AMES, Iowa -- Peter Baker of the Washington Post will present his lecture "Kremlin Rising: Vladimir Putin and Russian Counter-Revolution" at 6 p.m. Monday, April 16 in the Sun Room, Memorial Union as the opening speaker of the First Amendment Day activities on campus. The event is free and open to the public.
Baker has been with Post for 18 years and currently serves as White House correspondent covering President Bush. Baker served as the Post's Moscow bureau chief from January 2001 through November 2004, covering Russia and 14 former Soviet republics.
After the 9/11 attacks, Baker was the first American newspaper journalist into Afghanistan, where he lived with anti-Taliban rebels and spent eight months covering the conflict and new government. He also reported from Baghdad and was embedded with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force during the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Prior to his foreign assignments, Baker served as the Post's White House correspondent, covering the Clinton Administration, including the Monica Lewinski scandal. He is the author of "The Breach: Inside the Impeachment and Trial of William Jefferson Clinton."
Baker is also the co-author with fellow Moscow bureau chief Susan B. Glasser of the book "Kremlin Rising: Vladimir Putin and Russian Counter-Revolution."
Baker is the Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies Program Distinguished Speaker and is part of the World Affairs Series.