President Biden is not the first U.S. head of state to tangle with Vladimir Putin. Russia’s president has dealt with at least five commanders-in-chief.

And while the war in Ukraine is Putin’s biggest military operation in that time, presidents going back to former President Bill Clinton have been forced to respond to Russian wars and questions of sovereignty in the former Soviet states.

Here & Now‘s Scott Tong speaks with Thomas E. Graham, a distinguished fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Graham was special assistant to the president and senior director for Russia on the National Security Council staff from 2004 to 2007, during which he managed a White House-Kremlin strategic dialogue.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

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