The US ambassador to Russia, Lynne Tracy, is departing Moscow, leaving Washington without a top envoy in the country as a rapprochement being pushed by US President Donald Trump falters.
Moscow earlier this week accused Washington of not being "ready" to take steps to restore the normal functioning of their embassies, hobbled by years of tit-for-tat restrictions and expulsions of diplomats.
Trump has not yet nominated a successor to Tracy, the first woman to hold the post and who was appointed by ex-President Joe Biden and is leaving after two-and-a-half years in the role.
Trump has overhauled Biden's policy of isolating Vladimir Putin over his Ukraine offensive, holding several calls with the Kremlin chief and raising the prospect of boosting bilateral ties.
"I am proud to have represented my country in Moscow during such a challenging time," Tracy said in a message posted by the embassy on social media.
She also quoted lines from a poem by Alexander Pushkin, Russia's famed national poet.
Diplomats from the two countries have held several rounds of negotiations under Trump on issues ranging from the Ukraine conflict and prisoner exchanges to normalising embassy operations.
But on Wednesday the Kremlin accused Washington of being "not yet ready" to remove barriers to the work of their respective diplomatic missions.
Trump has shown increasing frustration with Putin over his refusal to end Moscow's three-year offensive on Ukraine.
Since the Republican returned to the White House, Putin has repeatedly rejected calls for an unconditional ceasefire, demanded Kyiv cede more territory, urged his troops to keep advancing and escalated deadly missile and drone attacks on Ukraine.
By AFP
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