Biden nominates Russia-savvy career diplomat as Washington’s new ambassador to Cyprus

Career diplomat Julie Fisher has been nominated by the Biden administration to take over as the new US ambassador to Cyprus, pending the senate’s confirmation.

Currently serving as the US special envoy for Belarus, Fisher would take over the Cyprus portfolio from Judith Garber, who is currently serving in Nicosia.

Fisher is listed by the US State Department as having previously worked for the US Nato mission in Belgium. She currently serves as the US Special Envoy for Belarus based in Vilnius, Lithuania after she was denied a visa by Belarusian authorities. In 2020 she was confirmed to this position as the first US ambassador to the Republic of Belarus since 2008.

The state department praised her considerable experience in the realms of both policy and operations, and her extensive knowledge of Russia and the states in the region.

Earlier, she was the Chief of Staff to the Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources. Fisher also served as the Director of the State Department’s Operations Centre.

Other assignments include a detail to Nato’s international staff as Deputy Director of the Private Office and assignments at US embassies in Georgia, Ukraine, and Russia, as well as tours at the National Security Council, the Bureaus for European and Eurasian Affairs and Near Eastern Affairs, and the Secretary of State’s Executive Secretariat Staff.

The department further details that Fisher earned her BA degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MPP from Princeton University.  She is the recipient of numerous state department awards.  Her foreign languages are Russian and French.

Garber herself was appointed in 2018 by then President Donald Trump, as was Fisher who was nominated by him for the Belarus posting in April 2020. Fisher was confirmed by the Senate on December 15, 2020.