Ryhor Astapenia

Ryhor’s research examines the roles of the Belarusian political elites in the decision-making process within the country, and their interaction with the European Union institutions.

Ryhor is founder of the Centre for New Ideas, a Minsk-based nonpartisan CSO promoting democratic reforms in Belarus. He received his PhD in Political Science at the University of Warsaw and previously worked as a development director and analyst at the Ostrogorski Centre, a Belarusian think tank.

Ryhor has cooperated with a number of civil society organisations in Eastern Europe and has written for Belarusian and Western media outlets and think tanks, including the Washington Post, the Guardian, the European Council on Foreign Relations, and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.