I think of myself as a Russophile. I speak the language and studied the nation's literature and history in college.

My late mother moved back to her parents' homeland in the 1990s when Ukraine and Russia, along with the thirteen other former Soviet republics, became independent states. Drawing on her experience as a lawyer in Canada, she served as executive officer of the Ukrainian Legal Foundation, an NGO she helped to found.

I interviewed Putin himself in 2000, shortly after he took over as president.

Chrystia Freeland Quotes