(C-SPAN | GW Today) Even the brightest minds at or strongly connected to the heart of the conflict are having a hard time figuring out what is happening and what comes next. Will Russia, with troops set up at Ukraine’s eastern border, invade? Or is it a very organized intimidation game?
Basically, there’s enough evidence to suggest either is possible, but not enough evidence to sway one way or the other.
“What we’ve seen in the recent weeks or even months actually falls under both of those scenarios,” said Volodymyr Dubovyk, associate professor of international relations and director of the Center for International Studies at Odessa’s Mechnikov National University. “But it is certainly a crisis. And the timing of it has also been puzzling.”
Dubovyk was one of five Ukrainian scholars who joined an Elliott School of International Affairs audience Friday to share their perspectives of the current tensions between Ukraine and Russia. More than 180 people tuned in at its peak. Elliott School Professor Henry Hale, co-director of the Program on New Approaches to Research and Security in Eurasia (PONARS Eurasia) and moderator of Friday’s event, believed it was important and necessary to add to the diversity of voices given to this ongoing situation in eastern Europe.
“We’ve heard Ukrainian people on the street, Ukrainian government officials, lots of American voices and lots of Russian voices,” Hale said. “But what we wanted to do here was to present to you a variety of leading voices from Ukraine’s own experts on not only politics in Ukraine, but also Russia/Ukrainian relations and broader concepts that they research as part of their careers.” […]
Ukrainian Scholars Discuss Current Crisis with Russia © GW Today
Elliott School Hosts Discussion with Ukrainian Scholars © Elliott 360
See the Event Recording (YouTube)
See the C-SPAN Video and Transcript
Friday, February 4, 2022, PONARS Eurasia and Petrach Program on Ukraine online event, “Ukrainian Perspectives on the Current US-Ukraine-Russia Crisis,” with Volodymyr Dubovyk, Olexiy Haran, Sergiy Kudelia, Tetyana Malyarenko, and Oxana Shevel.