Kurt Volker

Ambassador Volker was appointed by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to coordinate the State Department’s efforts to resolve the conflict created when Russia invaded Crimea and later eastern Ukraine. He previously served as the 19th United States Permanent Representative on the Council of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). He was a career Foreign Service Officer with over 20 years' experience including as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Europe and Eurasian Affairs, Acting Senior Director for European and Eurasian Affairs at the National Security Council (NSC), and Director for NATO and West Europe at the NSC.
Ambassador Volker also serves as Executive Director of the McCain Institute for International Leadership, a part of Arizona State University based in Washington, DC. He is also a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, a Senior Advisor at the Atlantic Council, and a Trustee of IAU College in Aix-en-Provence, France. Ambassador Volker was a consultant to international business, a member of the Board of Directors of Capital Guardian Funds Trust, and had previously served as Managing Director—International for BGR Group.

Stephen Sackur
Stephen Sackur
Presenter, HARDtalk, BBC World New, 14th YES Annual Meeting, 2017
«Russians are going to be fighting with long-term economic misery. And they will have to decide whether they are prepared to put up with it for the nationalist enterprise of staying in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine.»