Event Summary
On October 8, the Brookings Institution hosted Senator Richard G. Lugar, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, for a conversation on Russia.
Event Information
When
Monday, October 08, 2007
10:30 AM to 12:00 PM
Where
Falk Auditorium
The Brookings Institution
1775 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20036
Map
Indiana's longest-serving senator, Lugar was first elected in 1976, and is recognized as one of the nation's leading voices on foreign relations and national security. Foremost among his initiatives is the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program. With the fall of the Soviet Union, he saw the grave proliferation risk presented by the Soviet Union's vast arsenal of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. Working with then-Senator Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), Senator Lugar crafted an ambitious program to safeguard and dismantle weapons of mass destruction in the former Soviet Union.
Russia's path forward since the collapse of the Soviet Union has been a turbulent mix of openness and retrenchment. In his remarks, Senator Lugar, who recently returned from Russia, will examine the prospects for progress at the October 12 meeting in Moscow of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates with their Russian counterparts, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov. Lugar discussed the agenda, including the U.S. proposed missile defense system in central Europe, non-proliferation and energy security. Brookings President Strobe Talbott provided introductory remarks and moderated the discussion.
Transcript
SENATOR LUGAR: Let me start by simply saying the relationship between Russia and the United States is more important for American interests and more complicated to manage than at any time since the end of the Cold War. The truth is that this is a period of considerable frustration and disappointment about our relationship in both Washington and Moscow. For many Americans, there is concern about an overconcentration of power at the top in Russia and how that power is being projected in dealing with the so-called near abroad. For Russians, there is a growing conviction that Americans really do not even try to understand how chaotic the last 15 years have been for Russia. In reality, we both need to get used to the fact that we need each other, that we need to be as energetic in expanding common ground as we have been lately in voicing our frustrations.
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Participants
Featured Speaker
The Honorable Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.)
United States Senate
Introduction and Moderator
President, The Brookings Institution