Fletcher Russia and Eurasia Program Speaker Series Commences in Fall 2017

The Russia and Eurasia Program at The Fletcher School kicked off its speaker series in Fall 2017. The guest lectures and roundtable discussions are intended to bring expertise and diverse points of view about the countries of the former Soviet Union to the Fletcher community.

The first lecture in the speaker series, entitled “Russia in Contemporary International Politics,” was given by Tatiana Shakleina, Chair of the Department of Applied Analysis of International Issues at MGIMO University. The event occurred on November 14 in the lead-up to the first Fletcher-MGIMO Conference.

Following the conference, the Eurasia Club hosted two lunch talks. The club had a roundtable discussion on November 27 with Stephen Gee, U.S. Department of State Fellow, about U.S. policy toward Russia and Eurasia. The club also welcomed Linas Kojala, Visiting Fellow at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University, on December 5 to examine Russian soft power in the Baltic countries.

Professors Artyom Lukin of the Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok and Georgy Toloraya of MGIMO University gave a brunch lecture on “Russia’s Role in the North Korea Crisis” on December 1. They described the security situation in the Asia-Pacific region and presented their latest report entitled Nuclear Weapons and Russian-North Korean Relations. The speaker series will continue to ramp up in Spring 2018.