Hoover Institution fellow Michael McFaul discusses the upcoming meeting between the US and Russian presidents.

In May 2012, the American ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, accompanied a senior White House official to a meeting with Vladimir V. Putin at the then-president-elect’s country estate. Midway through the discussion, Putin turned directly to McFaul and berated him for trying to ruin United States-Russia relations. In "From Cold War to Hot Peace," McFaul recalls wondering, "Why was one of the most powerful men on the planet so obsessed with an American diplomat?"

Michael McFaul was an academic expert in Russian studies when President Barack Obama tapped him to become the White House’s point man on Russia in 2009.

President Trump’s appetite for a meeting with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, his aides say, was whetted by his talks with Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea, two weeks ago. But it is precisely that encounter that is stirring unease among foreign policy experts, including some in his own administration.