On April 6, 2026, a joint roundtable of the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) and the Institute for International Studies (IMI) at MGIMO University was held on “The Evolution of Post-Soviet States in the Context of the Transformation of the World Order.” The event featured a presentation of the IMI MGIMO report “Post-Soviet States: Searching for a New Role in a Changing World.”
During the roundtable, experts discussed the geopolitical consequences of the dissolution of the Soviet Union; the future of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and its capacity to adapt to the realities of a changing world order; the nation-building trajectories pursued by the former Soviet republics—Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, the countries of the South Caucasus and Central Asia—as well as a range of related issues.
On April 6, 2026, a joint roundtable of the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) and the Institute for International Studies (IMI) at MGIMO University was held on “The Evolution of Post-Soviet States in the Context of the Transformation of the World Order.” The event featured a presentation of the IMI MGIMO report “Post-Soviet States: Searching for a New Role in a Changing World.”
During the roundtable, experts discussed the geopolitical consequences of the dissolution of the Soviet Union; the future of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and its capacity to adapt to the realities of a changing world order; the nation-building trajectories pursued by the former Soviet republics—Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, the countries of the South Caucasus and Central Asia—as well as a range of related issues.
The expert discussion featured: Elena Karpinskaya, RIAC Director of Programs; Irina Bolgova, Deputy Director of the Institute for International Studies (IMI) at MGIMO University; report authors and leading research fellows at IMI MGIMO—Sergey Markedonov, Alexander Knyazev, Yulia Nikitina, and Akhmet Yarlykapov; Alexander Gushchin, Senior Research Fellow and Associate Professor at the Department of Post-Soviet Foreign Countries, Russian State University for the Humanities (RSUH); Eduard Solovyov, Head of the Center for Post-Soviet Studies at IMEMO; Alexander Levchenkov, Associate Professor at the Department of Post-Soviet Foreign Countries, RSUH; Nicole Bodishtyanu, Associate Professor and Deputy Academic Director of the International Program “International Relations and Global Studies” at HSE University; Evgenia Goryushina, Head of the Caucasus Studies Sector at the Institute of China and Contemporary Asia, Russian Academy of Sciences, and Research Fellow at the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies (CCEIS), HSE University; Stanislav Tkachenko, Professor at the Department of European Studies, St. Petersburg State University; Andrey Areshev, political commentator and expert at the Strategic Culture Foundation; Sergey Zhiltsov, Head of the Department of Political Theory at the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia; Nubara Kulieva, Junior Research Fellow at CCEIS, HSE University; Natalia Kharitonova, Chief Research Fellow at RSUH and Professor at RANEPA under the President of the Russian Federation, among others.
The roundtable was moderated by Milan Lazovich, Program Manager at RIAC.
