Fireside Chat with John Sullivan: War in Ukraine and US-Russia Relations

Description:

The Jackson School will host a conversation with John Sullivan, former US Deputy Secretary of State and former US Ambassador to Russia on the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and its impact on the relationship between the US and Russia. Dean Jim Levinsohn will moderate.

Sullivan’s career spans four decades in public service in prominent diplomatic and legal positions under five US presidents and in private law practice at Mayer Brown LLP. Before rejoining the firm in January 2023, he was the US Ambassador to Russia from December 2019 to October 2022, leading the US Embassy through the most challenging period in US-Russia relations in generations. Prior to his post in Moscow, Sullivan served for nearly three years as the Deputy Secretary of State responsible for both the formulation and conduct of US foreign policy and the management of the State Department’s global operations. He was the Acting Secretary of State in March-April 2018 — among the longest tenures in history of anyone in that position.

Previously, Ambassador Sullivan held senior positions in the departments of Justice, Defense, and Commerce in two prior administrations. Until January 2009, he was the Deputy Secretary of Commerce under President George W. Bush, following his service from 2005 to 2007 as the general counsel of the department. In President Bush’s first term, he was appointed deputy general counsel of the Defense Department by Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. In the George H.W. Bush Administration, Sullivan was counselor to Assistant Attorney General J. Michael Luttig in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel.

Sullivan is a Distinguished Fellow at the School of Foreign Service of Georgetown University and a Distinguished Senior Fellow in the National Security Law Program at Columbia Law School, where he earned his law degree. As a leading authority on foreign affairs, he is quoted frequently in national media and is a contributor to CBS News.

Open to the Yale community. Please register