SAVE THE DATE!

The Baltic Defence College, located in the heart of Tartu, Estonia, on the frontline between East and West, strives for academic and professional excellence at all times. The Conference on Russia was created with this goal in mind, so that the College could bring in Russia experts from politics, diplomacy, the military, and academia to better understand our eastern neighbor. In 2014, the College held its first Conference on Russia, which focused on Russian power projection. Since then, the Conference has grown to become the College’s premier event, with sessions on Russian revisionism, the Russian Revolution’s centennial, Russian challenges and responses, non-linear challenges, Russia’s self-perceptions versus geostrategic realities, and how to interact with Russia in a multi-threat world. The Conference’s goal has been to look into how Russia is viewed from the inside and outside year after year.

The 2022 iteration of the Conference seeks to continue this tradition of excellence with a focus on Russia in the new paradigm of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this approach, the 2022 conference reframes many of the questions and answers made or offered by previous Conferences. Has the pandemic altered Russia’s relationship with the West? What flaws or resiliencies does COVID-19 reveal? Are there now more opportunities for collaboration, or are these developments merely pointing to more competition? The 2022 Conference on Russia will attempt to answer some of these concerns, pointing us in the direction of whatever unanticipated circumstances shape the issues for 2023.

For the second year in a row, an adjacent publishing of Conference Proceedings has become an essential feature of the Conference. These proceedings are a compilation of chapters authored by eminent Russian experts on a wide range of themes, including geopolitics, demography, political systems, cultural identity, and military technology. They are intended to provide cutting-edge insight into the subjects covered during the Conference as well as serve as a forum for worldwide debate.