this is an investment.

· December 22, 2022
event
Ukraine at War: Four Perspectives from Ukrainian Civil Society
September 15, 2022

Join former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine and Carnegie Endowment senior fellow Marie Yovanovitch for an extremely timely conversation with four leading civil society figures from Ukraine.

  • +2
  • Yuliya “Taira" Paievska
  • Hanna Hopko
  • Olena Halushka
  • Alyona Getmanchuk
  • Marie Yovanovitch