President Donald Trump tapped respected scholar and leading Vladimir Putin critic Fiona Hill to serve as the top Russia adviser on the National Security Council, signaling a shift in attitude toward Moscow.
Hill, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who earlier served at the National Intelligence Council, was offered the position of White House senior director for Europe and Russia prior to the ousting of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, an administration official told Foreign Policy on Thursday.
It is not yet clear whether Hill has accepted the post. Her appointment is likely to garner bipartisan support from lawmakers who have expressed concerns about President Donald Trump's expressed desire to forge closer ties with Moscow at the expense of NATO allies.
Michael McFaul, the U.S. ambassador to Russia under the former Obama administration, told Bloomberg that Hill's selection marked a "great hire" given her prestige as a "first-class scholar" on Moscow.
Hill authored the 2013 book "Mr. Putin, Operative in the Kremlin," which analyzed the Russian president's past as a KGB officer. She has criticized Putin's regular use of "blackmail and intimidation" to seize control and has rejected the possibility of closer U.S.-Russian relations given the stark differences between the two nations.
"The Russians will get all giddy with expectations, and then they’ll be dashed, like, five minutes into the relationship because the U.S. and Russia just have a very hard time … being on the same page," Hill told the Atlantic in November.
The Trump administration has come under extensive scrutiny from both Democrats and Republicans over apparent contacts with Russian officials during the presidential campaign. Members of the House Intelligence Committee outlined a plan on Monday to investigate contacts between Trump's campaign team and Russia.
Unease escalated throughout the week amid mounting evidence that Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, and other members of the president's inner circle had contact with Russian officials both during and after the presidential campaign.
Hill has not yet commented on her appointment.