Please join the Russia and Eurasia Program at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University for a conversation with George Krol, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Central Asian Affairs and the former U.S. Ambassador to Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. 

Ambassador Krol will discuss U.S. relations with the Central Asian countries that emerged from the breakup of the Soviet Union based mainly on his personal experiences as a U.S. diplomat involved in the initiation, formulation, and implementation of U.S. policy in the region over the last thirty years. He will also touch upon current regional trends and challenges U.S. diplomacy and regional leaders face, especially the effects of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, China’s growing influence in the region, and the advent of the second Trump administration. We encourage you to read in advance the following articles by Ambassador Krol about his first experiences in Central Asia, the impact of the Global War on Terror on Central Asia, and his riveting accounts of meeting with two first presidents, Islam Karimov and Nursultan Nazarbayev, during his ambassadorships to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

The event is open to the public. Please register via the Microsoft Form here to attend the event in person or let us know if you would like to attend virtually. We will provide you with the Zoom details in your confirmation email message. Please contact us with any questions you might have about the event or if you would like to submit discussion questions for the speaker in advance. Lunch will be served following the conversation. Please let us know if you have any dietary restrictions, and we will do our best to accommodate you.

Visitors to the Medford/Somerville campus are welcome to park in the Dowling Garage or Cousens Parking Lot. Visitors may pay for their parking sessions via the web portal or payment kiosks. Please contact us with any questions you might have about the event.

Ambassador George Krol retired from the U.S. Department of State in 2018, concluding a 36-year career in the U.S. Foreign Service, during which he served in Poland, India, the Soviet Union, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan, including inter alia, as Ambassador to Belarus, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Central Asian Affairs, Minister Counselor for Political Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, and Director of the State Department’s Office of Russian Affairs. Ambassador Krol currently teaches as an Adjunct Professor at the U.S. Naval War College and is an Associate of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University. His research interests focus on the national development and challenges facing the states of the former USSR. He is a graduate of Harvard University (B.A.) and the University of Oxford (M.A.)