South Asia Center Nonresident Senior Fellow Rajan Menon writes for the National Interest on a meeting of American and Russian academics and former officials on Boisto Island, Finland: 

n late June, a group of six Americans consisting of academics and former officials met with seven Russian counterparts on Boisto Island, Finland, to discuss the state of U.S.-Russian relations in the wake of the Ukraine crisis.  I was among the American participants.

Though hosted by the Finnish government, the meeting was unofficial: none of us was speaking for our governments.  Certainly, the U.S. participants were not encouraged to participate in the meeting—or asked not to—by Washington.   

Read the full article here.