South East Europe in Russia’s geopolitical objectives

Speakers: Roy Allison (REES, St Antony’s College, Oxford)

Othon Anastasakis (St Antony’s College, Oxford)

Andreja Bogdanovski (University of Buckingham)

Chair: Ezgi Basaran (St Antony’s College, Oxford)

Convenor: Othon Anastasakis (St Antony’s College, Oxford); Jessie Barton Hronesova (Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford); David Madden (St Antony’s College, Oxford)

Series: SEESOX

Russian interference is ever-present, and seems to be on the increase. At the same time, this influence is very divisive; some countries offer ample scope for Russian involvement and others are very worried about such external interference. There are also the complex relationships between the Orthodox Churches of the wider region, especially after the granting of Ukrainian autocephaly. What is Russia trying to achieve in the region?

Roy Allison joined the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies in 2011 from a Readership in International Relations at the LSE. He was a doctoral student and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at St. Antony's College, and Head of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) (1993-2005). He currently directs the Russian and Eurasian Studies Centre, St Antony’s. He is the author, co-author or editor of ten books, the latest being Russia, The West and Military Intervention (Oxford University Press, 2013). His recent research has focused on the normative and legal context to Russian interventions. He has broad research interests in the international relations, foreign and security policies of Russia and Eurasia.

Othon Anastasakis is the Director of South East European Studies at Oxford (SEESOX), based at St Antony's College; a Senior Research Fellow at St Antony's  and Associate at the Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford; and the former Director of the European Studies Centre, also based at St Antony's (July 2012-October 2015). He teaches South East European politics. Previously he was Researcher at the LSE; and Expert & Advisor on European Union matters at the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He received his BA in Economics from the University of Athens, his MA in Comparative Politics and International Relations from Columbia University, New York and his PhD in Comparative Government from the LSE.

Andreja Bogdanovski is a PhD candidate at the University of Buckingham, UK, where he is researching church autocephaly movements in the Eastern Orthodox Church with special reference to the churches in Ukraine, Montenegro and North Macedonia. He has, for many years, worked as a Research Fellow at the Skopje based think-tank “Analytica”, focusing on security issues affecting the security and stability of North Macedonia and the Western Balkans. Andreja holds an MA degree in International Peace and Security from the Department of War Studies, King’s College London.