"President Barack Obama first met with Putin in Moscow in July 2009, and I accompanied him... En route to Putin’s dacha... I suggested that Obama open the meeting with a question. Why not ask Putin for his candid assessment of what he thought had gone right, and what had gone wrong, in Russian-American relations over the past decade? Putin liked being asked his opinion... Maybe letting him get some things off his chest would set a good tone. The president nodded. Obama’s initial question produced an unbroken 55-minute monologue filled with grievances, sharp asides, and acerbic commentary."
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United States Ambassadors to Russia and the Soviet UnionUnited States Deputy Secretaries of StateUnited States Under Secretaries of State for Political AffairsDirectors of Central IntelligenceUnited States Assistant Secretaries of State for Near Eastern Affairs
Original Language: English
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Sources
How the U.S. -Russian Relationship Went Bad, by William J. Burns, The Atlantic, April 2019
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_J._Burns_(diplomat)
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William J. Burns (diplomat)
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