Monterey Initiative in Russian Studies Podcast Monterey Initiative in Russian Studies

In this Monterey Conversation, two leading scholars of the Soviet and post-Soviet space programs, Michael Gordin and Asif Siddiqi, addressed the effects of the USSR’s disintegration on the Soviet space program; the ways in which this program was handled by the Russian Federation in the 1990s; and the place of the Russian space program in cooperation and competition with the United States. The Monterey Conversation participants also discussed the current status of the Russian space program. This Monterey Conversation was moderated by Lisa Becker, an alumna of the Monterey Summer Symposium on Russia 2020.

The arrest of Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter, in Russia, in March 2023, has shone a light on the challenges of international reporting on Russia. In this Monterey conversation, two distinguished journalists, Valerie Hopkins (The New York Times) and Andrew Roth (The Guardian) addressed the task of reporting on Russia when it was very difficult for Western journalists to work there. Valerie Hopkins and Andrew Roth discussed such issues as access to information and described the kinds of stories that could be written and the kinds of stories that were not getting written. This Monterey Conversation was moderated by Hanna Notte.

In this Monterey Conversation, two distinguished scholars of Soviet history, Karl Schlögel (Frankfurt an der Oder emeritus) and Yuri Slezkine (UC Berkeley), reviewed the long sweep of Soviet history, from 1917 to 1991. They addressed a multiplicity of questions. What are the best ways to frame Soviet history? Should it be written as the history of ideology, of high politics, of ideas, of foreign policy, of everyday life? And how linear is Soviet history?  Was the end apparent in the beginning? Or are there ways in which Soviet history should be seen as non-linear or cyclical? And what archives are available for the conceptualization of Soviet history and its stories? This discussion was moderated by Michael Kimmage (Catholic University).

This Monterey Conversation is with one of the world’s leading arms control experts, Rose Gottemoeller, who has served as Deputy Secretary General of NATO and as Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security at the U.S. Department of State. In conversation with Hanna Notte, Rose Gottemoeller reflected on her experience in negotiating arms control agreements between Russia and the United States, discussed the current impasse over the New START Treaty and other arms control instruments, and offered her thoughts on how arms control may be handled in the future.  This Monterey Conversation was co-hosted with Russia Matters. 

This Monterey Conversation is with Ambassador John Sullivan, who served as U.S. Ambassador to Russia from 2020 to 2022. In conversation with Hanna Notte and Michael Kimmage, Ambassador Sullivan drew on his diplomatic experience to address the lead-up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the course of the war and the overall drift of U.S.-Russian relations. He offered his thoughts on the kind of diplomatic contact that still exists between Russia and the United States and how it could be put to practical use in the future. Watch the recording of this Monterey Conversation here.

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The Ambassadorial Series is a collection of interviews with nine former U.S. ambassadors to Russia and the Soviet Union, presented in video, podcast, and PDF format, for use by scholars and students of international relations. A new segment, the interview with Ambassador John Sullivan by Jill Dougherty has been recorded in January 2023 and added to the Ambassadorial Series.

In his interview for the Ambassadorial Series John Sullivan, US Ambassador to Russia for both the Trump and Biden administrations, shares his experience during the phase of increasingly tense relations between the United States and Russia that culminated in the February 24, 2022 invasion of Ukraine.