--- title: Ukraine: Hillary Clinton Clarifies Russia Nazi Comparison description: The former Secretary of State walked back comparisons to Hitler but remained critical of the Russian President canonical: https://time.com/13310/clinton-walks-back-russia-nazi-comparison/ author: Denver Nicks article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-05T22:43:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:01:35.365Z article:section: Politics og:title: Ukraine: Hillary Clinton Clarifies Russia Nazi Comparison og:description: The former Secretary of State walked back comparisons to Hitler but remained critical of the Russian President og:url: https://time.com/13310/clinton-walks-back-russia-nazi-comparison/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd21fb04eb6ed581c/6986840e55a859059fa7f8d2/ap22909843020.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1500 og:image:height: 844 og:image:alt: Hillary Rodham Clinton og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ukraine: Hillary Clinton Clarifies Russia Nazi Comparison twitter:description: The former Secretary of State walked back comparisons to Hitler but remained critical of the Russian President twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd21fb04eb6ed581c/6986840e55a859059fa7f8d2/ap22909843020.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Clinton Backtracks on Putin Nazi Comparison > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Hillary Clinton Clarifies Hitler-Putin Remark [Watch (HLS stream): Hillary Clinton Clarifies Hitler-Putin Remark](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/sWITE9Ms.m3u8) (2:08)  _Published 2014-03-06. Hillary Clinton explains her comparison of Hitler and Russian President Vladimir Putin before saying Putin has "thin skin."_  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Mar 5, 2014 10:43 PM UTC  Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks to students at the University of California, Los Angeles, on the subject of leadership on March 5, 2014 Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks to students at the University of California, Los Angeles, on the subject of leadership on March 5, 2014 Nick Ut—AP  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Mar 5, 2014 10:43 PM UTC Speaking at an event at UCLA on Wednesday, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton denied she drew a parallel between Russia’s recent actions in Ukraine and Nazi Germany at a fundraiser on Tuesday. “I’m not making a comparison, certainly,” Clinton said. “But I am recommending that we perhaps can learn from this tactic that has been used before.” She also called Putin “a tough guy with a thin skin.” Clinton’s comments on Tuesday raised eyebrows after a [Long Beach _Press-Telegram_](http://www.presstelegram.com/general-news/20140304/hillary-clinton-compares-vladimir-putins-actions-in-ukraine-to-adolf-hitlers-in-nazi-germany) reporter at the $1,500-a-plate fundraiser in California wrote that Clinton had spoken of similarities between the Nazi policy of offering protection to ethnic Germans outside Germany in the run-up to World War II and Vladimir Putin’s policy of offering passports to ethnic Russians in Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Crimea region. “Now if this sounds familiar, it’s what Hitler did back in the ’30s,” she said on Tuesday. “All the Germans that were … the ethnic Germans, the Germans by ancestry who were in places like Czechoslovakia and Romania and other places, Hitler kept saying they’re not being treated right. I must go and protect my people, and that’s what’s gotten everybody so nervous.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/13310/clinton-walks-back-russia-nazi-comparison/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/13310/clinton-walks-back-russia-nazi-comparison/"},"headline":"Clinton Backtracks on Putin Nazi Comparison","datePublished":"2014-03-05T22:43:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:01:35.365Z","description":"The former Secretary of State walked back comparisons to Hitler but remained critical of the Russian President","url":"https://time.com/13310/clinton-walks-back-russia-nazi-comparison/","keywords":["Hillary Clinton","putin","Ukraine","russia","UCLA","Hitler"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd21fb04eb6ed581c/6986840e55a859059fa7f8d2/ap22909843020.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Denver Nicks","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd21fb04eb6ed581c/6986840e55a859059fa7f8d2/ap22909843020.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Hillary Rodham Clinton","caption":"Hillary Rodham Clinton","creditText":"Nick Ut—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/13310/clinton-walks-back-russia-nazi-comparison/","name":"Clinton Backtracks on Putin Nazi Comparison"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Hillary Clinton Clarifies Hitler-Putin Remark","description":"Hillary Clinton explains her comparison of Hitler and Russian President Vladimir Putin before saying Putin has \"thin skin.\"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/sWITE9Ms/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-03-06T16:23:39.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/sWITE9Ms.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/13310/clinton-walks-back-russia-nazi-comparison/","duration":"PT2M8S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/13310/clinton-walks-back-russia-nazi-comparison/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```