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Intelligence Matters

Putin's Russia: Former Ambassador Michael McFaul

Intelligence Matters

CBS News

(154991), News, Cbs, Politics, Government

4.63.3K Ratings

🗓️ 27 October 2021

⏱️ 43 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode of Intelligence Matters, host Michael Morell speaks with Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to Russia and current director of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. Morell and McFaul discuss Russian President Vladimir Putin's main geopolitical objectives and personal anxieties about the West. McFaul shares behind-the-scenes details of meeting and negotiating with Putin, as well as thoughts on how the Biden administration should approach its relationship with the Kremlin.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

This is Intelligence Matters with former acting director of the CIA, Michael Morel.

0:06.4

Brought to you by Palantir Technologies, Foundational Software of Tomorrow, delivered today.

0:12.4

First time I met him, I want to be clear Putin made no impression on me whatsoever.

0:17.6

If you had asked me back in 1991, you know, named 500 people that will be the next president

0:24.1

to replace President Yeltsin, he would have not made my list.

0:27.4

And I think that's important for people to understand. He was an accidental president

0:31.1

chosen by Yeltsin. It wasn't some populist demand for who he was.

0:37.7

He will try to get people off their game, say something surprising. At one point he said

0:43.8

to Vice President Biden, when the press break came in, he said, oh, Vice President Biden

0:49.3

and I just agreed to visa free travel. He put in our two countries and he just wanted

0:53.3

to see how Biden would react. Mike McFall is the director of the Institute

1:01.4

for International Studies at Stanford University. He was the US ambassador to Russia from 2012

1:08.0

to 2014. Prior to that, Mike served as the senior director of Russian and Eurasian affairs

1:14.6

on the National Security Council staff. Mike and I just sat down to talk about all things

1:20.0

Russia. We'll be right back with that discussion after a word from our sponsor.

1:24.4

I'm Mike Amaral and this is Intelligence Matters.

1:28.0

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1:34.2

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1:38.9

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1:43.5

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1:49.0

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1:54.6

They've got no hidden agendas. There are no commissions. They go beyond just plain over retirement

...

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