--- title: Meet Victoria Nuland Video description: What was Victoria Nuland's role in shaping U.S. diplomacy abroad? canonical: https://time.com/6457/meet-the-diplomat-who-told-off-the-european-union/ author: Francesca Trianni article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-02-08T04:32:23.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-01T08:45:25.071Z article:section: Politics og:title: Meet Victoria Nuland Video og:description: What was Victoria Nuland's role in shaping U.S. diplomacy abroad? og:url: https://time.com/6457/meet-the-diplomat-who-told-off-the-european-union/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltead06cde231f11cc/69868284d0b6f208a6302ecd/467541273_1280.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1280 og:image:height: 720 og:image:alt: 467541273_1280 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Meet Victoria Nuland Video twitter:description: What was Victoria Nuland's role in shaping U.S. diplomacy abroad? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltead06cde231f11cc/69868284d0b6f208a6302ecd/467541273_1280.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Meet the Diplomat Who Told Off The European Union > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=ac564d00-b6b0-4a68-af06-d00da1eff46f&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Who Is Victoria Nuland? [Watch (HLS stream): Who Is Victoria Nuland?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/uDJOaVxS.m3u8) (2:21)  _Published 2014-02-07. Who Is Victoria Nuland? And what role has she played in American diplomacy? Here's what you need to know_  by [Francesca Trianni](https://time.com/author/francesca-trianni/)  ## Francesca Trianni Feb 8, 2014 4:32 AM UTC Who Is Victoria Nuland? And what role has she played in American diplomacy? Here's what you need to know  by [Francesca Trianni](https://time.com/author/francesca-trianni/)  ## Francesca Trianni Feb 8, 2014 4:32 AM UTC After months of criticism for snooping on foreign leaders, it was an American official from the Obama administration that found herself on the other hand of a spy’s prying ear. Victoria Nuland, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, was suddenly thrown into the limelight when an audio clip was [leaked online ](http://world.time.com/2014/02/06/victoria-nuland-leaked-audio-european-union/)in which she was caught bad mouthing the European Union. But this is not the first time the career diplomat has found herself in the eye of the storm. Nuland was the State Department’s spokeswoman in 2012 when militants attacked U.S. government posts in Benghazi, Libya, which left U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans dead. From helping to open the first U.S. Embassy in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia to serving as a NATO ambassador, Nuland has been shaping U.S. diplomacy abroad for two decades. Watch the video above to know about the American official behind the controversial off-color remark. ## Transcript [00:00] >>The US Assistant Secretary of State for European and [00:04] Euro- Asian affairs Victoria Nuland was suddenly thrown to [00:08] the limelight when an audio clip was leaked online in [00:11] which she was caught badmouthing the European Union. [00:19] But who is Victoria Nuland and what has been her role in [00:23] shipping US diplomacy abroad? Here's what you need to [00:26] know. Nuland is a career diplomat who has served under [00:31] both Republican and Democratic presidents in top state [00:34] department jobs. Earlier in her career, she covered [00:38] Russian Internal politics in the US Embassy, Moscow. She [00:42] helped open the first US Embassy in Mongolia. Nuland [00:47] served as a spokesperson for the State Department [00:50] beginning in mid- 2011. She was the public face of [00:54] the department in the weeks following the Benghazi Attack [00:57] in Libya in 2012. She was criticized [01:02] for being part of the team that crafted the State Department [01:05] message playing down the involvement of terrorist in the [01:08] Benghazi Attack. [01:09] >>This is a spontaneous reaction to a video and it's not [01:13] dissimilar but perhaps on a slightly larger scale than what [01:16] we have seen in the past with the … [01:17] >>But Nuland denied the charges in a Senate hearing. [01:21] >>Did you help in choosing Susan Rice to speak on [01:25] the Sunday talkshows? [01:27] >>No, sir. [01:28] >>Did you brief her at all? [01:29] >>No, sir. [01:32] >>In 2013 she travelled to Ukraine to meet with former [01:37] boxing champion turned opposition leader, Vitali Klitschko. [01:40] And that time she brought the United States support for [01:44] democracy in Ukraine. [01:46] >>The whole world is watching. We want to see a better [01:50] future for Ukraine. [01:51] >>But in the recently released recordings, Nuland is [ unk ] [01:55] a US Embassador that she doesn't think Klitschko should [01:59] be in a new government. [02:00] >>So I don't think Klitschko should go into government. I [02:03] don't think it's necessary, I don't think it's a good idea. [02:09] >>Nuland apologized for the off collar remark but her [02:12] comments may very well represent the challenge that she [02:15] continues to work in Europe to assemble a new [02:19] government for Ukraine. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6457/meet-the-diplomat-who-told-off-the-european-union/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6457/meet-the-diplomat-who-told-off-the-european-union/"},"headline":"Meet the Diplomat Who Told Off The European Union","datePublished":"2014-02-08T04:32:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-01T08:45:25.071Z","description":"What was Victoria Nuland's role in shaping U.S. diplomacy abroad?","url":"https://time.com/6457/meet-the-diplomat-who-told-off-the-european-union/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltead06cde231f11cc/69868284d0b6f208a6302ecd/467541273_1280.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Francesca Trianni","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/francesca-trianni/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltead06cde231f11cc/69868284d0b6f208a6302ecd/467541273_1280.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"467541273_1280","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6457/meet-the-diplomat-who-told-off-the-european-union/","name":"Meet the Diplomat Who Told Off The European Union"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Who Is Victoria Nuland?","description":"Who Is Victoria Nuland? 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