Kennan Institute

Kennan Cable No. 96: Finland and the OSCE: “History Will Not End Here”

Kennan Institute Recommends: Ukrainian Culture Spotlight

The Kennan Institute recently asked some of our scholars and staff about the contemporary Ukrainian art that they’ve enjoyed recently. Here are their top recommendations, from painters to pop singers.

Putin Hosts BRICS Summit

Russia’s Security Approach to Public Health

Anti-Western Influence Campaigns in Latin America: Understanding the Russia-Venezuela-Iran Triangle

Kennan Cable No. 95: The Ahiska Turks: Prisoners of the Soviet and Russian Empires

Kennan Cable No. 94: Russia’s “Holy War” against the West

Resilience and Resolve: Commemorating Ukraine’s Independence Day Amidst War - Wilson Expert Takes

Ukraine’s Surprise Attack: An Update on the War With Russia

In this edition of Wilson Center NOW, Jennifer Wistrand discusses the implications of Ukraine’s incursion into the Kursk region of Russia.

The Role of Africa in Russia’s Geopolitics

How to Declassify National Security Secrets

Statement About Release of American Citizens From Russia

The Wilson Center Mourns the Passing of Peter Reddaway

The Cossack Rebirth out of the Russo-Ukraine War | A Conversation with Title VIII Summer Research Scholar Richard Arnold

Kennan Cable No. 93: Health and Security in Russia: Putin’s First Special Operation

Vagrancy in Russian Culture | A Conversation with Title VIII Summer Research Scholar Olga Seliazniova

Georgian Politics After Controversial “Foreign Agent” Law

Inside the Mind of Vladimir Putin with Ivan Grek

The Russian Aviation Industry Two Years after the Sanctions

Kennan Cable No. 92: Russian “Foreign Agents” Scenario: From the Weaponization of Transparency to Public Discrimination

Influence Operations and Russia’s Vision of the Future

Childhood Under Stalin | A Conversation with Title VIII Summer Research Scholar Karl Qualls

WQ Spring 2024 | Understanding Russia

Kennan Cable No. 91: Empire and Survival in Ukraine

Foreign Agents Everywhere | A Conversation with Galina Starovoitova Fellow Maxim Krupskiy

Possibilities for US Defense Investment in Ukraine with Ukrainian MP Halyna Yanchenko

Kennan Cable No. 90: Ten Years of Successful US Support in Ukraine is at Risk

Russia’s Battle around Reproductive Health and Women’s Rights

Kennan Cable No. 89: Ensuring the Future of European Security Amidst a New Cold War with Russia

From Scholarship to Politics: A Conversation with Ukrainian MP Oleksandr Merezhko

Why Ukraine Matters Series

In February 2022, Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine after initially annexing Crimea and eastern territories in 2014. The war has entered its third year of active conflict, but what are the ramifications of the fighting? The Kennan Institute invited experts on history, politics, energy, health, and migration to explain why the conflict in Ukraine remains a salient issue with reverberations throughout Europe and the world.

Tracing the Red Thread to Russia with Ambassador John Beyrle

Two Years Since Russia's Full-Scale Invasion of Ukraine

February and March 2024 commemorate several grim milestones in Ukraine, including the second anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24 and the ten-year anniversary of Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea on March 18. This collection highlights the Wilson Center's analysis of these events and their ongoing domestic and global impact.

Kennan Cable No. 88: Ukraine’s Plans for Demographic Recovery

Remembering Alexei Navalny

On February 16, Russian media reported the death of the leading opposition politician Alexei Navalny. He had been imprisoned since returning to Russia in January 2021, following an assassination attempt in 2020. The Wilson Center has collected our most relevant analysis and events on Navalny to share more about his legacy for the Russian opposition and in domestic politics.

The Kennan Institute Honors Black History Month

Buryatia and the High Toll of Russia’s War in Ukraine on Ethnic Minorities

Kennan Cable No. 87: Peeling Away the Layers of Russian Foreign Policy

Georgia's Democratic Vision with Tinatin Khidasheli

Kennan Cable No. 86: What the Resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict Teaches Us

Kennan Cable No. 85: Elections in Wartime Ukraine Would Test Ukraine’s Legal-Political Flexibility

Belarus Three Years After Protest

Kennan Cable No. 84: A Survey of Russian Grassroots Anti-War Resistance

Life and Death of the Aral Sea | A Conversation with Wilson Fellow Sarah Cameron

What Did Zelensky Accomplish During His US Trip? | Wilson Center Expert Response

Eagles Over The Baltics | A Conversation with Title VIII Summer Research Scholar Andrew Huebner

Surviving a Political Poisoning with Natalia Arno

The Wilson Center Launches “Ukraine in Europe” Initiative

Berlin as a Home of New Russian Political Exiles

Central Asia in the Taliban Era | A Conversation with George F. Kennan Fellow Mélanie Sadozaï

Kennan Cable No. 83: Moscow’s Maritime Strategy: Establishing Russia as a Leading Seafaring State

Changing Russia’s Future with Zhanna Nemtsova

Wilson Center Names Jennifer Wistrand New Deputy Director of Kennan Institute

Writing Radicalism in Reform-era Russia | A Conversation with Title VIII Research Scholar Helen Stuhr-Rommereim

Ukraine’s Decolonization and Its Cultural Impact in a Time of War | A Conversation With George F. Kennan Fellow Svitlana Biedarieva

Estonia on the Edge: A Conversation with Ambassador Jonatan Vseviov

Migration, Race, and Belonging in Russia’s Far East | A Conversation with Title VIII Research Scholar Lauren Woodard

Kennan Cable No. 82: Putin’s Home War: Imperialism vs. Economy

Kennan Cable No. 81: What's at Stake in Nagorno-Karabakh: US Interests and the Risk of Ethnic Cleansing

Russian Cuisine and Conflict with Darra Goldstein

Russia’s Federalist Imagination | A Conversation with Title VIII Scholar Marcel Garboś

Lessons from "Cold War Radio": A Conversation with Mark Pomar

Kennan Cable No. 80: The Finland Factor in an Expanded NATO Alliance

Causes and Consequences of Russia’s Year of War in Ukraine

Is Russia Serious About Diplomacy? With Amb. John Sullivan

Putin’s Annexation Miscalculation

The Kremlin's Favorite Scapegoat: The Latest Attack on LGBTQ+ Rights in Russia

On the Horizon 2023 | Russia and Ukraine

The Storm Over TV Rain

Infographic | Today in History: Reagan and Gorbachev Sign the INF Treaty

Thirty-five years ago today, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev signed the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which reduced the size of US and Soviet nuclear weapons stockpiles.

James H. Billington Lecture | The Art of Soviet Statistics

Fighting Strategic Corruption with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse

Polish-Russian Relations Move from Reset to Ruin

Kennan Institute Congratulates 2022 Nobel Peace Prize Winners

Hindsight Up Front | Ukraine

Life under Russian Occupation: A Conversation with Katerina Sergatskova

Kennan Cable No. 79: Russia is Looting Ukraine’s Breadbasket…Again

Gorbachev Retrospective

Mikhail Gorbachev, the final General Secretary of the Soviet Union and its only president, passed away on August 30, 2022, at the age of 91. Kennan scholars and alumni remember his complicated legacy as the figure at the center of the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991.

The Successor: The Story of Boris Nemtsov and the Country Where He Didn’t Become President - Part 2

Russia's New Expats pt. 2

Ukraine Quarterly Digest: April–June 2022

The Successor: The Story of Boris Nemtsov and the Country Where He Didn’t Become President - Part 1

Kennan Xplainer: Russia & Venezuela, The Ties that Bind

Kennan Cable No. 78: War and Sovereignty: Lessons from Putin’s War for the South Caucasus

Russia's New Expats

US-Kazakhstan Relations at 30: Eurasian Security & Prosperity

Crumbling Memory: Russian Propaganda, World War II, and the Invasion of Ukraine

The Kennan Institute Proudly Announces Awarded Grants for Ukrainian Scholars and Practitioners

Kennan Cable No. 77: Pleading for Peace: Collective Letters from Russia

The Ingush Case: The Society and the Authority | A discussion with Galina Starovoitova Fellow Zarina Sautieva

Kennan Cable No. 76: From Historical Fallacy to Tragic, Criminal Loss: Putin’s Case for Invading Ukraine

The Russian Way in War: A Conversation with George F. Kennan Fellow Andrew Monaghan

Kennan Cable No. 75: Victory, Defeat, and Russian Ways in War

Understanding the Turmoil in Kazakhstan | Kennan Institute Expert Analysis

Wilson Center Statement on Memorial International

Kennan Scholar Spotlight: Soviet Myths and Historical Memory

Jonathan Brunstedt discusses his Wilson Center project, “Entangled Defeats: The Soviet-Afghan War and the Shadow of Vietnam" and highlights his most recent book, “The Soviet Myth of World War II: Patriotic Memory and the Russian Question in the USSR."

Kennan Cable No. 73: Infrastructure in Russia’s Arctic: Environmental Impact and Considerations

The Kennan Institute's Solzhenitsyn Initiative

The Kennan Institute expresses deep condolences to the families of the victims of the mass shooting at Perm State University

The Biden-Putin Summit | An Expert Analysis

Rule of Silence

We recently conducted a series of interviews with Russian lawyers, journalists, and other experts on new additions to the foreign agents law in the country and about Russian information politics. This series is part of a collaboration between the Kennan Institute and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom. Check out the interviews and related articles below!

From "The Ukraine" to Ukraine: A Contemporary History

The Kennan Institute is pleased to announce a new book titled From "The Ukraine" to Ukraine: A Contemporary History, which was inspired by the research and discussions of Ukrainian, American, and international scholars who have worked at the Kennan Institute over the past twenty years.

Kennan Cable No. 67: Professionalism and Politics in the Russian Military

The Russian Military Buildup on Ukraine's Border | An Expert Analysis

Over the past few weeks, Russia has amassed a large number of troops and military assets in Crimea and at the Ukrainian border.

The Ambassadorial Series

At a time when dialogue between American and Russian diplomats is reduced to a bare minimum and when empathy and civility fall short of diplomacy between major powers, we are pleased to introduce the Ambassadorial Series. It is a compilation of conversations with eight outstanding American diplomats who served at various points of time as US ambassadors to the Soviet Union and, after its dissolution, to the Russian Federation. This series was produced by the Monterey Initiative in Russian Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies.

Kennan Cable No. 65: Constitutional Crisis in Ukraine: Looking for Solutions

The Status of Women in Russian Society | Conference Report

Alexei Navalny's Arrest Sparks Nationwide Protests | An Expert Analysis

Kennan Cable No. 61: Russia in the Changing Post-Soviet Space

Wilson Center Publication Featured in American Foreign Service Association's (AFSA) Recommended List

Kennan Cable No. 59: Russia’s Parenting Boom Reveals Signs of Social Change

Remembering the Gulag: Who Will Write Its History?

In this edition of Wilson Center NOW former Title VIII Research Scholar Tyler Kirk discusses his Wilson Center project “Remembering the GULAG: Community, Identity and Cultural Memory in Russia's Far North, 1987-2018.”

Kennan Cable No. 58: Israeli Reactions in a Soviet Moment: Reflections on the 1970 Leningrad Affair

Kennan Cable No. 57: Rethinking US Policy for Russia – and for Russia’s Neighborhood

The Belarus Election and its Aftermath | An Expert Analysis

US Troop Withdrawal from Germany | An Expert Analysis

Kennan Cable No. 56: No Great Game: Central Asia’s Public Opinions on Russia, China, and the US

Kennan Cable No. 55: Winning the Referendum and Losing Legitimacy in Putin's Russia

Debrief | Russia's 2020 Constitutional Amendments

In January 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin submitted draft amendments to the Russian State Duma. Among several proposed reforms, one amendment could allow Putin to stay in power for two additional terms, until 2036. Russian citizens will vote on the amendment in a nationwide plebiscite on July 1. Below, we are proud to highlight analysis, video projects, and events by our experts on the referendum.

Russian Bounties in Afghanistan | An Expert Analysis

Is There Really a “Putin Generation?”

COVID-19: News and Analysis on Russia and Eurasia

As COVID-19 continues to spread across the globe, the Kennan Institute will continue to provide analysis from the region and virtual events about its impact in Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia.

Kennan Cable No. 53: Russia’s “Traditional Values” and Domestic Violence

Kennan Cable No. 52: In Russia’s Shadow: China’s Rising Security Presence in Central Asia

Kennan Cable No. 51: A Rising Global Player: Kazakhstan’s Foreign Policy in the 2020s

American Visitors to Baku at the Dawn of the Cold War, August-September 1945

Numerous American public organizations and Congressional delegations came to Baku immediately after World War II, a sign that the US was initially intent on cooperating with the USSR in the post-war period, writes Jamil Hasanli.

“Blacks, Reds, and Russians:” An Interview with Joy Carew

To continue with our Black History Month effort, we recently interviewed Professor Joy Carew of the University of Louisville about her research on the history and experiences of black people in the USSR and Russia.

"We Must Not Be Silent:" A Conversation with Starovoitova Fellow Olimpiada Usanova about Gender Discrimination in Russia and the United States

Olimpiada Usanova was a Galina Starovoitova Fellow at the Kennan Institute. We spoke to her about her research on gender discrimination in Russia.