During Bill Clinton presidency, Nuland was chief of staff to Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott before moving on to serve as deputy director for former Soviet Union affairs.
She also served as the principal deputy foreign policy adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney and then as U.S. ambassador to NATO.

Nuland became special envoy for Conventional Armed Forces in Europe and then became State Department spokesperson in summer 2011.
She was nominated to serve as Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs in May 2013 and was sworn in on September 18, 2013.

In her role as assistant secretary, she managed diplomatic relations with 50 countries in Europe and Eurasia, as well as with NATO, the European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
She was the lead U.S. point person for the Ukrainian crisis.
Nuland was a key figure in establishing loan guarantees to Ukraine, including a $1 billion loan guarantee in 2014, and the provisions of non-lethal assistance to the Ukrainian military and border guard.
Along with Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, she is seen as a leading supporter of defensive weapons delivery to Ukraine.
In 2016, Nuland urged Ukraine to start prosecuting corrupt officials: "It's time to start locking up people who have ripped off the Ukrainian population for too long and it is time to eradicate the cancer of corruption".
While serving as the Department of State's lead diplomat on the Ukraine crisis, Nuland pushed European allies to take a harder line on Russian expansionism.

During a June 7, 2016, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearing titled "Russian Violations of Borders, Treaties, and Human Rights", Nuland described U.S. diplomatic outreach to the former Soviet Union and efforts to build a constructive relationship with Russia.
During her testimony, Nuland noted Russia's 2014 invasion of Ukraine which she said, "shattered any remaining illusions about this Kremlin's willingness to abide by international law or live by the rules of the institutions that Russia joined at the end of the Cold War."
Nuland described four essential elements of the U.S. foreign policy towards Russia:
Deter further aggression through the projection of strength and unity with allies;
Build resilience and reduce vulnerability among friends and Allies facing Russian pressure and coercion;
Cooperate on core national security priorities when U.S. interests and Russia's do align;
Sustain ties to the Russian people and business community to preserve the potential for a more constructive relationship in the future.

Nuland left the State Department in January 2017, amid the departure of many career officials who left in the early days of the Trump administration.
As of April 2019 she serves as a nonresident fellow in the foreign policy program at the Brookings Institution and senior counselor at the Albright Stonebridge Group.
During Bill Clinton presidency, Nuland was chief of staff to Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott before moving on to serve as deputy director for former Soviet Union affairs. She also served as the principal deputy foreign policy adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney and then as U.S. ambassador to NATO.
Nuland became special envoy for Conventional Armed Forces in Europe and then became State Department spokesperson in summer 2011. She was nominated to serve as Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs in May 2013 and was sworn in on September 18, 2013.
In her role as assistant secretary, she managed diplomatic relations with 50 countries in Europe and Eurasia, as well as with NATO, the European Union and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. She was the lead U.S. point person for the Ukrainian crisis. Nuland was a key figure in establishing loan guarantees to Ukraine, including a $1 billion loan guarantee in 2014, and the provisions of non-lethal assistance to the Ukrainian military and border guard. Along with Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, she is seen as a leading supporter of defensive weapons delivery to Ukraine. In 2016, Nuland urged Ukraine to start prosecuting corrupt officials: "It's time to start locking up people who have ripped off the Ukrainian population for too long and it is time to eradicate the cancer of corruption". While serving as the Department of State's lead diplomat on the Ukraine crisis, Nuland pushed European allies to take a harder line on Russian expansionism.
During a June 7, 2016, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearing titled "Russian Violations of Borders, Treaties, and Human Rights", Nuland described U.S. diplomatic outreach to the former Soviet Union and efforts to build a constructive relationship with Russia. During her testimony, Nuland noted Russia's 2014 invasion of Ukraine which she said, "shattered any remaining illusions about this Kremlin's willingness to abide by international law or live by the rules of the institutions that Russia joined at the end of the Cold War." Nuland described four essential elements of the U.S. foreign policy towards Russia:
Deter further aggression through the projection of strength and unity with allies;
Build resilience and reduce vulnerability among friends and Allies facing Russian pressure and coercion;
Cooperate on core national security priorities when U.S. interests and Russia's do align;
Sustain ties to the Russian people and business community to preserve the potential for a more constructive relationship in the future.
Nuland left the State Department in January 2017, amid the departure of many career officials who left in the early days of the Trump administration. As of April 2019 she serves as a nonresident fellow in the foreign policy program at the Brookings Institution and senior counselor at the Albright Stonebridge Group.
Victoria Nuland