Scott Ritter: Citizen Diplomacy Russophobia is a disease of the mind. Citizens Diplomacy is the cure.

Pavel Balobanov and I shake hands in Moscow, August 2025

We, the People of the United States of America, are the custodians of our Constitutional Republic. Through our free and democratic processes, we elect officials to represent us in government, and through these very same processes, backed by the rule of law, we hold these same officials accountable for what they do in our name. The processes of good citizenship, however, are not defined by passivity, limited simply to participation in elections, but rather dynamic actions that promote constant engagement across the full spectrum of issues that define our collective daily existence. Good citizenship sets the standards through which we hold elected officials accountable, and good citizens lead by example. This applies to both the domestic and foreign policies being implemented in our name.

The issue of Russophobia in America today should be a concern for us all. Russophobia is designed to exploit the ignorance of the American people by promulgating falsehoods about the reality of Russia that are designed to generate fear, fear which is then exploited by those whom we elect to support policies which postulate Russia as the eternal bogeyman. This mage is then used to justify defense spending and national security postures that have put the United States on a highway to hell that can only end with a nuclear Armageddon. In short, Russophobia represents an existential threat to the security of the United States and the entire world. It is one of the most dangerous threats facing the American people today, and yet it is fostered by mainstream media, academia and the permanent bureaucracy of government, all of which are deeply infected with the intellectual poison produced by Russophobia.

The antidote to this poison is knowledge and information that can only be garnered through direct contact between the American and Russian people.

This is where citizen diplomacy comes in.

I have been actively engaged in citizen diplomacy with Russia since April 2023, when I first travelled to Russia to promote the cause of peace through nuclear disarmament. At that time, I engaged in the practice of repairing trust between the American and Russian people “one handshake at a time.”

The Challenge Coin I brought with me to Russia in May 2023

I shook many hands during this trip.

I returned to Russia in December 2023 to bring in the New Year, promoting the concept of “Waging Peace” by learning more about the Russian reality, and bringing that reality back with me to the United States, where I sought to share it with anyone and everyone willing to listen and learn.

The poison of Russophobia, however, runs deep in the blood of the United States, and my efforts at conducting citizens diplomacy were deemed a threat by the administration of President Joe Biden, which sought to criminalize my efforts, dispatching the FBI to my home under the false pretext that I was acting as an agent of the Russian government. The Biden State Department revoked my passport, deliberately preventing me from travelling to Russia in the summer of 2024, where I planned on engaging in citizens diplomacy on a scope and scale greater than previously practiced.

I refused to be intimidated by this obvious lawfare being waged against me and the cause of peace I promoted. While I fought to get my passport returned, I continued to engage with the Russian people, attending several functions at the Russian Embassy (including a piano recital, and both Russia Day and Victory Day celebrations).

Shaking hands with Russian Ambassador to the United States Alexander Darchiev

I shook many hands during these visits.

I also worked with a Russian counterpart, Pavel Balobanov, to resurrect the landmark 1985 “Spacebridge” organized by the late American journalist, Phil Donahue, and his Soviet counterpart, Vladimir Pozner. One June 18, 2025, Pavel and I conducted a three hour “Citizens Summit” bringing together an American audience in Kingston, New York with a Russian audience in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

The reaction of all involved was overwhelmingly positive.

On July 15, 2025 (my birthday) my passport was finally restored to me. Shortly thereafter, the FBI began returning property they had seized in the raid on my home. Elections matter, and the results of the November 2024 Presidential election saw the Russophobia of the Biden administration replaced by the policies of peace promoted by Donald Trump. These policies were founded in the notion that America was best served by learning to live in peace with Russia. Free speech was once again a concept protected by the government, even when the concepts promoted—such as good relations between Russia and the US—ran afoul of the Russophobic narratives promoted by mainstream media, academia, and the permanent government bureaucracy.

My week in Russia (August 9-18) was one of the most productive examples of citizen diplomacy I have ever been engaged in—and keep in mind I travelled to Iraq in September 2002, where I was the first and only foreigner to address the Iraqi parliament in a valiant but ultimately failed effort to prevent a war by getting the Iraqis to allow UN weapons inspectors to return to work. The timing of this visit was serendipitous—I landed as the Alaska Summit between President Trump and President Putin was announced, and as such I was perfectly located to take the pulse of Russian public reaction, both to the potential of the summit, and its results.

One of the messages I received repeatedly from the scores of interviews I conducted with Russians from every walk of life was how important it was to the Russian people that President Trump understood that, when it came to the issue of peace between Russia and the US, the Russian people were fully supportive of his efforts. I promised that I would do my best to relay this message to President Trump, and today I am making good on this promise.

The Poughkeepsie Peace Initiative’s Letter to President Trump

As part of my Project 38 initiative, I have brought together a team of like-minded people, all experts in their respective fields, for the purpose of helping craft a vision for arms control with Russia, built on the premise that the last remaining treaty between the US and Russia which limits the size of our respective nuclear arsenals—the New START treaty—should be extended (it expires on February 4, 2026), and that the need for limits on intermediate range nuclear forces which were lifted with the demise of the INF treaty (President Trump withdrew from this treaty in August 2019) are essential for European and global security and stability. Together with this team—former Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich, former CIA analyst Ray McGovern, and MIT Professor Ted Postol—I have written a letter praising President Trump for his courage in agreeing to meet with President Putin, appraising the President of the results of my recent trip to Russia, and informing the President that this team—which we call the Poughkeepsie Peace Initiative—stands ready to support his peace efforts with Russia by engaging in citizens diplomacy for the betterment of relations between the US and Russia.

This is Citizens Diplomacy in action.

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