Russia’s Adventurism and the Risk for Inadvertent Escalation in the Black Sea Region

November 29th at 17:00 CET/11:00 EDT
via Cisco Webex Events

 

Link to Registration

Details:

RSI will host Natia Seskuria, Clint Reach, and Richard Connolly, to discuss the risk of potential inadvertent escalation in the Black Sea Region. The panel will discuss: Kremlin aims, Russia's military posture, and global markets in the Black Sea region.

Biographies

 Natia Seskuria

Founder and Executive Director of the Regional Institute for Security Studies (RISS)

Associate Fellow, Royal United Services Institute (RUSI)

Natia Seskuria is a Founder and Executive Director of the Regional Institute for Security Studies (RISS), a Tbilisi-based think tank and an official partner of RUSI. She is also an Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). Natia holds an advisory position at Chatham House and is a lecturer in Russian politics. Her research focuses on Russia’s domestic and foreign policy, in particular Russia’s relations with its neighbors, strategic approach to occupied regions, relations with the West and the use of active measures. She also specializes in conflicts and security in the South Caucasus and the Black Sea region and regularly contributes to leading academic journals and online magazines.

Clint Reach

Military Analyst

International Defense Researcher, RAND
Clint Reach is an international defense researcher at RAND. He holds a Master's degree in Political Science from Kansas State University and a Master's degree in Russian and Eurasian studies from Johns Hopkins SAIS. He served for nine years in the U.S. Navy as a Russian linguist in various positions in the Department of Defense. In 2014, Reach received the Navy Language Professional of the Year award. Prior to joining RAND in 2015, he worked for a short time at the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Policy – Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia. His publications include Russian Military Forecasting and Analysis, Russian Assessments and Applications of the Correlation of Forces and Means, and Russian Views of the International Order, among others.

Richard Connolly

Russian Economy Specialist

Associate Fellow, Royal United Services Institute (RUSI)
Richard Connolly is an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London. He was previously director of the Centre for Russian, European and Eurasian Studies (CREES) at the University of Birmingham, and an associate fellow on the Russia and Eurasia Program at Chatham House. Richard’s research interests include economic policy, industrial development, and legal and business environment. He has also studied the development of the defense and energy industries in Russia, the impact of Western sanctions on the Russian economy, and Russia’s role in the global economy. Dr. Connolly has published widely for journals such as Post-Soviet Affairs, Eurasian Geography and Economics, and Problems of Post-Communism. His most recent book, the Very Short Introduction to the Russian Economy, was published by Oxford University Press in 2020.