Click HERE to watch the full event
The McCain Institute at Arizona State University (ASU) today hosted an event in the United States Senate titled: “Post-War Pathway: Principles for U.S.-Russia Relations After Ukraine,” which focused on a new report outlining foreign policy recommendations for post-war relations with Russia.
U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell and McCain Institute Executive Director Dr. Evelyn Farkas delivered opening remarks at the event, followed by a panel discussion with key members of the McCain Institute’s Russia Task Force that developed the policy principles. The panel was moderated by International Republican Institute (IRI) President Dr. Daniel Twining in conversation with Hudson Institute Senior Fellow and Director of the Keystone Defense Initiative Rebeccah Heinrichs, Foundation for Defense of Democracies Senior Director Bradley Bowman, Center for European Policy Analysis Distinguished Fellow Amb. Kurt Volker, and Former Spokeswoman for Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell Antonia Ferrier. R. T. Weatherman Foundation President Meaghan Mobbs delivered closing remarks.
“When Putin called the fall of the Soviet Union the ‘greatest political catastrophe of the 20th century,’ John McCain understood that he meant it, and urged our colleagues to take Russia’s neo-Soviet ambitions seriously,” said Senator McConnell. “He would be proud to see the Russia Task Force take a similar long view and grapple seriously with what comes next – for Ukraine, for trans-Atlantic security, and for America’s global interests.”
“Russia is a great power adversary of the United States, and Vladimir Putin’s revisionist ambitions do not stop with Ukraine,” said Twining. “With his ally Xi Jinping, Putin wants to overthrow the free world order America and its allies built, replacing it with a spheres-of-influence world dominated by authoritarian values. Our task force lays out principles of peace through strength to protect American national security by ensuring that Russia’s neo-imperial ambitions cannot succeed and restoring deterrence against authoritarian aggression in both Europe and Asia.”
“Almost two decades ago Senator McCain was sounding the alarm about the malign ambitions of Vladimir Putin saying, ‘I looked into his eyes and saw three letters: a ‘K’, a ‘G’, and a ‘B.’ Today we are still warning of the dangers of Russia’s aggression,” said Farkas. “The McCain Institute commissioned Dan Twining to help convene this task force of conservative national security professionals to ensure Republicans and Democrats alike are prepared for what must come next after the war in Ukraine to deter further Russian aggression, just as Senator McCain would be doing if he were alive today.”
“Russia poses an enduring threat to vital U.S. national security interests, American allies, and the U.S.-led international order. Regardless of the outcome of the Ukraine war, Russia will remain a great power adversary of the United States,” the report states. “A Ukraine settlement will not change the underlying competitive dynamic in U.S.-Russia relations. Indeed, the wrong kind of peace in Ukraine or a retrenchment of U.S. power from Europe could invite further Russian aggression, increasing the likelihood of a broader conflict.”
Click HERE to read the full report, which is made possible thanks in part to the generous support of the R.T. Weatherman Foundation.
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