Stamford, Conn.-Nov. 25, 2015 – The public is invited to attend an Ambassadors’ Roundtable series breakfast presentation by Dr. Fiona Hill on “Mr. Putin: Understanding the Man at War with the West”. This event will take place at the Stamford Yacht Club on Dec. 9, 2015.

Dr. Hill is director of the Center on the United States and Europe, and senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Program at the Brookings Institution. From 2006-2009, she served as the National Intelligence Officer for Russia and Eurasia at The National Intelligence Council. Prior to joining Brookings, Hill was director of strategic planning at The Eurasia Foundation in Washington, DC.

In addition, Hill has published extensively on issues related to Russia, the Caucasus, Central Asia, regional conflicts, energy, and strategic issues. She is co-author of both Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin and The Siberian Curse: How Communist Planners Left Russia Out in the Cold.

“As Vyacheslav Volodin, one of Putin’s advisors, put it in a speech to the annual meeting of the Valdai Club in October 2014: ‘There is no Russia today if there is no Putin!’ So with Putin’s approval ratings still soaring above 80 percent and no credible alternative presidential candidate even in the wings, if Putin dies suddenly, is indisposed for a period of time, or is overwhelmed by multiple crises that rapidly undercut his basis of domestic support and his ability to control the jockeying for Kremlin power, the world of Russian politics gets thrown off its axis.” – Fiona Hill

She holds an A.M. in Soviet Studies and a Ph.D. in History from Harvard University where she was a Frank Knox Fellow. She has an M.A. degree in Russian and Modern History from St. Andrews University in Scotland; and has pursued studies at Moscow’s Maurice Thorez Institute of Foreign Languages.

The cost for the breakfast and presentation is free for AR series members, $30 for Forum members and $50 for the general public. The event will start at 7 a.m. with coffee and networking followed by a full breakfast buffet at 7:30 a.m. The presentation will begin at 8 a.m. and Dr. Hill will take questions.

The World Affairs Forum is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to expanding understanding of global affairs and America’s role in the world. The Forum is an affiliate of the World Affairs Councils of America.