20200921 Is Russia Winning? A Critical Assessment of the Putin Regime and Its Foreign Policy in Europe

Andrew S. Weiss

James Family Chair, Vice President for Studies

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Andrew S. Weiss is the James Family Chair and vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he oversees research in Washington and Moscow on Russia and Eurasia.

Prior to joining Carnegie, he was director of the RAND Corporation’s Center for Russia and Eurasia and executive director of the RAND Business Leaders Forum. He previously served as director for Russian, Ukrainian, and Eurasian Affairs on the National Security Council staff, as a member of the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff, and as a policy assistant in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy during the administrations of Presidents Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush.

Eugene Rumer

Director and Senior Fellow, Russia and Eurasia Program

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Eugene Rumer is a senior fellow and the director of Carnegie’s Russia and Eurasia Program.

Prior to joining Carnegie, Rumer was the national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia at the U.S. National Intelligence Council from 2010 to 2014. Earlier, he held research appointments at the National Defense University, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, and the RAND Corporation. He has also served on the National Security Council staff and at the State Department, taught at Georgetown University and the George Washington University, and published widely.

Dara Massicot

Senior Policy Researcher

RAND Corporation

Dara Massicot is a senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation. Before joining RAND, she served as a senior analyst for Russian military capabilities at the Department of Defense. 

Her work at RAND focuses on defense and security issues in Russia and Eurasia. She specializes in Russian military strategy, combat operations, and power projection, as well as Russian military modernization and escalation dynamics. Her interests include force posture, force planning, and grand strategy. She is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University's Security Studies Program.

James Goldgeier

Robert Bosch Senior Visiting Fellow

Brookings Institution

James Goldgeier is a Robert Bosch senior visiting fellow at the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution and a professor of international relations at the School of International Service at American University, where he served as dean from 2011-17.

In 2018-19, he held the inaugural Library of Congress Chair in U.S.-Russia relations. Dr. Goldgeier also taught at George Washington University, Cornell University, and has held a number of public policy appointments, including director for Russian, Ukrainian and Eurasian affairs on the National Security Council Staff, Whitney Shepardson Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and Henry A. Kissinger Chair at the Library of Congress.

Nigel Gould-Davies

Editor of Strategic Survey, Senior Fellow for Russia and Eurasia

The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS)

Nigel Gould-Davies is the editor of Strategic Survey: The Annual Assessment of Geopolitics. He is also Senior Fellow for Russia and Eurasia, conducting independent research and writing extensively on the politics, economics and security of the former Soviet Union.

Prior to joining the IISS Nigel taught international relations at Mahidol University in Thailand. From 2010-14 he held senior government relations roles in the energy industry in central and southeast Asia. From 2000-10 he served in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, where his roles included head of the economics department in Moscow, Ambassador to Belarus and project director in the Strategy Unit. He is author of Tectonic Politics: Global Political Risk in an Age of Transformation (Brookings, 2019).

Nigar Göksel

Project Director, Turkey

International Crisis Group

Nigar Goksel has been Turkey Project Director since April 2015. Based in Istanbul, she researches, produces reports and conducts advocacy on regional and internal security issues in Turkey, and between Turkey and its neighbours. She also oversees the work of Crisis Group office in Turkey.

Prior to joining the International Crisis Group, she served as Editor-in-Chief of Turkish Policy Quarterly – TPQ (2002-2015) and Senior Analyst at the European Stability Initiative (2004-2011).

Dimitar Bechev

Research Fellow, University of North Carolina

Director, European Policy Institute 

Dimitar Bechev is the director of the European Policy Institute, a think-tank based in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Previously, he held research fellowships at Harvard University, University of Oxford and the London School of Economics, and headed the Sofia office of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR). Dr. Bechev has written extensively on EU’s external relations, the politics and modern history of Turkey and the Balkans, and Russia’s foreign policy. His book Rival Power: Russia in Southeast Europe (Yale University Press, 2017) explores Russia’s geopolitical role in the Balkans, Greece, Cyprus, and Turkey. He is a regular contributor to Al Jazeera, the American Interest, Politico, Foreign Policy, and open Democracy.