Details: RSI will be joined by the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI), to examine Zapad-2021 in the historical context of annual Russian military exercises since 2009, and synthesize current discussions on Zapad-2021 within the Russian military and political leadership. The team will discuss ongoing research and will conclude by laying out several key indicators to watch for before, during, and after Zapad-2021.
Biographies
Johan NorbergEurasia Fellow, Foreign Policy Research InstituteSenior Military Analyst, Sweden’s Defense Research Agency (FOI)
Johan Norberg is a Eurasia Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He is one of the world’s leading experts on Russian military affairs. He is also Senior Military Analyst at Sweden’s Defense Research Agency (FOI), where he has worked for 24 years, examining developments in the Russian Armed Forces. He has previously worked at the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and in the Swedish Parliament as well as served in Peace Support Operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Georgia and the Middle East. His recent authored and co-authored publications include: “Russian Military Capability in a Ten-Year Perspective” (2019); “Security in Central Asia” (2019); “Security in the Caucasus: Russian Policy and Military Posture” (2018); “Russian Military Capability in a Ten-Year Perspective” (2016); “Training to Fight: Russia’s Major Military Exercises 2011-2014” (2015); “The Crimea Operation: Implications for Future Russian Military Intervention” (2014); “Russia and Ukraine: Military-Strategic Options and Possible Risks for Moscow (2014); “The Use of Russia’s Military in the Crimean Crisis” (2014). Norberg has also served as visiting scholar at Columbia University in New York. He can be contacted at Johan.Norberg@foi.se.
Robert LeeFellow, Foreign Policy Research Institute
Robert Lee is a Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute and an expert on Russian military affairs. He has led or contributed to FPRI’s research on the Russian military via reports such as “Russian Aviation: A Case Study on the Prospects of Defense Sector Conversion”; “Future Russian Tank Procurement and the T-14 Armata Tank”; “Russia’s Procurement of Armored Vehicles”; “Russia’s Military Posture in the Arctic: Drivers & Outlook”; and others. Robert has worked as a visiting fellow at the Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies in Moscow while an Alfa Fellow and has also worked at Verno Capital, JP Morgan, and the Council on Foreign Relations. Previously he served as an infantry officer in the Marine Corps. He holds an MA from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and is a PhD candidate at the War Studies Department at King’s College London. He can be contacted at robert.a.lee@kcl.ac.uk
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