Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS)

European Council on Foreign Relations

Independent Analyst

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

As Putin's invasion of Ukraine nears its first grim anniversary, what future awaits Russia's relations with the West? This panel brings together distinguished experts who will share their views on the current geopolitical situation, on Russia's economic difficulties and its efforts to counteract Western economic sanctions, on the efficacy (or otherwise) of Russia's energy weapon, and on the limits and opportunities of the Sino-Russian relationship in helping Moscow escape its international isolation.

DMITRI ALPEROVITCH
Dmitri Alperovitch is Co-Founder and Chairman of Silverado Policy Accelerator, a non-profit focused on advancing American prosperity and global leadership in the 21st century and beyond. He is a Co-Founder and former CTO of CrowdStrike Inc., a leading cybersecurity company. A renowned cybersecurity visionary, business executive, and thought leader on cybersecurity strategy, state tradecraft, and great power competition, Alperovitch has served as special advisor to the Department of Defense and currently serves on the Department of Homeland Security Advisory Council, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency's Cyber Safety Review Board. His writing on cyber and foreign policy issues has appeared in major news outlets including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Foreign Affairs, and he is a regular contributor to national broadcast news programs including PBS Newshour and NBC News. Alperovitch is also an active angel investor and board member of multiple high-growth technology companies. He has been named one of Fortune Magazine's "40 Under 40" most influential young people in business, and Politico Magazine has featured Alperovitch as one of "Politico 50" influential thinkers, doers and visionaries transforming American politics. In 2013 Alperovitch received the prestigious recognition of being selected as MIT Technology Review's "Young Innovators under 35" (TR35) and Foreign Policy's Leading Global Thinkers, and was named a "D.C. Tech Titan" by Washingtonian Magazine in 2022. In 2021, he launched the Alperovitch Institute for Cybersecurity Studies at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).

ALEXANDER GABUEV
Alexander Gabuev is a Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace where he leads a renowned team of analysts, formerly part of the Carnegie Moscow Center, which was forced to close by the Kremlin in early 2022 after nearly three decades of operation. Gabuev's own research is focused on Russian foreign policy with particular focus on the impact of the war in Ukraine and the Sino-Russia relationship. Since joining Carnegie in 2015, Gabuev has contributed commentary and analysis to a wide range of publications, including the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Economist. Gabuev began his career as a journalist at Kommersant in 2007, working as a senior diplomatic reporter, as a member of the Kremlin press corps, and as deputy foreign editor. He was a member of the editorial board of Kommersant and served as deputy editor in chief of Kommersant-Vlast, which at the time was one of Russia's most influential newsweeklies Gabuev has worked as a nonresident visiting research fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) and taught courses on Chinese energy policy and political culture at Moscow State University. In April-June 2018, Gabuev was a visiting scholar at Fudan University (Shanghai, China) where he taught courses on Sino-Russian relations. Gabuev is a Munich Young Leader of Munich Security Conference and a member of Council on Foreign and Defense Policy (Russia).

NIGEL GOULD-DAVIES
Nigel Gould-Davies is the Editor of Strategic Survey: The Annual Assessment of Geopolitics. He is also Senior Fellow for Russia and Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), conducting independent research and writing extensively on the politics, economics and security of the former Soviet Union. Prior to joining the IISS, Gould-Davies taught and conducted research on international relations in Asia. From 2010–14, he held senior government relations roles in the energy industry in central and southeast Asia. From 2000–10, he served in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, where his roles included serving as head of the economics department in Moscow, ambassador to Belarus and project director in the strategy unit. From 1996–2000, he taught politics and international relations at Oxford University. He is author of Tectonic Politics: Global Political Risk in an Age of Transformation (Brookings, 2019). Gould-Davies holds Bachelor's and Master's degrees from Oxford University and a PhD from Harvard.

KADRI LIIK
Kadri Liik is a Senior Policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. Her research focuses on Russia, Eastern Europe, and the Baltic region. Before joining ECFR in October 2012, Liik was the director of the International Centre for Defence Studies in Estonia from 2006 until 2011, where she also worked as a senior researcher and director of the Centre's Lennart Meri Conference. Throughout the 1990s, Liik worked as a Moscow correspondent for several Estonian daily papers, including the highest-circulation daily in Estonia, Postimees, as well as Eesti Päevaleht and the Baltic News Service. In 2002, she became the foreign news editor at Postimees, leaving in 2004 to become editor-in-chief at the monthly foreign affairs magazine, Diplomaatia. She was also the host of "Välismääraja", a current affairs talkshow at Raadio Kuku in Tallinn. Liik holds a BA in Journalism from Tartu University (Estonia) and an MA in International Relations specialising in diplomacy from Lancaster University.

ALEXANDRA PROKOPENKO
Alexandra Prokopenko is an independent analyst focused on Russian government policymaking on economic and financial issues. From 2017 until early 2022 she worked at the Central Bank of Russia and at the Higher School of Economics (HSE) in Moscow. She is a former columnist for Vedomosti. She is a graduate of Moscow State University and holds an MA in Sociology from the University of Manchester.

SERGEY VAKULENKO
Sergey Vakulenko is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. His research focuses on energy aspects of international relations, energy security, and energy transition with a special focus on Russia. Prior to joining Carnegie, Vakulenko spent 25 years in Russian and International energy companies in project and headquarters roles, culminating as a Head of Strategy and Innovation, and in consulting, where he was advising companies and governments on strategic, economic, and regulatory aspects of the oil and gas industry. Vakulenko has been a frequent speaker at industry conferences, World Economic Forum, and a commentator at Deutsche Welle, Radio France International, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and industry press. Vakulenko has graduated with a BS in Physics and MS in Computer Science from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and with MA in Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School at Tufts University.