Research/Areas of Interest
My research interests include security studies; conflict resolution and negotiation; contemporary conflicts and cooperation in Eurasia; and Russian foreign policy (wherever it is headed in the midst of Russia's war against Ukraine). In the field of security studies, I have been looking at the role of nuclear weapons in international politics, arms control, and non-proliferation. In the study of international negotiation, I am interested in building models of the use of focal points in negotiation. I have also been studying the impact of "statecraft scares" (fears of potential rivals secretly developing and deploying a new supposedly powerful weapon, especially in the cyber domain) on escalation dynamic in great-power conflicts.
Education
- Doctorate, Russian Academy of Sciences, RUS, 2003
- Master of Arts, St. Petersburg Univ, Russia, RUS, 1999
- Certificate in Physics and Mathematics, School of Physics, Saint Petersburg State University, St Petersburg, Russian Federation, 1996
Biography
I am a Visiting Scholar at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University, and a Visiting Professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. Previously, I was a Professor of Practice in Russian Studies in the Political Science Department and Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Before arriving in Madison with my family in December 2022, I was a school dean and associate professor of international politics at MGIMO University in Moscow. I hold a doctoral degree from the Institute for the U.S. and Canadian Studies at the Russian Academy of Science where I was a non-resident fellow between 2000-17. In 2009-15 I worked as deputy director and program officer at the Moscow office of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. l have published articles on international security, conflict resolution, Russian foreign policy, and Russia's war against Ukraine in a number of peer-reviewed and policy journals, such as WIREs Climate Change, Problems of Postcommunism, Global Policy, Survival, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, and others. His commentary appeared in the International New York Times, Newsweek, Wisconsin Public Radio, CNN, the BBC, ABC Australia, Observador (Portugal), Caijing (China), and other global media outlets