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Fiona Hill

Chancellor, Durham University; Senior Fellow, Brookings, Durham University

Search every verified Fiona Hill interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. At a House of Lords lecture, Fiona Hill, a former White House National Security Council senior director and Kremlin biographer, discussed Vladimir Putin's worldview and Western diplomatic challenges. Hill said that Putin operates within "his own version of history" and seeks justification for his actions, often dismissing issues like NATO enlargement as secondary. She also addressed the early stages of the Ukraine conflict, noting that Putin did not expect Ukrainians to resist and that the war has lasted longer than he anticipated, with the Ukrainian fight ongoing after five years. Hill also commented on President Trump's approach to Russia, stating that for Trump, interactions are primarily about how they reflect on him. She described an episode in Helsinki where Trump repudiated his advisers in favor of Putin and recalled that Finnish officials were asked to brief Trump on Putin because he would not listen to his own team. In addition, Hill discussed civil preparedness, referencing Finland's model of training large numbers of civilians annually and suggesting that local structures, such as devolved regional authorities in the UK, could play a role in organizing responses to potential threats.

Recent appearances

  • “You Can’t Deal With Him”: Fiona Hill on Why Trump & the West Can’t Grasp Putin’s Psyche

    October 19, 2026 · 📺 CRUX

    “You Can’t Deal With Him”: Fiona Hill on Why Trump & the West Can’t Grasp Putin’s Psyche In a captivating address at the House of Lords for the Lord Speaker’s Lecture, former White House National Security Council senior director and Kremlin biographer Dr. Fiona Hill offers a candid breakdown of Vladimir Putin’s frustrating and dangerous psyche. Drawing on decades of intelligence analysis and firsthand encounters, Hill explains why conventional Western diplomacy fails: Putin views himself as the modern reincarnation of Peter the Great and medieval tsars, obsessed with century-old territorial c…

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  • UKICE Lunch Hour: Confronting foreign policy challenges

    July 14, 2026 · 📺 UK in a Changing Europe

    You can join our Slido during the event to ask questions by using this link: https://app.sli.do/event/7kM8ndyN51xZ... Foreign policy challenges have dominated the first two years of this government - from the Greenland crisis and disruption in the Strait of Hormuz to coordinating the coalition of the willing on Ukraine. The effects of global shocks have been felt at home too, with rising energy prices, food inflation, and lacklustre economic growth. Instability and volatility seem to have become the new normal. In addition, any incoming Prime Minister faces difficult trade-offs on defence spe…

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  • Anne Applebaum and Fiona Hill: Are the Autocrats Winning?

    June 11, 2026 · 📺 The Prof G Pod – Scott Galloway

    For our 400th episode, Scott Galloway is joined by Anne Applebaum and Fiona Hill to discuss the wars in Ukraine and Iran, the future of global power, and what these conflicts reveal about America's role in the world. They explore whether Ukraine is changing the future of warfare, how Vladimir Putin's position has evolved over the last year, and what might come next for Iran. They also discuss the strengths and weaknesses of authoritarian regimes, the importance of alliances, and why soft power may matter more than military power in the years ahead. Timestamps 00:00 - In This Episode 00:41 -…

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  • Is Trump a Russian asset? Fiona Hill on the President she worked for | The News Agents

    April 29, 2026 · 📺 The News Agents

    Fiona Hill served in Donald Trump's first administration and is one of the most authoritative voices on geopolitics. She advised on his Russia strategy and matters of national intelligence - before becoming a witness in his impeachment in 2019. She has worked up close and personal with the President. And, as the war in Iran rages, and Putin continues to try and chisel Trump away from Europe's position on Ukraine, she came into the News Agents studio to try and make sense of the new age of international turmoil ushered in by Trump's second term. What does she understand about the Putin-Trump…

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  • Focus on Eurasia: Russia's war against Ukraine: Will it lead to crisis in Moscow?

    December 05, 2025 · 📺 MIT Center for International Studies (MIT CIS)

    Russia’s war against Ukraine: Will it lead to crisis in Moscow? A conversation with Fiona Hill: Tuesday, December 2 Speaker: Fiona Hill is a senior fellow at the Center on the United States and Europe at Brookings Institution and Chancellor of Durham University. Hill served as deputy assistant to the president and senior director for European and Russian affairs on the US National Security Council from 2017 to 2019, as well as national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia at the US National Intelligence Council from 2006 to 2009. She has researched and published extensively on issues r…

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  • Abridged Dr. Fiona Hill, Susan Thornton, Barrett Takesian at Freeport Speech 2025

    October 24, 2025 · 📺 pcsquash

    ... of honor Fiona Hill quoting the New York Times As she was in academia and at the White House Miss Hill is a trenchant analyst ...

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  • Fiona Hill: The world is going nuclear

    June 27, 2025 · 📺 UnHerd

    🔗Try High Flavanol Cocoa (Stem Cells & Nitric Oxide): (40% OFF PROMO FOR 48HR) https://blackforestsupplements.com/UN... 📰 Subscribe to UnHerd today at: https://bit.ly/4eStsTF UnHerd's Freddie Sayers sits down with Dr Fiona Hill. Listen to the podcast: https://plnk.to/unherd?to=page Freddie Sayers, Editor-in-Chief of UnHerd, interviews Dr Fiona Hill, renowned Russia expert and former Senior Director for European and Russian Affairs in the first Trump administration (2017–2019). A senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and Chancellor of Durham University, Dr Hill has advised three U.S. p…

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  • Fiona Hill- 'Geopolitics and resilience in an uncertain world'

    May 05, 2025 · 📺 FundacionAreces

    In this lecture, Fiona Hill, senior fellow in the Center on the United States and Europe within the Foreign Policy program at Brookings, chancellor at Durham University in the United Kingdom and member of the Board of Overseers at Harvard University, will talk about how to navigate the changing geopolitical climate and the importance of investing in local communities to build resilience and create a stronger society. Simultaneous interpretation: AIS Comunicaciones. Interpreter: Carolina Power. Asociación de Intérpretes de Conferencia de España (AICE) [The Ramón Areces Foundation is not resp…

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  • Fiona Hill and Lucian Kim, Unfair Triangle: Ukraine-U.S-Russia

    April 19, 2025 · 📺 Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies

    Dr. Fiona Hill, a former U.S. national security official and Davis Center alumna, and Lucian Kim, senior analyst for the International Crisis Group, will analyze perspectives on achieving a peaceful resolution of the Russia-Ukraine war in a discussion with visiting scholar Yevgenia Albats. These are but some of the topics to be discussed in what promises to be an in-depth, informative conversation. 0:00 Cris Martin: welcoming speech and introduction to speakers 3:27 Yevgenia Albats: further introduction 6:35 video interview with Aleksandr Dugin 10:05 Fiona Hill: questions of European securit…

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  • Dr. Fiona Hill On Putin, NATO and the future of European Security | Durham Union

    April 08, 2025 · 📺 Durham Union

    Dr. Fiona Hill is an academic, foreign affairs advisor and author. She is a former official at the U.S. National Security Council and was a witness in the November 2019 House hearings regarding Donald Trump's first impeachment. Since 2023 she has served as Chancellor of Durham University. This address was filmed on the 13th of November 2023. In this video, Fiona Hill answers questions from the Durham Union President and the audience at large. For photos from this event: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjB3rKz SUBSCRIBE for more speakers ► https://is.gd/DurhamUnion the Durham Union on TikTok:   / dur…

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  • Dr. Fiona Hill - What's Next for the Russia-Ukraine War | Prof G Conversations

    March 20, 2025 · 📺 The Prof G Pod – Scott Galloway

    Dr. Fiona Hill, a senior fellow at Brookings, chancellor of Durham University, and a former U.S. National Security Council official specializing in Russian and European affairs, joins Scott to discuss Trump’s role in the Russia-Ukraine war, the future of U.S.-Russia relations, and the broader geopolitical effects of the conflict. 00:00 Introduction 01:18 What’s the current state of play between Russia and Ukraine, what do each side want, and what’s the likely outcome? 05:26 Can Putin and Trump’s talks be effective without Europe and Ukraine’s input? 08:30 Can Europe stand up to Russia in the…

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  • Fiona Hill: What Does Trump See in Putin? | Foreign Affairs Interview

    March 13, 2025 · 📺 Foreign Affairs

    Not even two months into his second term, U.S. President Donald Trump is reshaping U.S.-Russian relations at a critical juncture for the war in Ukraine. As Russian President Vladimir Putin presses his advantage on the battlefield, Trump’s admiration for the Russian leader, and his push for warmer relations with Moscow, is raising alarms across European capitals—in Kyiv most of all. Fiona Hill spent years studying Putin and Russia as a scholar and U.S. intelligence official before serving, in the first Trump administration, as senior director for European and Russian affairs on the National Se…

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Verified interview transcripts

Notable quotes

“President Trump, it is about himself. So, it's really about how every interaction reflects upon him. I'm afraid it's as simple as that. And so, that is why you've seen so many times that he's repudiated the advisers around him in favor of President Putin, like the dreadful episode in Helsinki. And we'd actually had to ask the president of Finland to give President Trump his briefing on Putin because he wouldn't liste”

“We're living in Vladimir Putin's version of history. And he's always constantly looking for some kind of justification for why he has a right to do what he wants to do. And he was trying to get across to Tucker Carlson, I don't care what you're talking about NATO enlargement. And of course, you know, George Lord Robertson will tell you many things about his own encounters in the NATO context with Putin, the things th”

“Well, he's thinking all the same things that you've just laid up there, Scott. So, absolutely, he's making all these calculations all the time. I'm sure all the windows where he are here is are very low or they're sealed shut very firmly. But putting you know that joking aside for Putin yes he worries about this all the time because if you look back through Russian history it isn't always the case that every war resu”

“I think that there's a fundamental difference in this of the way that we see power and the exercising of power in the United States and in other countries as well in Europe and also in Ukraine by the way. And you know, I don't disagree at all with anything that Ann has just said about the way that all of this group of autocracies look at things. I think she's absolutely right that of course there is an edge that was ”

“It's obvious that that is the realm that we're in now. And it is a realm of misinformation, deliberate disinformation that again is a vulnerability for exploitation from the outside. So, I mean, if you think about Russia and getting back to this, you know, what does Putin have? I mean again he knows that Trump himself is very prone to conspiracy theories that Trump lives in a world of memes and all kinds of tropes an”

“Well, I think, Carol, as you've laid it out, it obviously is a period of acute weakness, which, again, presents an opportunity, obviously, to Moscow to try to press an advantage here. We've got to remember-- and many of the people, I'm sure, on this participant list are quite familiar with Putin and the way that he operates, and the fact that Putin himself is a master of judo, and he always looks for a point in which”

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