Samuel Charap: Russia Policy in Retrospect

Samuel Charap, Distinguished Chair in Russia and Eurasia Policy at RAND, joins us to discuss US policy toward Russia since 2008, the war in Ukraine, and the prospects of a settlement.

*The Trialogue Podcast is hosted by the Stimson Center and produced by University FM.

Time Stamps:00:40 How did you get interested in Russia?01:59 US-Russia relations since 200811:05 EU-Russia relations15:41 The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine18:32 The Biden administration’s Ukraine policy 25:27 Should we have tried to negotiate sooner?27:21 Has Trump made a deal more likely?30:01 Is there a window for a deal in the fall?33:16 How should negotiations be structured?37:42 How far apart are US and Russian positions?40:44 How to best combine carrots and sticks44:04 Prospects of US-Russia normalization

Peter Slezkine, the Director of the USA-Russia-China Trialogue project at the Stimson Center, hosts a series of conversations with experts and ex-officials from the United States, Russia, China and beyond to discuss cold wars past and present, potential areas of conflict and cooperation, and alternative visions of global order, among other subjects. Since the middle of the 20th century, the shifting relationship among the United States, Russia, and China has had a profound impact on each country separately and on the world as a whole. Yet the breakdown of contacts, combined with political, cultural, and linguistic barriers, have hindered the study of the full trilateral dynamic. At a time when even bilateral channels of communication have begun to break down, the Trialogue offers a new and necessary perspective on the defining geopolitical relationship of our time.

*The Trialogue Podcast is hosted by the Stimson Center and produced by University FM.

**The first twelve episodes of this podcast were published by the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.

• No. of episodes: 36
• Latest episode: 2025-08-22
• News Government Politics

Where can you listen?