Transcripts from the Middlebury Institute at Monterey video series feature three “deans of diplomacy” with Moscow – Jack Matlock, Thomas Pickering, James Collins
Insights, personal reflections spanning the 1990s provide context for today’s conflicts
Washington, D.C., January 25, 2022 – The National Security Archive updates today the publication last year of interview transcripts from eight former U.S. ambassadors to Russia, providing essential historical context to debates over U.S.-Russian relations, with three additional interviews with the deans of American diplomacy with Moscow – Jack Matlock, Thomas Pickering, and James Collins.
The interviews are courtesy of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, where the Monterey Initiative in Russian Studies, under the direction of Professor Anna Vassilieva, has organized the entire Ambassadorial Series of interviews and is publishing the material as videos, podcasts, and transcripts.
The three new interviews cover the 1990s in Russia and the rise of Vladimir Putin through the expert eyes of Jack Matlock, ambassador from 1987 to 1991, Thomas Pickering, ambassador from 1993 to 1996, and James Collins, ambassador from 1997 to 2001. The interviews were conducted in 2021 by the Middlebury Institute’s expert Dr. Hanna Notte, based in Vienna.
Jack F. Matlock – U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union, 1987-1991.
Thomas R. Pickering – Ambassador to the Russian Federation, 1993-1996.
James F. Collins – U.S. Ambassador to the Russian Federation, 1997–2001.