A Top Russian Expert Shared His Views On Relations With The US

Andrew Korybko 

They’re worth paying attention to since he might reasonably be consulted by Putin or other policymakers given his renown as one of the world’s top experts in this field

Dimitri Simes is definitely one of the world’s top experts on Russian-US relations. He used to advise Richard Nixon and even ran his institution for nearly three decades, advised Trump in 2016, hosts a leading show on Russian TV, and moderated an economic-political session with Putin in 2023. That’s why his longform interview with RT is so important for folks to pay attention to, but given its length and some readers’ limited time, this piece will highlight his main points for convenience and then analyze them.

Contrary to common assumptions, Simes said, not a lot actually unites Russians and Americans nowadays due to the “tremendous changes – demographically, culturally, and in terms of lifestyle” – that the latter have undergone in recent decades. He elaborated that the US’ demographic changes in particular, transformation from a “melting pot” to a “mixed salad”, and political correctness widened differences with Russians and pose serious domestic challenges.

On the international front, Russia and the US nowadays embrace the opposite worldviews of multipolarity and global dominance, but this wasn’t predetermined. According to Simes, while “certain factors do foster mutual distrust and place competition above cooperation”, political émigrés from the USSR and some former Soviet Republics’ deep resentment of Russia emboldened liberal globalists in the US after the (Old) Cold War to take a harder line towards Russia. They then also underestimated it.

This contextualizes the Biden Administration’s failure to take Russia’s interests into account vis-à-vis Ukraine and NATO’s continued eastward expansion, thus resulting in the ongoing special operation, which surprised them. Trump has since sought to dismantle their influence over the US’ foreign policy and its approach towards Russia in particular, Simes said, but “A significant part of the American elite remains composed of individuals who embody the old trends that prevailed before Trump.”

As for Trump personally, Simes said that is very ambitious and doesn’t know when to stop, which he’d know given that he used to advise him. This accounts for why he can be perceived as going overboard when implementing domestic and foreign policy. On that topic, although Trump’s refusal to extend the New START for another year per Putin’s proposal wasn’t directly touched upon, strategic security with respect to nuclear weapons was and it’s here where Simes also had something important to say.

His interlocutor asked him about the doctrine of “selective nuclear strikes” by the late James Schelsinger, a very powerful former US official who held many prominent posts throughout his storied career, which calls for the use of tactical nuclear weapons for deterrence purposes. Simes said that it’s relevant to Russia since the Collective West now has “greater economic resources and a greater population”, hence why Russia should consider this if it comes under attack by the Baltic States or Ukraine.

These views are significant since Simes might reasonably be consulted by Putin or other policymakers given his reputation as one of the world’s top experts on Russian-US relations, therefore, it’s possible that Russia might seriously consider implementing this policy in particular. As for the rest of his interview, both the aforementioned highlights and the remainder that weren’t included in this summary, Simes’ insight was intriguing and RT’s audience would certainly benefit if it interviewed him more often.

Andrew Korybko, Substack, March 23, 2026

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