America's Role in Post-Soviet Russia —  Daniel Satinsky

7. 7. 2026

In 1989, an American cultural institute helped arrange Boris Yeltsin's first trip to the United States — and a single visit to a supermarket may have changed the course of Soviet history. Thus, what is the untold story of America's involvement in the transformation of the Soviet Union?

In this episode of The IR thinker, I sit down with Daniel Satinsky, independent scholar, retired attorney, and author of Creating the Post-Soviet Russian Market Economy: Through American Eyes, to uncover the hidden American infrastructure behind Russia's transition to capitalism.

Daniel Satinsky

Daniel Satinsky is an independent scholar, retired attorney and retired business consultant. He began his career in the Soviet Union, then Russia, as part of a US-Russia telecom joint venture in 1991 and then continued with business and consulting projects in Russia up to 2014. 

Over those years he traveled extensively across the country from Moscow, St. Petersburg, the Central Russia Golden Ring cities, the Urals and Siberia. Subsequently, he has been researching and writing about the interaction between Americans and Russians in this unique historical period. 

After publishing his most recent book, Creating the Post Soviet Russian Market Economy: Through American Eyes, he has developed an oral history of interviews with foreigners active in Russia during the late 1980s through the early 2000s, available online as The Satinsky Archive, now including 55 in-depth interviews. 

He was Chairman of the Board of the US Russia Chamber of Commerce of New England from 2000 – 2014 and currently is a Local Affiliate of the Davis Center at Harvard.

Publications

Creating the Post-Soviet Russian Market Economy: Through American Eyes

Content

00:00 Introduction

03:28 The Esalen Institute and Boris Yeltsin's Visit to the United States

21:02 SovAm Teleport: Establishing a Soviet–American Internet Connection

29:50 SP Dialog: American Technology and the Transformation of Soviet Banking

39:32 Project Harmony: Community Exchanges and American Police Officers in the Soviet Union

49:30 Russian Privatisation and the Role of American Companies

01:06:11 American Companies in Russia: Independent Ventures or Western Partnerships?

01:08:17 Investment Opportunities in the Post-Soviet Space

01:10:56 Radio Maximum, Cosmopolitan, and Western Cultural Influence in Russia

01:16:23 Sources, Evidence, and the Limits of Satinsky's Research