External Events – Russia and Eurasia Program

We promote events pertaining to Russia and Eurasia that are conducted in the Boston area and online. Please check out the links below for more information about upcoming events at affiliated institutions. Scroll further to find information about upcoming external events that might be of interest to the Fletcher community.

Please check out the list below to find events about Russia and Eurasia organized by affiliated institutions.

Kennan Institute at Wilson Center

Politics and Civil Society in Belarus a year after mass protests
Wednesday, October 20, 2021 | 12:00pm – 1:30pm ET
Despite growing tensions in many other parts of the world, the situation in Belarus continues to command global attention. The rigged presidential elections of 2020 and ensuing mass protests have led to increased repression and a violent crackdown on civil society. It further has fueled speculation about a possible integration between Russia and Belarus. One year after these momentous events, Aleksandr Lukashenko appears to have weathered the storm and even developed additional institutional responses to ensure his regime’s political survival. Panelists will discuss the unique challenges this crackdown has posed for civil society, what a transfer of power may look like, and how these events have continued to affect Belarus’s foreign policy. Questions can be sent to the panelists via email to kennan@wilsoncenter.org, tweeted to @KennanInstitute, or written on their Facebook page. Click here to register.

Central Asian Bureau for Analytical Reporting (CABAR)

Central Asia’s Role in Resolving the Afghan Crisis
Thursday, October 21, 2021 | 9:00am ET
Oftentimes, the Afghan crisis is analyzed through the prism of the great and regional powers and their existing capabilities to regulate the situation in the country. While the Central Asian position does lack uniformity and regional consistency and a united front, it still matters considerably. In this regard, the panel will discuss how the Central Asian countries can influence the resolution of the current crisis, how the leadership of the Central Asian countries approach the crisis, and what can be done to curb the consequences of the crisis, and what are the prospects of settling the issue in the short- and mid-term. The panel discussion will involve how the Central Asian leadership and societies see the ways of resolving the crisis left in Afghanistan after the US withdrawal. Some key dimensions to be addressed include Central Asia’s humanitarian role, military and border security, and Central Asian influence on the power balance in Afghanistan. The keynote speaker of the event is Ariel Cohen, Ph.D., a Fletcher School alumnus, nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council Eurasia Center, member of the Council of Foreign Relations, and Senior Fellow at the International Tax and Investment Center (ITIC), Head of ITIC’s Energy, Growth, and Security Program (EGS). Click here to register.

Davis Center for Russia and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University

Bearing Witness at Nuremberg: The Soviet Contribution to the Record of the Holocaust
Wednesday, October 27, 2021 | 12:30pm – 1:45pm ET
This talk will explore the Soviet role in the Nuremberg Trials along with questions of historical memory and identity. It will look at the powerful proof that the Soviet prosecution and Soviet witnesses presented of the Holocaust. And it will ask why this Soviet contribution at Nuremberg (along with other Soviet contributions to the International Military Tribunal) is frequently overlooked or even forgotten. Watch live here.