Michael Anthony McFaul (born October 1, 1963) is an American academic and diplomat who served as the
United States Ambassador to Russia
The ambassador of the United States of America to the Russian Federation is the ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary from the United States of America to the Russian Federation. Since September 4, 2022, Elizabeth Rood is serving as the ...
from 2012 to 2014. McFaul is currently the Ken Olivier and Angela Nomellini Professor in International Studies in the Department of Political Science at
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...
, where he is the Director of the
Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
Stanford University has many centers and institutes dedicated to the study of various specific topics. These centers and institutes may be within a department, within a school but across departments, an independent laboratory, institute or center ...
. He is also a Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow at the
Hoover Institution
The Hoover Institution (officially The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace; abbreviated as Hoover) is an American public policy think tank and research institution that promotes personal and economic liberty, free enterprise, a ...
. He is also a contributing columnist at ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...
''.
Prior to his nomination to the ambassadorial position, McFaul worked for the
U.S. National Security Council as
Special Assistant to the President
The Executive Office of the President (EOP) comprises the offices and agencies that support the work of the president at the center of the executive branch of the United States federal government. The EOP consists of several offices and agenc ...
and senior director of Russian and
Eurasia
Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelag ...
n affairs.
In that capacity, he was the architect of
U.S. President Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...
's
Russian reset
The Russian reset was an attempt by the Obama administration to improve relations between the United States and Russia in 2009–2013.
Symbolic reset
On 6 March 2009 in Geneva, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented Russian Foreign Mi ...
policy.
Early life and education
Born in
Glasgow, Montana
Glasgow is a city in and the county seat of Valley County, Montana, United States, the population was 3,202 at the 2020 census.
Despite being just the 23rd most populous city in Montana, Glasgow is the most populous city for over , thus m ...
, McFaul was raised in
Butte
__NOTOC__
In geomorphology, a butte () is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from a French word me ...
and
Bozeman
Bozeman is a city and the county seat of Gallatin County, Montana, United States. Located in southwest Montana, the 2020 census put Bozeman's population at 53,293, making it the fourth-largest city in Montana. It is the principal city of ...
, where his father worked as a musician and music teacher.
While attending
Bozeman High School, McFaul participated in policy debate; his partner was current U.S. Senator
Steve Daines
Steven David Daines ( ; born August 20, 1962) is an American politician and former corporate executive serving as the junior United States senator for Montana since 2015. A Republican, he served as the U.S. representative for Montana's at-lar ...
(R) of Montana.
While an undergraduate at Stanford University he spent time in the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
, first in the summer of 1983 studying
Russian at the Leningrad State University (now
Saint Petersburg State University
Saint Petersburg State University (SPBU; russian: Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the ...
), and then a semester in 1985 at
Pushkin Institute in Moscow.
He earned a
B.A.
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...
in
international relations
International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such ...
and
Slavic languages
The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic, spoken during the ...
and an
M.A.
A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...
in
Slavic and
East European Studies from Stanford in 1986. As a
Rhodes Scholar
The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom.
Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...
, he earned a
DPhil
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
in international relations from
St John's College, Oxford
St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded as a men's college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979.Communication from Michael Riordan, college archivist Its founder, Sir Thomas White, intended to pr ...
, in 1991.
He wrote his dissertation on U.S. and Soviet intervention in revolutionary movements in southern Africa.
McFaul received an honorary doctorate from
Montana State University
Montana State University (MSU) is a public land-grant research university in Bozeman, Montana. It is the state's largest university. MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 60 fields, master's degrees in 68 fields, and doctoral degrees in 35 fie ...
during the university's fall commencement in 2015.
Career
In 1994, McFaul and one-time close friend and colleague
Sergey Markov
Sergey Leonidovich Markov (russian: Серге́й Леони́дович Ма́рков) ( – June 25, 1918), was an Imperial Russian Army general, and became one of the founders of the Volunteer Army counterrevolutionary force of the White ...
helped found the
Moscow Carnegie Center.
McFaul's past engagement with Russian political figures included a denunciation of him in 1994 by
Vladimir Zhirinovsky
Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky, ''né'' Eidelshtein (russian: link=false, Эйдельштейн) (25 April 1946 – 6 April 2022) was a Russian right-wing populist politician and the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) fr ...
, leader of the
Liberal Democratic Party and a member of the
State Duma
The State Duma (russian: Госуда́рственная ду́ма, r=Gosudárstvennaja dúma), commonly abbreviated in Russian as Gosduma ( rus, Госду́ма), is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, while the upper hous ...
(the Russian
parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
),
and a subsequent shooting incident in which a shot was fired into McFaul's office window in Moscow.
Two years later,
Alexander Korzhakov
Alexander Vasilyevich Korzhakov (russian: Александр Васильевич Коржаков; born 31 January 1950) is a Russian former KGB general who served as Boris Yeltsin's bodyguard, confidant, and adviser for eleven years. He was ...
, a confidante of
Russian President
The president of the Russian Federation ( rus, Президент Российской Федерации, Prezident Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is the head of state of the Russian Federation. The president leads the executive branch of the federal ...
Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( rus, Борис Николаевич Ельцин, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn, a=Ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician wh ...
, invited McFaul to the
Kremlin
The Kremlin ( rus, Московский Кремль, r=Moskovskiy Kreml', p=ˈmɐˈskofskʲɪj krʲemlʲ, t=Moscow Kremlin) is a fortified complex in the center of Moscow founded by the Rurik dynasty. It is the best known of the kremlins (Ru ...
during the
1996 Russian presidential election
Presidential elections were held in Russia on 16 June 1996, with a second round being held on 3 July. It resulted in a victory for the incumbent President of Russia Boris Yeltsin, who ran as an independent politician. Yeltsin defeated Communis ...
, because of McFaul's research on electoral politics.
In his capacity as a professor of
political science
Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...
at
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...
, McFaul was the director of the university's Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law.
A
Hoover Institution
The Hoover Institution (officially The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace; abbreviated as Hoover) is an American public policy think tank and research institution that promotes personal and economic liberty, free enterprise, a ...
Peter and Helen Bing Senior Fellow, McFaul is a
Democrat who was the architect of
U.S. President Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...
's policy on Russia.
In a 2012 interview for the news portal ''Slon.ru'', McFaul described himself as "specialist on democracy, anti-dictator movements, revolutions".
In 2009, McFaul joined the
Barack Obama administration as a senior adviser in Washington, D.C., where he was the architect of the so-called "
Russian reset
The Russian reset was an attempt by the Obama administration to improve relations between the United States and Russia in 2009–2013.
Symbolic reset
On 6 March 2009 in Geneva, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented Russian Foreign Mi ...
" policy. In 2011, Obama nominated McFaul to be the 7th post-
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
United States Ambassador to the Russian Federation. On December 17, 2011, the United States Senate confirmed McFaul by
unanimous consent
In parliamentary procedure, unanimous consent, also known as general consent, or in the case of the parliaments under the Westminster system, leave of the house (or leave of the senate), is a situation in which no member present objects to a prop ...
. McFaul became the first non-career diplomat to be the U.S. ambassador to Russia.
He arrived in Russia just as huge protests were erupting over
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
's resumption of the presidency. As ambassador he was accused of "fomenting revolution" by the Russian state media, meeting with Russian pro-democracy activists and commenting frequently on
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
in English and Russian.
In his ''Washington Post'' article though he argued that these meetings were in line with Obama's policy.
In March 2011, McFaul attended, in his official White House capacity, the meeting between
Joe Biden and
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
, which Biden characterized in his memoir as "argumentative." The two met again in
a 2021 summit.
McFaul announced his resignation as ambassador to Russia on February 4, 2014, effective after the
Sochi Olympics.
John F. Tefft was confirmed as the next ambassador to Russia.
McFaul returned to Stanford as a professor of political science. He also became a senior fellow at the
Hoover Institution
The Hoover Institution (officially The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace; abbreviated as Hoover) is an American public policy think tank and research institution that promotes personal and economic liberty, free enterprise, a ...
. He continued to be involved in geopolitics. In October 2014, he stated that he believed the Russians continued to bug his and his wife's cell phones in the United States. He is currently on the Kremlin's sanction list of people who are not allowed to enter Russia.
On 2022, following the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. A ...
, McFaul and Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine
Andrii Yermak heads an expert group called Yermak-McFaul International Expert Group, which developed an individual sanctions roadmap with plans in tightening sanctions against Russia.
Russian opposition visit
On January 17, 2012, soon after McFaul was appointed the new
United States Ambassador to Russia
The ambassador of the United States of America to the Russian Federation is the ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary from the United States of America to the Russian Federation. Since September 4, 2022, Elizabeth Rood is serving as the ...
and arrived in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
to assume his post, opposition politicians and civil activists visited the
Embassy of the United States in Moscow
The Embassy of the United States of America in Moscow is the diplomatic mission of the United States of America in the Russian Federation. The current embassy compound is in the Presnensky District of Moscow, across the street from the White Ho ...
. At the entrance to the embassy, they were encountered by pro-Kremlin activists. The visitors to McFaul included
Yevgeniya Chirikova
Yevgeniya Sergeyevna Chirikova ( rus, Евге́ния Серге́евна Чи́рикова: born 12 November 1976 in Moscow) is a Russian environmental activist, primarily known for opposing the building of a motorway through Khimki Forest nea ...
(environment activist),
Boris Nemtsov
Boris Yefimovich Nemtsov ( rus, Бори́с Ефи́мович Немцо́в, p=bɐˈrʲis jɪˈfʲiməvʲɪtɕ nʲɪmˈtsof; 9 October 195927 February 2015) was a Russian physicist and liberal politician. He was involved in the introduction ...
(leader of the
People's Freedom Party People's Freedom Party may mean one of the following:
* People's Freedom Party (Russia)
The People's Freedom Party (russian: Партия народной свободы, Partiya narodnoy svobody) or shortly PARNAS (russian: ПАРНАС), formerl ...
at the time; assassinated in 2015),
Lev Ponomarev (human rights activist),
Sergey Mitrokhin
Sergey Sergeyevich Mitrokhin (Russian: Серге́й Серге́евич Митро́хин; born 20 May 1963 in Moscow) is a Russian politician.
He is a former leader of the Russian United Democratic Party "Yabloko". He was a member of the ...
(leader of
Yabloko
The Russian United Democratic Party Yabloko (RUDP Yabloko) (russian: Росси́йская объединённая демократи́ческая па́ртия «Я́блоко», Rossíyskaya obyedinyónnaya demokratícheskaya pártiya "Y ...
party),
Oksana Dmitriyeva
Oksana Genrikhovna Dmitriyeva ( rus, Оксана Генриховна Дмитриева; born 3 April 1958) is a Russian politician and economist, who currently serves as a deputy of the State Duma since 2021, having previously served in the p ...
(deputy head of
A Just Russia
A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes' ...
),
Lilia Shibanova Lilia Shibanova is a Russian activist and is the head of the independent election monitoring group Golos. She was awarded the Andrei Sakharov Freedom Award.
On 12 May 2016 Lilia was arrested by Belarusian boarder guards, while she was on her way t ...
(head of the
GOLOS Association
The Movement for Defence of Voters' Rights "Golos", formerly GOLOS Association (Cyrillic: ГОЛОС, meaning "vote" or "voice") is a Russian organisation established in 2000 to protect the electoral rights of citizens and to foster civil socie ...
elections monitor group). Leonid Kalashnikov from the
Communist Party of the Russian Federation
The Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF; russian: Коммунистическая Партия Российской Федерации; КПРФ, Kommunisticheskaya Partiya Rossiyskoy Federatsii; KPRF) is a left-wing nationalist and ...
also attended.
Reaction to the visit was mixed: then president
Dmitry Medvedev
Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev ( rus, links=no, Дмитрий Анатольевич Медведев, p=ˈdmʲitrʲɪj ɐnɐˈtolʲjɪvʲɪtɕ mʲɪdˈvʲedʲɪf; born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician who has been serving as the dep ...
, in his public comments at Moscow State University, largely exonerated McFaul by saying that meeting with opposition figures was a routine occurrence, although he warned the new U.S. ambassador that he was on Russian soil and should respect Russian political sensibilities. The incident sparked a highly negative reaction in the state-controlled Russian media, which accused him of conspiring with the opposition, but was appreciated by activists and social media users.
Russian request for an interrogation
On July 17, 2018, the
Prosecutor General of Russia
The Prosecutor General of Russia (also Attorney General of Russia, russian: Генеральный прокурор Российской Федерации, Generalʹnyy prokuror Rossiyskoy Federatsii) heads the system of official prosecution i ...
announced that it was seeking to question McFaul, amongst other Americans, in relation to its investigation of allegations made against
Bill Browder
William Felix Browder (born April 23, 1964) is an American-born British financier and political activist. He is the CEO and co-founder of Hermitage Capital Management, the investment advisor to the Hermitage Fund, which at one time was the large ...
. This followed a request Vladimir Putin made to President
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
during the
summit in Helsinki. In a White House news conference two days later, Press Secretary
Sarah Huckabee Sanders
Sarah Elizabeth Huckabee Sanders (born August 13, 1982) is an American former political spokesperson and the governor-elect of Arkansas. She was the 31st White House press secretary, serving under President Donald Trump from 2017 to 2019. She ...
said Trump described Putin's suggestion as an "interesting idea" and Trump "wants to work with his team and determine if there is any validity that would be helpful to the process". On July 19, shortly before the Senate was to vote on a resolution opposing the idea, Sanders stated that Trump "disagrees" with the Putin proposal. The Senate approved the non-binding "sense of the Senate" resolution on a 98–0 vote; it stated that no current or former diplomat or other government employee should be made available to the Russians for interrogation.
Political positions
After the
2016 presidential election
This national electoral calendar for 2016 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2016 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included.
January
*7 January: Kiri ...
, he became a regular commentator on
MSNBC
MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...
and social media, and was frequently critical of the policies and actions of President
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
with regard to Russia.
McFaul supported the
Iran nuclear deal
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA; fa, برنامه جامع اقدام مشترک , barnāmeye jāme'e eqdāme moshtarak (, ''BARJAM'')), commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal or Iran deal, is an agreement on the Iranian nuclear ...
. In July 2019, McFaul wrote that
Communist Party of China
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Ci ...
's officials "champion the advantages of their system — an ability to undertake massive infrastructure projects, the capacity to manage income inequalities and a commitment to harmony in government and society. In contrast, polarized U.S. politics in the Trump era seem to impede any major initiative, be it infrastructure development or addressing income inequality."
McFaul debated the Russian invasion with
John Mearsheimer in May 2022. McFaul has taken a position on the Russian invasion of Ukraine identifying Putin as a culprit in conducting the invasion of Ukraine against the position of Mearsheimer that Putin is pursuing a realist geopolitical plan to secure Russian national interests in the presence of perceived threats from an expanding
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...
.
Recognition
Coit D. Blacker
Coit Dennis Blacker is the Olivier Nomellini Professor in International Studies in the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford University. He served as Special Assistant to the President of the United States for National Security Affairs an ...
called McFaul "the leading scholar of his generation, maybe the leading scholar, on post-Communist Russia" and a Stanford news release said his knowledge of Russia "was an important resource to politicians. He advised President
George W. Bush on his dealings with Russian President
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
".
Personal life
McFaul and his wife, Donna Norton, married in 1993 and have two sons, Cole and Luke.
Books
*
''Post-communist Politics: Democratic Prospects In Russia And Eastern Europe'' (1993)
*
''The Troubled Birth of Russian Democracy: Parties, Personalities, and Programs'' (1993)
* ''Understanding Russia's 1993 Parliamentary Elections: Implications for U.S. Foreign Policy'' (1995)
*
''Russia's 1996 Presidential Election: The End of Polarized Politics'' (1997)
*
''Russia's Unfinished Revolution: Political Change from Gorbachev to Putin'' (2001)
*
''Between Dictatorship and Democracy: Russian Post-Communist Political Reform'' (2010)
* ''Russia's Unfinished Revolution: Political Change from Gorbachev to Putin'' (2015)
* ''From Cold War to Hot Peace: An American Ambassador in Putin's Russia'' (2018)
See also
*
Russia under Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin has served three terms and is currently in a fourth as President of Russia (2000–2004, 2004–2008, 2012–2018 and May 2018 to present) and served as Acting President from 1999 to 2000, succeeding Boris Yeltsin after Yeltsin's ...
Footnotes
External links
Personal WebsiteBiography at Stanford Center for Democracy Development and the Rule of LawBiography at Carnegie Endowment for International PeaceOverview of the Michael McFaul collectionat th
Hoover Institution Archives*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:McFaul, Michael
Russian studies scholars
Ambassadors of the United States to Russia
United States National Security Council staffers
Obama administration personnel
21st-century American diplomats
American political scientists
Stanford University Department of Political Science faculty
Stanford University faculty
Hoover Institution people
American foreign policy writers
American Rhodes Scholars
Alumni of St John's College, Oxford
Stanford University alumni
People from Bozeman, Montana
1963 births
Living people