(Mis)understanding Russia: A Diplomat's Reflections

an history help us to understand the disastrous state of Russia’s relations with the West in 2023?  Leigh Sarty suggests that it can, drawing on his experience as a student, a scholar, and a diplomat over more than four decades to describe some of the key turning points and deeper structural forces that make contemporary Putinism more intelligible.

 

 

Leigh Sarty is a former diplomat who spent the better part of his career dealing with Russia, including two postings at the Canadian Embassy in Moscow (1996-1999; 2012-2016).  A Russian speaker who holds an M.A. from Carleton’s Institute of Soviet and East European Studies (1985) and a PhD from Columbia University (1991), Sarty is currently an Adjunct Professor at the Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies and a Senior Fellow at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University, and a Senior Fellow at the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History.