The phrase "trust, but verify" is a Russian proverb, "doveryay, no proveryay," which means a responsible person always verifies everything before committing, even if the other party is trustworthy. The phrase became internationally known in English after Suzanne Massie, a scholar of Russian history, taught it to Ronald Reagan, then President of the United States. Reagan used it frequently in the context of nuclear disarmament discussions with the Soviet Union and made it a signature phrase in U.S.-Soviet relations during the Cold War. It was not coined by Reagan but popularized by him in American political discourse.
