Michael McFaul is an American political scientist at Stanford University who served as U.S. Ambassador to [[Russia]] from 2012 to 2014 under President Obama. An expert on [[Democracy]] promotion and Russian politics, McFaul has been a vocal critic of [[Vladimir Putin]]'s authoritarian turn and the Kremlin's interference in Western elections, documenting the relationship between Russian domestic repression and its foreign [[Disinformation]] campaigns.