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In the last two years, Russia has demonstrated its return to an assertive foreign policy by military interventions in Eastern Ukraine and Syria. As a consequence Moscow has reinforced its geopolitical clout, while positioning as a prime international agenda-maker and confronting the present world order seen as dominated by the United States. This seminar will call upon experts from throughout Europe, Russia, the U.S. and China to offer their analyses on the reinvigorated aspects of Russian capabilities (use of the armed forces and information warfare, etc.) and on the "realism" of Moscow’s global ambitions. Furthermore, it will look at how France and the West more broadly may build a new relationship with an increasingly challenging Russia.
PROGRAM
9.00-9.15. Welcome address
Philippe Errera (DGRIS), Thomas Gomart (Ifri)
09.15-10.45. Panel 1: Russia’s strategy: Goals, means, decision-making process
Chair: Thomas Gomart, Director of IFRI
- “The world's evolution viewed by Kremlin”, Andrey Kortunov, Director General of the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC)
- “Reforming Russian power structures: which tools for which purposes?”, Céline Marangé, Research fellow, Institute for Strategic Research (IRSEM)
- “Comparative advantages and structural fragilities”, Tatiana Kastueva-Jean, Head of Ifri’s Russia/NIS Center
10.45-11.00 Coffee break
11.00-12.30. Panel 2: Use of limited war and state of military tool
Chair: Isabelle Facon, Senior Research Fellow, Fondation pour la Recherche stratégique – FRS
- “The Russian ‘art de la guerre’”, Arnaud Kalika, Head of Security, Compliance and Intelligence, Meridiam
- “A modernized military tool for limited interventions : Ukrainian and Syrian lessons”, Bettina Renz, Associate Professor, School of Politics & IR, University of Nottingham
- “The nuclear tool: a new grammar?” Anton Khlopkov, Director, Center for Energy and Security Studies (CENESS). Editor-in-Chief of “Nuclear Club” journal.
12.30-14.00 Lunch
14.00-15.30. Panel 3: Russia’s tools and channels of influence
Chair: Pavel Baev, Research Director at the Peace Research Institute, Oslo (PRIO), Senior Non-Resident Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and Associate Research Fellow at IFRI
- “Come-back of agitprop : Old game with new rules?”, Stephen Dalziel, Independent Russia Analyst, formerly BBC correspondent and Executive Director, Russo-British Chamber of Commerce
- “Russkiy Mir”, Mikhail Souslov, Researcher at Uppsala Centre for Russian and Eurasian Studies
- “Russian influence in the German context: Multiple entry points”, Susan Stewart, Senior Associate Eastern Europe and Eurasia Research Division, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP)
15.30-15.45 Coffee break
15.45-17.15. Panel 4: What responses to the Russian challenge ?
Chair: Bobo Lo, Associate Research Fellow with IFRI’s Russia/NIS Centre
- “Washington’s approach: is Russia’s problem a regional one?”, Stephen Szabo, Executive Director, Transatlantic Academy
- “Beijing’s view: paper marriage with Moscow?”, Zhang Hong, Researcher at the Centre for Russian Studies, East China Normal University
- “Europe’s input: between engagement and deterrence?”, Hanna Smith, Researcher at the Aleksanteri Institute
17.15-17.30 Conclusions
Manuel Lafont Rapnouil, Head of the Office and Senior Policy Fellow, European Council on Foreign Relations - ECFR, and Tatiana Kastouéva-Jean, Head of Ifri’s Russia/NIS Center
This seminar will be held in English, French and Russian with simultaneous translation, under the Rule of Chatham House.
This event will be held within the framework of the “Observatoire Russie, Europe orientale et Caucase” with the support of DGRIS (Directorate General for International Relations and Strategy), French Ministry of Defence.
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