A Kennan Conversation: Vladimir Putin’s Vision of a Resurgent Russia

Hear former CNN foreign affairs correspondent, Jill Dougherty, speak about President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to control the Russian media and to use his nation’s soft power – its culture, language and “national idea” – to achieve Russia’s foreign policy objectives. Moderated by Margo Squire.

Curated Segment: Putin’s Russia

Full Speech

Q&A

Jill Dougherty is a former CNN foreign affairs correspondent and former Kennan Institute Public Policy Scholar and an expert on Russia and the former Soviet Union. In her three-decade career with CNN, she served as a Foreign Affairs Correspondent based in Washington, D.C., where she covered the U.S. Department of State and provided analysis on international issues. Previously, Dougherty served as U.S. Affairs Editor for CNN International; Managing Editor of CNN International Asia/Pacific, based in Hong Kong; and CNN’s Moscow Bureau Chief and Correspondent. From 1991 to 1996 she was CNN White House Correspondent, covering the presidencies of George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton. In 2013-14 she was a Fellow at the Shorenstein Center on  Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government where she pursued research on Russia’s mass media. Dougherty received a bachelor’s degree in Slavic languages and literature from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and a master’s from Georgetown University where she researched Russia’s soft power diplomacy.

Margo Squire is a retired career diplomat with the U.S. Information Agency and the U.S. Department of State, serving in Munich, Moscow, Melbourne, Baku, Ankara and Washington, D.C. Among many posts in her distinguished 30-year career, Margo served at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and also as Director of the Press and Public Outreach Office in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. She is a decorated Foreign Service Officer and recipient of numerous meritorious service awards and holds a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and a master’s from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.