Hello and welcome to Background Briefing, available 24-7 at Background Briefing.org.

I'm Ian Masters, and today we'll examine a number of stories and issues in the news.

We'll begin with President Trump's two-plus-hour phone call with Putin today,

along with his talks with President Zelensky, EU President Ursula von der Leyen,

President Macron, Prime Minister Maloney, Chancellor Merce and President Stubb.

Joining us to discuss the need for a security arrangement that goes beyond a peace deal

between Russia and Ukraine to encompass NATO and Russian coexistence is George Beebe, the

Director of Grand Strategy at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.

He served in government for nearly 25 years, including as

Director of Russia Analysis at the CIA and as a White House advisor on Russia matters for Vice President

Dick Cheney. His latest book is The Russia Trap, How Our Shadow War with Russia Could Spiral

in Nuclear Catastrophe. And he has a report at

responsible statecraft, peace through strength in Ukraine, sources of leverage in negotiations.

Then we will get a Ukrainian perspective on Trump's conversations with the warring parties and

speak with Natalie Milianchuk, who is a consultant on Euro-Atlantic

Security and a professor of political science at Wayne State University.

She has served as NATO representative to Ukraine as head of the NATO Information and Documentation

Center in Kiev as a political officer in the Political Affairs and Security Policy Division

at the Euro-Atlantic Partnership

Section at NATO headquarters in Brussels and as manager of USAID's Parliamentary Development Project

at the US-Ukraine Foundation. Then finally we're looking at how American presidents and politicians

have always been susceptible to corruption, but Trump has elevated

...