Dmitri K. Simes, born Dimitri Konstantinovich Simes on October 29, 1947, in Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union, to secular Jewish parents including noted dissident lawyer Dina Kaminskaya, is a Russian-American foreign policy expert and leading Kremlinologist. Expelled twice from Moscow State University for protesting Soviet involvement in the Vietnam War, he earned an M.A. in history around 1967 before immigrating to the United States in 1973 as a political refugee and becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen. Simes served as an informal foreign policy advisor to President Richard Nixon, accompanying him on trips to Russia and Europe, and held academic positions at Columbia University, University of California, Berkeley, and Johns Hopkins University. He is the author of books including 'After the Collapse: Russia Seeks Its Place as a Great Power' (1999) and frequently appeared on U.S. media analyzing Soviet and Russian affairs. Simes advised the Trump campaign on Russia and is mentioned extensively in the Mueller report on 2016 election interference, linked to encounters with Maria Butina and Trump campaign contacts. He served as president and CEO of the Center for the National Interest from 1994 to 2022 and as publisher of its magazine, The National Interest, from 2001 to 2022. In 2022, following his departure from the Center, Simes relocated to Moscow, Russia, where he began co-moderating the political talk show 'The Great Game' on sanctioned state broadcaster Channel One Russia with Vyacheslav Nikonov. He hosted the 2023 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum amid the Ukraine invasion. In August 2024, the FBI raided his Huntly, Virginia, property; by September 2024, he and his wife Anastasia were charged by the DOJ for sanctions violations, allegedly earning over $1 million from Channel One since June 2022.