Hear four outstanding speakers debate the case for and against Russian rapprochement.

Live Debate, followed by a Drinks Reception.

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Is it high time for a rapprochement with Putin? As the transatlantic alliance flounders and Britain wallows in Brexit psychodrama, Europe can no longer afford to keep Russian relations strained. In fact, a detente is now a geopolitical necessity. Containment policies may have made sense under Obama, but with an erratic Trump in the White House, rapidly ceding influence to Putin in the Middle East, Russia is now a major global actor – and a vital European partner. The Kremlin has steered the Syrian war and co-opted Turkey and Iran in the process. Its cooperation is paramount in establishing stability in the region, and in quashing ISIS. To maintain sanctions and froideur against Russia threatens our own security — as well as crucial infrastructure projects like Nordstream 2. And with an ascendant China eyeing up its neighbour, it’s clearly in Europe’s interest to follow Macron’s lead and try to pivot Putin back towards the West.

Hang on, say Putin’s critics. Have we forgotten whom we’re dealing with? This is the Russian leadership that annexed the Crimea, shot down a passenger airliner in 2014, and continues to breach the ceasefire in Eastern Ukraine. Malevolent Russian interference in the UK referendum and US elections, and support for far-right politicians in Italy and France, has destabilised the Western democratic order to the favour of divisive and isolationist populists. The Kremlin matches its concerted disinformation campaigns with a track record of callous assassinations on European soil, from Litvinenko and Skripal to the recent gunning down of a Chechen exile in Berlin. Russia has no interest in European friendship; on the contrary, it repeatedly shows itself intent on defying European rule of law and splintering European solidarity. What's more, the country’s entrenched corruption and dire human and LGBTQ rights record is fundamentally misaligned with European democratic values. Europe must stand firm, any acquiescence towards Putin will only strengthen the global drift towards authoritarianism.

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Speaking against the motion:

Carole Cadwalladr: investigative reporter for The Guardian and The Observer, best-known for exposing the Cambridge Analytica data scandal. Cadwalladr has also uncovered multiple crimes committed during the EU referendum in Britain, including evidence of Russian interference in Brexit. She was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist for National Reporting in 2019 and is the recipient of the Orwell Prize for political journalism 2018. 

Bill Browder: financier and activist. Founder and CEO of Hermitage Capital Management, Browder was the largest foreign investor in Russia until 2005, when he was denied entry to the country after exposing alleged corruption in state-owned companies. In 2009, his lawyer Sergei Magnitsky died in a Moscow prison. Browder has spent the last 10 years campaigning for the "Magnitsky Act", which imposes visa bans and asset freezes on individual human rights abusers. He is the author of The New York Times bestseller, Red Notice. 

Speaking for the motion:

Dominique Moïsi: political scientist and founding member of the Institut français des relations internationales. Moïsi is Special Advisor to Institut Montaigne and a visiting professor at Harvard University and King's College London. He is the author of several books, most notably The Geopolitics of Emotion. Moïsi is the son of Auschwitz survivor, Jules Moïsi. Referring to his father, he says “He survived fear and humiliation to teach me hopefulness.” 

Richard Sakwa: Professor of Russian and European Politics at the University of Kent and Associate Fellow of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House. Sakwa is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS) and a Senior Research Fellow at the National Research University - Higher School of Economics in Moscow. His books include Putin Redux: Power and Contradiction in Contemporary Russia and Russia against the Rest: The Post-Cold War Crisis of World Order.

An Intelligence Squared x ECFR Debate, supported by Stiftung Mercator

* Due to heightened security at this event, doors open at 19.30 for 20.00 event start*