Mathieu Boulègue (Project editor)
Mathieu Boulègue is a research fellow in the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House. He was previously a partner at the risk management and strategic research consultancy AESMA, where he worked as director of Eurasian affairs.
In his research, Mathieu focuses particularly on Eurasian security and defence issues as well as on Russia’s domestic and foreign policy. Having trained as a policy and security analyst in the field of post-Soviet affairs, Mathieu regularly publishes articles and papers on Eurasian security and foreign policy questions. He is also a frequent invited speaker at conferences and events around the world.
He graduated from Sciences Po Toulouse in France and King’s College London (MA International Conflict Studies).
Samuel Bendett
Samuel Bendett is an analyst with CNA’s Adversary Analysis Group, where he is a member of the Russia Studies Program. He is also an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. His work involves research on Russian defence and technology developments, unmanned and autonomous military systems and artificial intelligence, as well as Russian military capabilities and decision-making during crises. He is also a member of CNA’s Center for Autonomy and Artificial Intelligence, and an honorary Mad Scientist with the USARMY TRADOC’s Mad Scientist Initiative.
Prior to joining CNA, Samuel worked at the National Defense University on emerging and disruptive technologies for the US Department of Defense response in domestic and international crisis situations. His previous experience includes working for US Congress, private sector and non-profit organizations on foreign policy, international conflict resolution, defence and security issues.
His analyses, views and commentary on Russian military robotics, unmanned systems and artificial intelligence capabilities appear in Forbes, C4ISRnet, Defense One, War on the Rocks, Breaking Defense, The National Interest and The Strategy Bridge. Between 2008 and 2016, he was a foreign policy and international affairs contributor to the RealClearWorld.com blog.
Samuel Bendett received his MA in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School, Tufts University, and holds a BA in Politics and English from Brandeis University. He has native fluency in Russian.
Richard Connolly
Dr Richard Connolly is director of Eastern Advisory Group and an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London. He was previously director of the Centre for Russian, European and Eurasian Studies (CREES) at the University of Birmingham and an associate fellow in the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House. He is a specialist on the Russian economy.
His research interests include economic policy, industrial development, and the development of the defence and energy industries in Russia, the impact of Western sanctions on the Russian economy, and Russia’s role in the global economy.
His most recent books are Russia’s Response to Sanctions, published by Cambridge University Press in 2018, and The Russian Economy: A Very Short Introduction, published by Oxford University Press in 2020. His next book, entitled Russian Economic Power, is scheduled for publication by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).
Margarita Konaev
Dr Margarita Konaev is an associate director of analysis and a research fellow at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), interested in military applications of artificial intelligence and Russian military innovation. Previously, she was a non-resident fellow with the Modern War Institute at West Point, a post-doctoral fellow at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perry World House. Before joining CSET, she worked as a senior principal in the Marketing and Communications practice at Gartner.
Margarita’s research on international security, armed conflict, non-state actors and urban warfare in the Middle East, Russia and Eurasia has been published by the Journal of Strategic Studies, the Journal of Global Security Studies, Conflict Management and Peace Science, the French Institute of International Relations, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Lawfare, War on the Rocks, Defense One, the Modern War Institute, the Foreign Policy Research Institute and a range of other outlets. She holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Notre Dame, an MA in Conflict Resolution from Georgetown University and a BA from Brandeis University.
Pavel Podvig
Dr Pavel Podvig is an independent analyst based in Geneva, where he runs his research project, ‘Russian Nuclear Forces’. He is also a senior research fellow at the UN Institute for Disarmament Research and a researcher with the Program on Science and Global Security at Princeton University. Pavel started his work on arms control at the Center for Arms Control Studies at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, which was the first independent research organization in Russia dedicated to analysis of technical issues of disarmament and non-proliferation. His current research focuses on the Russian strategic forces and nuclear weapons complex, as well as technical and political aspects of nuclear non-proliferation, arms control, and disarmament. Pavel is a member of the International Panel on Fissile Materials. He has a physics degree from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and a PhD in political science from the Moscow Institute of World Economy and International Relations.
Katarzyna Zysk
Dr Katarzyna Zysk is Professor of International Relations and Contemporary History at the Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies (IFS), which is part of the Norwegian Defence University College (NDUC) in Oslo. She has been at the IFS since 2007, having served as Deputy Director (2017–21), Head of the Centre for Security Policy (2019–21), and Director of Research (2017–21). In 2016, she was Acting Dean of the NDUC, where she teaches regularly.
Currently, Katarzyna is also a visiting professor at Sciences Po in Paris; a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council; a core group member of the Russia Transatlantic Forum, at the Center for a New American Security; a member of the governing board of the European Initiative for Security Studies; and a member of the advisory board at the Transatlantic Deterrence Dialogue Initiative. She was a visiting scholar at the Center for International Security and Cooperation (Stanford University); at the Changing Character of War Centre (University of Oxford); and at the Center for Naval Warfare Studies at the US Naval War College, where she also cooperated closely with the War Gaming Department.
Following her PhD on NATO enlargement (2006), her research has focused on security, defence and strategic studies, including Russia’s security, military strategy and warfare, security and defence in the Arctic, defence innovation and emerging technologies. Her published research has appeared in the SAIS Review of International Affairs, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Journal of Strategic Studies, Asia Policy, the RUSI Journal, Politique Etrangère, Jane’s Navy International, War on the Rocks and others.
