Dmitry Medvedev - Obama Presidency Oral History

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Dmitry Medvedev

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William Burns

...the letter that Barack Obama sent to [Dmitry] Medvedev . Could you talk a little bit about ho...
...the president write a serious letter to Dmitry Medvedev ,” who had just succeeded Vladimi...
...to the fact that Russia was “more Medvedev 's than Putin's.” The other wa...
...The other way around, more Putin's than Medvedev 's. Oh, sorry, yes, took the not...
...as keenly aware of that as Obama and Medvedev kind of built their early rapport? ...

...it, of him becoming prime minister, of Medvedev moving into the president's office i...
...I think it was obviously worth engaging Dmitry Medvedev as president. He had his own view o...
... The relationship between Obama and Medvedev is pretty impressive— Yes...
...for that? Well, I think from Medvedev 's point of view, my impression alway...
...closer together in a way than Medvedev or Obama himself was with a lot o...
...partly resentful of the attention that Medvedev was getting, and wondering, Don'...
...a for Putin, demonstrating both that Medvedev might not be up to the task and tha...
...Now, he had never really left. He and Dmitry Medvedev had swapped jobs, and Putin wa...
...he remained the central decision maker. Medvedev , in many respects, was a wholly owne...
...as the president. And so, he and Medvedev kind of—he decided, and he and Medvede...
...Medvedev kind of—he decided, and he and Medvedev unveiled the fact arbitrarily t...

James Jones

...President Obama and [Russian] President [Dmitry A.] Medvedev was quite good. They met for the firs...
...they were concerned about. President Medvedev said something that I'll never forget...
...personal relationship between Obama and Medvedev would kind of persist? Th...
...would kind of persist? The Obama- Medvedev relationship persisted, until h...
...relationship persisted, until he [ Medvedev ] left office and was replaced by Puti...

...just say, Why? Why would you do this? Medvedev 's visit to the United States, and ...

Ben Rhodes

...went very, very well. I mean, [Dimitry] Medvedev and Obama got along. They reached thi...
...along with sanctions. It was always Medvedev who pushed out a bit ahead of th...
...openness to sanctions. We wouldn't ask Medvedev to do that in the big meeting wit...
...get the press, Obama would lean over to Medvedev and say, “Hey, it would be reall...
...do [laughs] it. What we knew is that Medvedev wouldn't necessarily want to agree t...

...but it was very tied to the Obama- Medvedev personal relationship. We assumed tha...
...personal relationship. We assumed that Medvedev wouldn't be doing things that Putin, a...
...to do. Our basic assumption was, while Medvedev is a pleasant guy who will help us ou...
...in in 2012, that analysis was wrong; Medvedev was, at times, probably pushing ou...
...crazy to think back on how warm the Medvedev relationship is. When he came t...
...state car] together, and there's Medvedev eating a hamburger, bizarrely without ...
...the warmth of that relationship with Medvedev ? I used to talk to him about it...
...negotiations, get stuck; he'd call Medvedev and get unstuck. This happened agai...
...would make to me: one is, he liked Medvedev ; he said, “I could see that guy in ...
...all the crimes of the US and stuff. Medvedev , Obama used to say to me, “This gu...
...was a staffer in Hawaii when he called Medvedev to mark this. He said to Medvedev...
...Medvedev to mark this. He said to Medvedev , “Dimitry, I just want to show yo...
...they're generationally similar age. Medvedev wanted to feel like a modernizer, an...
...didn't expect, but hoped that maybe Medvedev would get a second term, and h...

Jeremy Bash

...because at the time, the president, [Dmitry Anatolyevich] Medvedev , was coming to the United States t...
...striking how closely it coincides with Medvedev 's visit. Yeah. The way the operatio...
...again, by the FBI and others. Medvedev left the United States. Actually, h...

Hillary Clinton

...of an opening, to some people, because [Dmitry] Medvedev was the president. So Obama woul...
...much rope or string would he give to Medvedev to make decisions—we needed t...
...the presidents, between Obama and Medvedev . We were there for a G20 meeting. W...
...meeting, the bilateral meeting, with Medvedev was a really interesting one. We'd al...
...He'd gotten all his talking points. Medvedev was clearly wanting to appear as th...

...and sharing something that surprised Medvedev , and led him to say something like...
...hard to build a relationship with Medvedev , and Putin let him. There were som...
...a way out of it. They never really did. Medvedev was absolutely fascinated with tryin...
...to the US to go to Silicon Valley. So Medvedev had some pet projects that wer...
...new with Iran, implemented while Medvedev was there. And we did. To be fair, eve...
...so well, as betrayed by the comment by Medvedev at that first meeting, were really u...
...president, Jim Jones, and I met with Medvedev , [Sergei] Lavrov, and [Petro...
...bilateral meetings. I think he met with Medvedev . He met with a bunch of leaders. The...
...because Putin, as prime minister, gave Medvedev some slack as president—I really can'...
...him—both my encounters with him and Medvedev , certainly President Obama's wit...
...certainly President Obama's with Medvedev —that there was no reason Russi...
...back as president, and basically pushed Medvedev aside. And I think he was shocked b...
...They were people who thought that under Medvedev and the cooperation—they loved th...
...cooperation—they loved the pictures of Medvedev and Obama eating hamburgers. The...

Tom Donilon

...and what the dynamic might be with [Dmitry] Medvedev , who came into office when there was ...
...where he had his first meetings with Dmitry Medvedev , the president of the Russia...
...took place between him and Medvedev . A number of important things wer...
...were accomplished even then, including Medvedev 's agreement to open up the so-calle...
...crisis and the relationship with Medvedev —that strikes me as a good place t...

...president thought about meeting with Medvedev —working on the northern route, as yo...
...truth is that after that first meeting, Medvedev was quite forthcoming and clearly wa...
...Our view was, it wasn't likely that Medvedev was out there doing a lot of thing...
...Now, ultimately, I think Putin and Medvedev got crosswise on Libya. So th...
...turned out that we got a lot done with Medvedev . And the turning point in th...
...this; that, basically, we had time with Medvedev , but with Putin's return, things woul...
...were organizing at Camp David. He sent Medvedev instead. That's a complicated stor...
...the president seems to have forged with Medvedev ? It was a generational thing...
...It was a generational thing. Medvedev —I think correctly—was looking to hav...
...I think it was strategic, as well, on Medvedev 's part. Even when I met with Putin, h...

Antony Blinken

...the relationship between Obama and [Dmitry] Medvedev , which seems to have been remarkabl...
...Well, it was close in the sense that Medvedev came off as being a more pragmati...
...and assess the extent to which Medvedev had any real authority, to what exten...

Leon Panetta

...was that the president was meeting with Medvedev , the president of Russia. I remember...
...these guys when he's meeting with Medvedev . Again, using my Hill experience, ...
...because we were worried about offending Medvedev —I just want you to contemplate wha...
...where the president would meet with Medvedev , Medvedev would be out of ou...
...the president would meet with Medvedev, Medvedev would be out of our airspace, and the...

...develop a better relationship with Medvedev , that he wanted to, basically, try t...
...that suggests that's— I think after Medvedev left and Putin stayed in power, it wa...

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Dmitry Medvedev - Obama Presidency Oral History

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