Tuesday, November 29 2022 10:37

ArmInfo. The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) is calling on members of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee to seek answers from Kristina Kvien - President Biden's nominee to replace Ambassador Lynne Tracy as U.S. Ambassador to Armenia - regarding American support for Armenia's security and  Artsakh's survival, during her upcoming confirmation hearing.

President Biden nominated Kvien to the Armenian Ambassadorial  position in July of this year. If confirmed, she will replace  Ambassador Tracy, who is being considered for U.S. ambassador to  Russia.  Both Senate confirmation hearings are set to take place on  Wednesday, November 30th, starting 2:30 pm EST.

Ambassador Tracy has earned an "F" rating from the ANCA for her  consistently poor performance across fifteen different performance  metrics. The ANCA report card for Ambassador Tracy is available at:   https://anca.org/assets/pdf/051822_AmbTracy_ANCAReportCard.pdf

"The Kvien nomination presents an opportunity to reset U.S.-Armenia  relations, turning the page on the Tracy era and re-aligning our  bilateral ties with actual U.S. interests and authentic American  values," said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. "Moving  forward, we need to stop giving oil-rich Azerbaijan a veto over U.S.  policy, and start directly strengthening Armenian security - the  sovereignty and safety of Armenians across their ancient, indigenous  homeland."

The ANCA has shared its concerns regarding the Kvien nomination with  Senate Foreign Relations Committee members, highlighting a number of  policy priorities that can be constructively addressed during the  confirmation process. Topics include strengthening bilateral  U.S.-Armenia relations, checking Azerbaijani aggression, securing the  release of Armenian POWs, facilitating U.S. assistance to Artsakh,  and putting into real-world practice the Administration's policy  recognizing the Armenian Genocide.  Suggested questions can be  reviewed at: anca.org/ArmeniaAmbassador

Kvien is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank  of Minister-Counselor. She has served as the Deputy Chief of Mission  at U.S. Embassy Kyiv, Ukraine. Previously, Kvien served as  Minister-Counselor for Economic Affairs at U.S. Embassy Paris, France  and as Economic Counselor at U.S. Embassy Bangkok, Thailand.  In both  Paris and Bangkok, she served more than one year as Acting Deputy  Chief of Mission.  She also served as Economic Counselor at U.S.  Embassy London.  Earlier in her career, Kvien worked at the National  Security Council, Washington, D.C. as Director for EU, Ukraine and  Belarus affairs.  She has also completed Foreign Service postings at  the U.S. Embassy Moscow, Russia; the U.S. Mission to the EU in  Brussels; and U.S. Embassy Manila.  Domestic assignments have  included the Office of European and Regional Affairs, and the Office  of Central European Affairs, both in the Bureau of Europe and  Eurasian Affairs. Kvien, a native of California, holds a BA from  Occidental College and an MS from the U.S. Army War College.