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Russian Globally Integrated Operation Part 2 How Moscow Maps the World

From RSI

Date: September 16th, 2020 at 15:00 CEST / 09:00 EST Platform: Cisco Webex Events

Link to Video Recording Recording Password: e3HmV4rJcX7

Format

Each panelist presents for 15 minutes followed by 30 minutes of Q&A

Agenda

  • 15:00-15:30 CEST / 09:00-09:30 EST: Presentation on GIO#2: How Moscow Maps the World
  • 15:30-16:00 CEST / 09:30-10:00 EST: Question & Answer Session with Moderation to include other panelists

Project Abstract

This project examines Russian grand strategy. The concept of "Globally Integrated Operations" – one explicitly discussed by the Russian leadership – provides a holistic lens through which to view Russian strategic thinking and activity. It illuminates how Moscow seeks to reorganise the structure of its defence and security landscape to cope with perceived security challenges, and the trajectory of its international activity. It examines Moscow's "mental maps" and how Russian economic and security interests are intertwined.

Panel Abstract

This session will look at Moscow's mental maps and global horizons. It will examine the importance to Moscow of geospatial capabilities and their importance for military operations, looking at the major investment the Russian leadership is making in updating the relevant technologies. These advances provide the basis for grand strategy and mean that Moscow now contemplates global theatres of military activity, including aerospace and information.

Read Ahead Paper

Moscow's Mapping of the World.pdf (with Executive Summary)

Biography

Lead Speaker: Charles Bartles

File:Photo Charles Bartles.jpg
Charles Bartles

Title: Analyst and Russian Linguist Affiliation: Foreign Military Studies Office, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas

Charles Bartles is an analyst and Russian linguist at the Foreign Military Studies Office at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. His research areas include Russian and Central Asian military force structure, tactics, modernization, and Soviet/Russian military mapping. He is also a Major in the US Army Reserve and co-author of The Russian Way of War: Force Structure, Tactics, and the Modernization of the Russian Ground Forces (Mentor, 2017).

Lead Speaker: Dr. Alexander J. Kent

File:Photo Alexander Kent.jpg
Alexander J. Kent

Title: Reader in Cartography and Geographic Information Science Affiliation: Canterbury Christ Church University

Dr. Alexander J. Kent is Reader in Cartography and Geographic Information Science at Canterbury Christ Church University and Immediate Past President of the British Cartographic Society. Editor of The Cartographic Journal (Taylor & Francis), he is the co-author of the book The Red Atlas: How the Soviet Union Secretly Mapped the World (University of Chicago Press, 2017).

Panelist: Andrew Monaghan, Ph.D.

File:Photo Andrew Monaghan.jpg
Andrew Monaghan

Title: Director Affiliation: Russia Research Network Ltd; Non-Resident Associate Fellow, NATO Defence College, Rome

Dr. Andrew Monaghan is Director of the Russia Research Network Ltd. Additionally, he is a Non-Resident Associate Fellow of the NATO Defence College in Rome, Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London, and Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham. He is the author of several books, including Dealing with the Russians (Polity, 2019).

Panelist: Dr. Nazrin Mehdiyeva

File:Photo Nazrin Mehdiyeva.jpg
Nazrin Mehdiyeva

Title: Geopolitics and Energy Security Specialist

Dr. Nazrin Mehdiyeva is a geopolitics and energy security specialist, working with governments, international institutions, and energy majors. She is co-author of Beyond Blood Oil: Philosophy, Policy, and the Future (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018) and author of Power Games in the Caucasus (I.B. Tauris, 2011).

Panelist: Dr. Richard Connolly

File:Photo Richard Connolly.jpg
Richard Connolly

Title: Director Affiliation: Centre for Russian, European and Eurasian Studies (CREES), University of Birmingham

Richard Connolly is director of the Centre for Russian, European and Eurasian Studies (CREES) and senior lecturer in political economy at the University of Birmingham. He is the author of Russia's Response to Sanctions (Cambridge University Press, 2018).

Series Information

This is part of a four-part series on Russian Globally Integrated Operations:

  • GIO #1: Grand Strategy, Not Opportunism (September 15th @ 15:00)
  • GIO #2: How Moscow Maps the World (September 16th @ 15:00)
  • GIO #3: Polar Power - Russian Energy and Globally Integrated Operations (September 22nd @ 15:00)
  • GIO #4: Russia's Role as a Supplier of Strategically Important Goods (September 24th @ 15:00)

Additional Resources