At this time, the conference organisers are planning to hold a hybrid event. The majority of our speakers and a significant number of the participants will join our debates in Tartu. There will, however, be some experts and a substantial portion of our audience that will join us online, to participate in, or follow our debates remotely.

Organised by the Baltic Defence College for more than half a decade, the annual Conference has attracted delegates from the Baltic and allied military community, international institutions, governments, academia, and the private sector to discuss the most pressing issues shaping Russia, its near abroad, and global challenges since 2015.

Since the establishment of the Baltic Defence College over twenty years ago and more particularly from the inception of our conference and publications, we have become a hub of knowledge and honed a reputation for unveiling diverse trends related to Russia’s contemporary domestic agenda and external influence.

3 March 2022

4 March 2022

The Baltic Defence College, located in Tartu, the heart of Estonia, is on the frontline between East and West. The Conference on Russia is one of the cornerstones of the annual College academic programme, developed to showcase our comprehensive network and professional excellence. With this goal in mind, the College aims to bring contemporary experts on Russia from the political, diplomatic and military domains, together with academia to better understand our eastern neighbour. 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 overall goal each year has been to look into how Russia is viewed both internally and externally in the contemporary world.

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. With this approach, the 2022 conference will seek to reframe much of the discussion, deductions or conclusions  that emerged from previous Conferences. Has the pandemic altered Russia’s relationship with the West? What flaws or resilience in Russian society 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, helping to orientate and shape our thinking and point us in the right direction to better cope with new challenges or issues as we look towards 2023.

For the second year in a row, the associated publication of Conference Proceedings will  be 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 to serve as a forum for worldwide debate.