Pushkin House invites you to join two esteemed experts, Sir Laurie Bristow and Dr Julie Newton, for a discussion about the global shifts in international politics caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Almost a year has passed since Europe woke up witnessing the first major military conflict on its territory since the Yugoslav Wars, that would go on to claim hundreds of thousands of human lives among both soldiers and civilians. The existing world order seems to be in crisis and it will require years of joint efforts by international political bodies to reform the global system of checks and balances.
Public diplomacy has hardly been effective; little is known about the behind-the-scenes negotiations and who is involved in them. Few countries have not been affected by the war. Even if not directly participating in the warfare, many countries fund Ukraine, while others continue trading resources with Russia and, in a few cases, arms.
Global economic growth is stalling. The international food supply has been damaged, affecting millions of people worldwide. Sir Laurie Bristow and Dr Julie Newton will reflect on various aspects of the war and share their academic and diplomatic experience to suggest long-term prospects of our new reality.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Sir Laurie Bristow KCMG is President of Hughes Hall, University of Cambridge (from October 2022).
Laurie joined the UK diplomatic service in 1990, as the Cold War ended and change swept across Europe. His first posting was to Romania in the spring of 1992. He served as Ambassador to Afghanistan during the fall of the Republic to the Taliban in 2021. He served as Ambassador to Russia from 2016 to 2020. He was Ambassador to Azerbaijan from 2004 to 2007, when the major offshore oil and gas infrastructure and pipelines were built. Senior roles in London included Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Director for National Security, and COP26 Regional Ambassador for China, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.
Laurie’s interests include Russia and its neighbours, and a broad range of national and international security issues.
Based at Oxford University, Dr Julie Newton is Principal Investigator (Director) of the University Consortium, funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York, bringing together universities in the US, the EU and formerly in Russia.
Julie is also a Research Fellow at the Russian and Eurasian Studies Centre at St Antony’s College, University of Oxford, where her research focuses on Russian politics and Russia-US-EU relations.
Julie holds a BA from Princeton University, a master's from Columbia University, and a DPhil from Oxford.
Julie is an Associate Professor at the American University of Paris; in the US, she is a Visiting Professor at Colorado College; and in Russia, she was a regular lecturer for the MGIMO-MGU International Master’s Program in Post-Soviet Politics. Besides published articles, books include: Russia, France, and the Idea of Europe (Palgrave, 2003), Institutions, Ideas, and Leadership in Russian Politics (Palgrave, 2011) with Dr William Tompson.