Did McFaul say that educated Americans share Putin's position on Ukraine?

Russian media disseminated a statement by former US Ambassador to the Russian Federation Michael McFaul that many Americans, including scientists, allegedly support Putin’s position on Ukraine. We checked what the diplomat actually said.

Articles about the sensational confession of Michael McFaul were published in such major publications as "Kommersant", RBC, "News" And "RIA Novosti" The emphasis was placed on the fact that the US scientific community - “academics, philosophers, experts” - is also allegedly on Putin’s side. Edition "Moskovsky Komsomolets" wrote: "McFaul acknowledged that most educated Americans share Putin's position on Ukraine." A "Tsargrad" in an article with the headline “McFaul opened his eyes: in the United States, scientists support Putin, speaking about the unity of Russians and Ukrainians,” he simultaneously accused the United States of hypocrisy: “It’s amazing, but it’s a fact that many people in the United States, including representatives of the scientific community, share the theses of Russian President Vladimir Putin about the historical unity of Russia and Ukraine, which he voiced before the start of the special operation. <…> However, this does not prevent the United States from pursuing its goal of ousting Russia from food markets.”

Some media called Michael McFaul is the most famous American ambassador to Russia. The Western press talks about him more often They say as the architect of the failed “reset” of Russian-American relations that began in 2009. McFaul headed the US diplomatic mission to the Russian Federation in January 2012. From the very first days of service, Russian media accused ambassador in promoting the Orange Revolution in Russia and that he allegedly came to “overthrow Putin’s power.” Having served in Russia for two years, McFaul was prematurely left took office in February 2014, shortly before Russia's annexation of Crimea. To date Russian And Western The media agree that McFaul is one of the harshest public critics of Putin and his policies. And McFaul himself recently interview Ksenia Sobchak said that in Russia he was declared enemy number one.

It was under this informational sauce that the news spread throughout the Russian media: supposedly even an ardent critic of the Kremlin publicly acknowledged American support for Putin’s position on Ukraine. The reason for the news was interview Michael McFaul for the project “Ukraine Now. Vision of the Future” of the Ukrainian National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption. During this interview, McFaul said: “I think in my country many people agree with some of Putin’s statements about Ukraine: “Russians, Ukrainians - they are all the same, aren’t they? Their languages ​​are, in principle, similar. After all, Russia originates from Kievan Rus.” Many people are thinking in this direction, including even scientists and professors.”

As can be seen from the quote itself, the meaning of McFaul’s words differs from the opinion of the Russian media that “the most educated Americans share Putin’s position on Ukraine.” It's also worth considering the broader context of the quote. The interviewer asked the question: “What post-Soviet, post-colonial diseases should we recover from?” In response, McFaul said that, as the war in Ukraine showed, with the collapse of the USSR, Russia's imperial views did not disappear anywhere. Putin has revived these old ideas that the whole world considered extinct. The lesson to be learned from this war is that the world needs to better understand the culture and history of Russia and Ukraine, as even some educated Americans have gaps in their knowledge of these topics. With the help of Ukrainian scientists, it is necessary to develop a program that would tell the world about the true history of Ukraine and dispel the myth that Russians and Ukrainians are one and the same.

Russian media took the quote out of context to create the illusion that even the best people in the United States allegedly agree with the arguments Putin made before sending troops into Ukraine. But as the full interview shows, the sensational media headlines are far from the real meaning of McFaul's words.

Cover image: US Ambassador to the Russian Federation Michael McFaul, Moscow, 2013. Photo by Vadim Preslitsky. Source: Michael McFaul website

Taken out of context

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. Is it true that Ukrainian statehood was created by Vladimir Lenin?
2. "Kommersant". Michael McFaul: 'I was no ordinary ambassador'
3. BBC. Michael McFaul: I love Russia and hope to return