Russian Infrastructure in the Arctic Region: Civil-Military Uses, Opportunities, and Obstacles

Panel Abstract

Discussion to focus on civil-military implications of Russia's substantial Arctic interests. We will center the discussion on the implications of Russia's two-year chair of the Arctic Council, as well as the Arctic Coast Guard Forum. While both organizations are collaborative in nature, USG and partners can benefit from understanding potential benefits and pitfalls of Russia's leadership. Panelists and participants will discuss Russia's economic and security interests in the region, implications for USG and US Allies, and growing Russo-Chinese cooperation in the Arctic.

Biographies

	Panelist: Abbie Tingstad, Ph.D. Senior Physical Scientist & Associate Director of the Engineering and Applied Sciences Department, RAND Corporation
Abbie Tingstad is a senior physical scientist and associate director of the Engineering and Applied Sciences Department at the RAND Corporation. Her research focuses on issues related to strategy and planning in defense and homeland security, and for the environment. Much of her work explores the intersections between organizations, processes, technologies, and people. Some examples of recent research include: analyzing intelligence needs for offensive counterair operations, supporting U.S. Coast Guard strategic foresight activities, and engaging on Arctic resilience and security topics. Tingstad received her Ph.D. in geography from the University of California, Los Angeles. Prior to that, she was awarded an M.Sc. in environmental geomorphology from the University of Oxford, and a B.S. in mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
	Panelist: Pavel Baev, Ph.D. Research Professor, Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) Senior Non-Resident Fellow, Brookings Institution
Dr. Pavel K. Baev is a Research Professor at the Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO); he is also a Senior Non-Resident Fellow at the Center for the United States and Europe (CUSE) at the Brookings Institutions, Washington DC; a Senior Associate Researcher at the Institut Francais des Relations Internationales (IFRI), Paris; and a Senior Associate Research Fellow at the Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI, Milan). After graduating from the Moscow State University (MA in Political Geography, 1979), he worked in a research institute in the USSR Defence Ministry, received PhD in International Relations from the USA & Canada Institute, USSR Academy of Sciences (1988), and then worked in the Institute of Europe, Moscow, before joining PRIO in October 1992. His research on Russia’s policy in the Middle East is supported by the Norwegian Foreign Ministry; other research interests include the transformation of the Russian military; the energy and security dimensions of the Russian-European relations; Russia’s Arctic policy; Russia-China partnership; and post-Soviet conflict management in the Caucasus and the greater Caspian area. His weekly column appears in Eurasia Daily Monitor (http://www.jamestown.org/programs/edm).

Panelist: Stephen Blank, Ph.D.
Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy Research Institute

STEPHEN BLANK is an internationally recognized expert on Russian foreign and defense policies and international relations across the former Soviet Union. He is also a leading expert on European and Asian security, including energy issues. Since 2020 he has been a Senior Expert for Russia at the U.S. Institute of Peace and a Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute www.fpri.org. From 2013-2020 he was a Senior Fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council, www.afpc.org From 1989-2013 he was a Professor of Russian National Security Studies at the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College in Pennsylvania. Dr. Blank has been Professor of National Security Affairs at the Strategic Studies Institute since 1989. In 1998-2001 he was Douglas MacArthur Professor of Research at the War College.

Dr. Blank has consulted for the CIA, major think tanks and foundations, chaired major international conferences in the USA and abroad In Florence, Prague, and London, and has been a commentator on foreign affairs in the media in the United States and abroad. He has also advised major corporations on investing in Russia and is a consultant for the Gerson Lehrmann Group. He has published over 1300 articles and monographs on Soviet/Russian, U.S., Asian, and European military and foreign policies, including publishing or editing 15 books, testified frequently before Congress on Russia, China, and Central Asia for business, government, and professional think tanks here and abroad on these issues. He has also appeared on CNN, BBC, Deutsche Welle, CNBC Asia, and is a regular guest on VOA.

Prior to his appointment at the Army War College in 1989 Dr. Blank was Associate Professor for Soviet Studies at the Center for Aerospace Doctrine, Research, and Education of Air University at Maxwell AFB. He also held the position of 1980-86: Assistant Professor of Russian History, University of Texas, San Antonio, 1980-86, and Visiting Assistant Professor of Russian history,

University of California, Riverside, 1979-80.

Dr. Blank's M.A. and Ph.D. are in Russian History from the University of Chicago. His B.A is in History from the University of Pennsylvania.

Panelist: Lyle Goldstein, Ph.D.
Research Professor, China Maritime Studies Institute, U.S. Naval War College

Lyle J. Goldstein is research professor in the China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI) at the Naval War College. The founding director of CMSI and author of dozens of articles on Chinese security policy, he focuses on Chinese undersea warfare. On the broader subject of US-China relations, Goldstein published the book Meeting China Halfway in 2015. Over the last several years, Goldstein has focused on the North Korea crisis. Goldstein speaks Russian as well as Chinese and is an affiliate of NWC's new Russia Maritime Studies Institute.

Panelist: Robert Orttung, Ph.D.
Research Professor of International Affairs, George Washington University
Director of Research, Sustainable GW, George Washington University

Dr. Robert Orttung is Research Director for Sustainable GW at the George Washington University and Research Professor of International Affairs at GW’s Elliott School of International Affairs. Orttung is the lead PI or co-investigator on several National Science Foundation grants focused on promoting urban sustainability in the Arctic. He is the editor of the Urban Sustainability in the Arctic: Measuring Progress in Circumpolar Cities (NY: Berghahn, 2020). In 2019 he edited Capital Cities and Urban Sustainability (London, Routledge). Orttung received a B.A. in Russian Studies from Stanford University and both a M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles.

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