I propose to look at the motion we are debating from one simple and yet fundamental viewpoint, that of national interests. I would ask, is it in interests of the west to bring russia in from the cold? Or on the contrary, wouth this run counter to the interests of the West? Allow me to call your attention to the fact that russian society has, from ancient times, been divided into two camp pro western and anti western. And if we accept 20 years as being the period that defines one generation, then we are looking at four generations formed by those nearly 80 years.
This week, we’re going back to 2017, with our debate "It's time to bring Russia in from the cold: Rapprochement is in the West's best interests". For this major event, Intelligence Squared put together a stellar line-up. Making the case for rapprochement with Russia was Vladimir Pozner, one of Russia’s best known television journalists and a former advocate for the Soviet Union, and Domitilla Sagramoso, a leading expert on security in Russia; arguing against them were Michael Hayden, former director of both the CIA and the NSA, and Radek Sikorski, who was Poland’s foreign minister from 2007 to 2014.
The debate was chaired by BBC World News presenter Nik Gowing.
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