Russia Policy For The Next U.S. Administration

The Center on Global Interests invites you to a discussion with:

• Thomas Graham, Managing Director, Kissinger Associates, Inc.

• Andrew Kuchins, Senior Fellow, Georgetown University

• Nikolai Zlobin, President, Center on Global Interests

On the eve of a new presidential administration, U.S. policy toward Russia has shifted from reset to isolation over conflicts in Ukraine and Syria. As the 25th anniversary of the bilateral relationship approaches, what direction should the next American president take concerning Russia? Should the White House maintain the current policy of isolation and pressure through sanctions, attempt a new reset on new terms, or try something different altogether? The Center on Global Interests is pleased to invite you to this timely discussion. 

Wine reception to follow. This event is on the record. 

Join the discussion with @CGI_DC

About the Speakers:

Thomas Graham is a managing director at Kissinger Associates, Inc., where he focuses on Russian and Eurasian affairs. Since 2011, he also been a senior fellow at the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, Yale University, where he has taught courses on Russian affairs, U.S.-Russian relations, and cybersecurity. He was Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Russia on the National Security Council staff from 2004 to 2007 and Director for Russian Affairs on that staff from 2002 to 2004. From 2001 to 2002, he served as the Associate Director of the Policy Planning Staff of the Department of State. From 1998 to 2001, Mr. Graham was a senior associate in the Russia/Eurasia program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. From 1984 to1998, he was a Foreign Service Officer. His assignments included two tours of duty at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, where he served as head of the political/internal unit and acting political counselor. Between tours in Moscow, he worked on Russian and Soviet affairs on the Policy Planning Staff of the Department of State and as a policy assistant in the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy. Mr. Graham holds a Ph.D. in Political Science and an M.A. in History from Harvard and a B.A. in Russian Studies from Yale.

Andrew Kuchins is a senior fellow at the Center for Eurasian, Russian, Eastern European Studies, Georgetown University where he conducts research and writes on Russian foreign and security as well as domestic policy. From 2000 to 2006, Kuchins was a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he previously served as director of its Russian and Eurasian Program in Washington, D.C. He was director of the Carnegie Moscow Center in Russia from 2003 to 2005. He has also held senior positions at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley. He holds a B.A. from Amherst College and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins SAIS.

Nikolai Zlobin is the founder and president of the Center on Global Interests (CGI). Prior to founding CGI, Dr. Zlobin served as director of Russian and Asian programs at the World Security Institute in Washington, D.C. Before this, he was the founder and director of the international news agency Washington ProFile, as well as director of Russian and Asian Programs at the Center for Defense Information. Since moving to the United States in 1993, he has researched and taught at several top American universities and institutions, including the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Georgetown, Stanford, and Harvard. In 1993, he co-founded Demokratizatsiy, the first journal of its kind on post-Soviet politics and democratization. Since 2004, he has also been a member of the Valdai International Discussion Club. Dr. Zlobin’s writings have appeared in many influential publications, including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, International Herald Tribune, The Chicago Tribune, Vedomosti, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, and Izvestia. He holds a Ph.D in Public Administration from Moscow State University.