Paul Goble
Distinguished Fellow Emeritus
Paul Goble is a longtime specialist on ethnic and religious questions in Eurasia. Currently, in addition to preparing Windows on Eurasia, he writes for the Eurasia Daily Monitor of the Jamestown Foundation. Prior to 2004, he served in various capacities in the U.S. State Department, the Central Intelligence Agency and the International Broadcasting Bureau as well as at VOA and RFE/RL and at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. While in Estonia, he started the Window on Eurasia series first at windowoneurasia.blogspot.com and now at its current location. Trained at Miami University and the University of Chicago, he has been decorated by the governments of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania for his work in promoting Baltic independence. He does not post comments on his blog, but he can be contacted directly at paul.goble@gmail.com. He also distributes this series on request via email in 50-item collections.
Dr. Jānis Bērziņš
Dr. Berzins is a Senior Non-Resident Fellow at The Saratoga Foundation. Dr. Berzins is the former director of the Center for Security and Strategic Research (CSSR) at the National Defense Academy of Latvia. He is also Latvia’s principal member of the NATO STO SAS panel. His work focuses on the juxtaposition between the theoretical developments of Russian Military Thought and the operational reality on the ground, and cognitive warfare. Dr. Berzins has lectured as a guest in the United States, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Singapore, Belgium, Brazil, Estonia and Lithuania at various academic and defense institutions. They include the New York University, the Johns Hopkins University, the George C. Marshall Center European Center for Security Studies, the Swedish Defense University, the Swedish Defense Research Agency, the Norwegian Military Academy, the US Army’s Asymmetric Warfare Group, the NATO’s Special Operations Command Europe, the NATO/SHAPE Brunssum Headquarters, among others. Dr. Berzins has advised the United Kingdom House of Commons’ Defense Select Committee, the Parliament of Singapore, the Swedish Government and the Polish Government. He has advised the Ministry of Defense of Singapore regarding Strategic Communications and influence, influence, information, and psychological operations. He has also provided expertise about Russian strategic issues for the US Department of Defense and the private sector.
Volodymyr Havrylov
Major General (ret.) Volodymyr Havrylov is the former Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense. Havrylov ranks as one of Ukraine’s leading defense intellectuals and is a leading expert on the Russian and Ukrainian armed forces. Previously, he served as Defense Attaché at the Ukrainian Embassy to the United States from 2015–2018. He is also currently a Director of the Veterans Dozen Foundation and serves on the Board of Advisors to the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation.
Ihor Kabanenko
Ihor Kabanenko is an expert on the Russian navy and Ukrainian defense and security issues. A retired admiral with the Ukrainian Navy, Kabanenko served in the Soviet navy from 1983 to 1990, in various positions up to Commander of the ship and Chief of Staff of Missile Ships Division. Since 1993, he served in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. He was appointed to the positions of Chief of Operations and Chief of Staff of the Ukrainian Navy, the Military Representative of Ukraine to NATO, Chief of Operations of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and the First Deputy Chief of Defence. He retired in 2013, with the rank of Admiral. From May to August 2014, Admiral Kabanenko served as the Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense, and from August to October 2014—as Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine for European Integration. Currently, he works for the private industry and is an expert on defense and security issues.
Pavel Luzin
Dr. Pavel Luzin is a Senior Fellow at the Saratoga Foundation and an expert on Russian foreign and defense policy, as well as Russian policy in space. He received a Ph.D. in international relations from the Russian Academy of Sciences National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO) in 2012. Currently, he is a visiting scholar at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (Tufts University). He is also a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis (USA), and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Global Academy, the Russia Program at George Washington University (USA). Dr. Luzin is also a contributor to the Foreign Policy Research Institute (USA) and writes for Riddle Russia (Lithuania).
Dr. Luzin has written about Russian strategy in space for over a decade and covered various issues related to the Russian space program and space industry as part of the Russian military-industrial complex in papers published by The Jamestown Foundation, Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI), and The Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. He has also been published in Foreign Affairs, Defense News, Riddle, The Moscow Times, and Intersection Project. Dr. Luzin has a chapter on soft power in space security that been submitted and approved for publication in the forthcoming Oxford Handbook on Space Security (scheduled for publication in early 2024).
Roger N. McDermott
Roger N. McDermott, Associate Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHS) is a Senior Fellow on Russian Military Strategy at The Saratoga Foundation, Washington, DC. He is a graduate of the University of Oxford in Modern History and a leading authority on the Russian military. He is a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Department of War Studies, King’s College, London; Research Associate, Institute of Middle East, Central Asia and Caucasus Studies (MECACS), University of St. Andrews, Scotland; and a guest lecturer on Russian military strategy, Führungsakademie der Bundeswehr in Hamburg, Germany and Visiting Lecturer at the Kaitseväe Akadeemia (Estonian Military Academy) in Tartu, Estonia.
McDermott is an Associate Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a member of the British Commission for Military History. His book publications includes: Editor, The Transformation of Russia’s Armed Forces: Twenty Lost Years, (Routledge: London), 2014; Co-editor with Bertil Nygren and Carolina Vendil-Pallin, The Russian Armed Forces in Transition: Economic, Geopolitical and Institutional Uncertainties, (Routledge: London), 2011; The Reform of Russia’s Conventional Armed Forces: Problems, Challenges and Policy Issues, Jamestown Foundation, Washington, DC, 2011. His most recent book is Russia’s Path to the High-Tech Battlespace, Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2022, 470 pp.
Hlib Parfonov
Parenov is an expert and analyst on OSINT, electronic warfare, Russia and its armed forces. He has been published in a variety of news outlets and a number of Ukrainian and Azerbaijani media, and published studies about the occupied territories of Ukraine. He has been awarded a letter of commendation by the Ukrainian armed forces for his service and by the Baku International Multiculturalism Centre for his contribution to the development of Ukrainian-Azerbaijani relations. Currently, Mr Pafenov is a serviceman in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and a combat veteran.
Andrii Ryzhenko
Captain (ret.) Andrii Ryzhenko is an expert on Russian naval forces and naval strategy. He is a former officer in the Ukrainian Navy and retired from the Armed Forces of Ukraine with the rank of Navy Captain. Captain Ryzhenko served over 35 years at sea and ashore: aboard surface warships, at Ukrainian Navy HQ on maritime tactics and PfP exercises, and as defense and strategic planner. He also worked on Ukrainian Navy transformation to Euro-Atlantic standards and on the contribution to NATO-led operations and NATO Response Forces. He served in NATO on partner nation units’ evaluation methodology (OCC E&F) at Supreme Allied Headquarters Europe (SHAPE) (Mons, Belgium), and he developed maritime aspects of the National Security Strategy in Ukraine. Capt. Ryzhenko is currently a strategic expert at the defense and logistics consultant firm, Sonata.
Murad Batal al-Shishani
Murad Batal Shishani is a leading international expert on militancy and Islamic groups that operate in the Middle East and the North Caucasus. He worked for the BBC World Service (Arabic and English) for more than 16 years as a roving correspondent. In this role, he covered significant events around the globe. He worked in conflict zones such as Iraq, Ukraine, the Syrian border, the West Bank, Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. Murad was BBC’s in-house expert on militant groups.
He is the founder of the London-based consultancy group “Remarks on Political Violence.” And has authored three books in Arabic covering the North Caucasus conflict and militant groups in the Middle East. Throughout his career, he has also written numerous articles, essays, and studies in both Arabic and English for various prestigious publications. Mr. Shishani holds a master’s degree in political science and speaks Arabic, Chechen, and English, on the broadcast level.
Sergey Sukhankin
Dr. Sergey Sukhankin is a Senior Fellow at the Saratoga Foundation specializing in Russian military and security affairs, as well as Russian and Chinese cooperation in the Arctic. He is also an Advisor at Gulf State Analytics (Washington, D.C.) and Fellow at the North American and Arctic Defence and Security Network (Canada). He received a PhD in Contemporary Political and Social History from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. His other areas of interest include Kaliningrad and the Baltic Sea region, Russian information and cyber security, A2/AD and its interpretation in Russia, the Arctic region, and the development and activities of Russian private military companies in the Middle East and Africa. He has consulted and briefed the CSIS (Canada), the US Defense Intelligence Agency, and the European Parliament. His research on the activities of Russian Private Military Contractors (PMCs), “War by Other Means” has received widespread international recognition, influencing the United Nations General Assembly report entitled “Use of Mercenaries as a Means of Violating Human Rights and Impeding the Exercise of the Right of Peoples to Self-Determination.” He currently resides in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Timothy Thomas
Timothy Thomas is a Senior Fellow at The Saratoga Foundation and a long time expert on the Russian military. Previously he worked for 27 years at the Foreign Military Studies Office (FMSO) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He retired from the U.S. Army as a Lieutenant Colonel in the summer of 1993. Mr. Thomas received a B.S. from West Point and an M.A. from the University of Southern California. He was a U.S. Army Foreign Area Officer (FAO), who specialized in Soviet/Russian studies. His military assignments included serving as the Director of Soviet Studies at the United States Army Russian Institute (USARI) in Garmisch, Germany; as an inspector of Soviet tactical operations under CSCE; and as a Brigade S‑2 and company commander in the 82nd Airborne Division.
Mr. Thomas has conducted extensive research and publishing on military affairs in both Russia and China. He served as the assistant editor of the journal European Security, and as an adjunct professor at the U.S. Army's Eurasian Institute; and as an adjunct lecturer at the USAF Special Operations School. He has written three books on the Russian military. From late 2017 to November 2024, he worked for the MITRE Corporation and published numerous articles on the Russian military.
Mairbek Vatchagev
Mairbek Vatchagaev is a Senior Fellow at The Saratoga Foundation and an expert on the North and South Caucasus and Russian nationalities issues. He was born in Chechnya (USSR - Russia in 1965) and studied history at the Chechen State University, the Research Institute of Chechnya, and the Institute of the Russian History. He defended his PhD in the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow in 1995.
He worked closely with the only democratically elected President of Chechnya - Aslan Maskhadov, and actively campaigned for him in 1996 before the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) monitored elections.
During the period 1988–99, Vatchagaev was a press secretary and first adviser to President Maskhadov. At the same time, he was in charge of leading the investigation center functioning under the presidential administration of Ichkeria. In the summer of 1999, Vatchagaev was appointed as the general representative of the Republic of Ichkeria in the Russian Federation.
Vatchagaev has been studying the history of the North Caucasus and political processes in the region, as well as the history of Islam in Russia since 2002. He has published numerous articles on the history of Chechnya and politics in the North Caucasus and Russia.
He has extensively contributed to the Jamestown publication Eurasia Daily Monitor about developments in the North Caucasus. From 2007 to 2016, he was a regular contributor to the Jamestown publication Eurasia Daily Monitor, where he wrote hundreds of articles on events in the North Caucasus.
Vatchagaev is an author of nine books on the history and religion of the North Caucasus, including Chechnya in the 19th Century Caucasian Wars: Chechnya in the Caucasian War (1816-1859) pc 2003; Sheikhs and Ziyarats of Chechnya (2009); Eagle-Wolf: Chechnya in the 19th Century Caucasian War (2008); Union of Highlanders of the North Caucasus and the Gorskaya Respublika (2018); Chechnya: The Inside Story. From Independence to war. Mairbek Vatchagaev (2019); Tapa Chermoyev: From the Oblivion of History and other books.
Mr. Vatchagaev has published over 200 articles published on the history of Chechnya and Sufism in the North-Caucasus and 800 articles on political science - North Caucasus and Russia. He is the co-editor-in-chief of the Caucasus Survey (Brill) and author and host of the historical podcasts “Chronicle of the Caucasus with Vatchagaev” on Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).