Marie Yovanovitch is a long-time United States diplomatic and former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine. She was thrown into the national spotlight after she was ousted from her position following a conspiracy-driven smear campaign from those within the Trump administration.
Yovanovitch returned to the spotlight during the impeachment hearings relating to Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine and a shadow foreign policy allegedly run by personal Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani.
During the impeachment hearings, Yovanovich took the stand and testified in front of the House Select Committee on Intelligence.
Everything you need to know about the former United States ambassador can be seen below.
Marie Yovanovitch Ethnicity & Heritage
Marie Yovanovitch was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada before moving to Connecticut at age 3. When she turned 18, Yovanovitch, who grew up speaking Russian, became a naturalized American citizen. She is the daughter of Mikhail and Nadia Yovanovitch, who fled the Soviet Union and later fled the Nazis. Her parents were foreign language teachers at the Kent School in Connecticut.
Marie Yovanovitch Bio
Born: 1958 (age 60–61)
After graduating from Kent School in 1976, Yovanovitch earned a B.A. in history and Russian studies from Princeton University. She would later study at Pushkin Institute and earned an M.S. from the National Defense University’s National War College.
Yovanovich began her diplomatic career after joining the U.S. Foreign Service in 1986. From 1998 to 2000, after overseas assignments in Moscow, London, and Mogadishu, Yovanovich served as Deputy Director of the Russian Desk in the U.S. Department of State. She would later become the Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Kiev, Ukraine; senior advisor to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs; International Advisor and Deputy Commandant at the National Defense University’s Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy; and dean of the School of Language Studies within the U.S. Department of State’s Foreign Service Institute.
Yovanovitch would go on to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, Armenia, and Ukraine.
After a smear campaign from the Donald Trump administration — which included attacks from Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump Jr. — Yovanovich was ousted from her role as U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine.