Panel 2
Belarus and its neighbors. Prospects for cooperation
About Panel 2
Belarus has been steeped in a deep domestic political crisis since its presidential elections were held on 9 August, and to which international communities of states, especially the EU, have had to react and position themselves politically. Expressions of solidarity and sanctions obviously followed in the form of immediate and jointly issued measures. Poland and Lithuania are among those neighbouring states that, due to their situation, geopolitical interests, and shared historical and social ties, expressed great solidarity and determination in wanting to find political solutions to deal with the new reality in Belarus. Not only have most of the opposition’s activists found refuge here, such as Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, but Warsaw and Vilnius are very eager to help shape the EU’s political response to Belarus, and they have clearly expressed the importance of acting swiftly.
How do the neighbouring countries interpret the developments in Minsk and Belarus? What influence do they have on the formation of the EU’s policies towards Belarus? What interests is Germany pursuing in this conflict situation, and how is Berlin working together with Warsaw and Vilnius? The particular role played by Russia and the impact on security policies for the easternmost EU countries will also be discussed, along with the opportunities and challenges on a global, political level presented by the impending change of government in the USA.
About Panel 2
Belarus has been steeped in a deep domestic political crisis since its presidential elections were held on 9 August, and to which international communities of states, especially the EU, have had to react and position themselves politically. Expressions of solidarity and sanctions obviously followed in the form of immediate and jointly issued measures. Poland and Lithuania are among those neighbouring states that, due to their situation, geopolitical interests, and shared historical and social ties, expressed great solidarity and determination in wanting to find political solutions to deal with the new reality in Belarus. Not only have most of the opposition’s activists found refuge here, such as Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, but Warsaw and Vilnius are very eager to help shape the EU’s political response to Belarus, and they have clearly expressed the importance of acting swiftly.
How do the neighbouring countries interpret the developments in Minsk and Belarus? What influence do they have on the formation of the EU’s policies towards Belarus? What interests is Germany pursuing in this conflict situation, and how is Berlin working together with Warsaw and Vilnius? The particular role played by Russia and the impact on security policies for the easternmost EU countries will also be discussed, along with the opportunities and challenges on a global, political level presented by the impending change of government in the USA.
Moderator
Cornelius Ochmann
Executive Member of the Board of the Foundation for German-Polish Cooperation, Member of the Board of the German-Belarusian Society
Cornelius Ochmann
Cornelius Ochmann is an executive board member of the Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation. He is a political scientist and an expert on European politics, especially on relations between the EU and Russia, Poland, Ukraine, and Belarus. He studied at Mainz and Breslau Universities. Extended research periods have taken him to Moscow and to Jerusalem (Hebrew University). From 1994 to 2013, he worked for the Bertelsmann Foundation and directed, among other things, the International Bertelsmann Forum (IBF). Ochmann advises the German Federal Foreign Office and European institutions on the issue of the EU’s Eastern European policies. His political consulting has given him a comprehensive understanding of international politics. He writes for the specialised publication “Nowa Europa Wschodnia” and is a member of the scientific advisory council to “New Eastern Europe”.
Speakers
Marcin Przydacz
State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland
Margarita Šešelgytė
Director of the Institute of International Relations and Political Science at Vilnius University
Viktar Shadurski
Dean of the Faculty of International Relations of Minsk State University
Michael Siebert
Director for Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia at the German Federal Foreign Office
Marcin Przydacz
Przydacz is currently Undersecretary of State for Security, the Americas, Asia and Eastern Policy. He was born in Wielun on 26 June 1985. A graduate of the Faculty of Law and Administration of the Jagiellonian University, he also studied international relations and philosophy at that university. He is a scholarship holder of La Sapienza University in Rome, the University of Messina, and the “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy” National University in Kyiv. He also graduated from the Italian and European Law School at the University of Warsaw. He completed his advocate training at the Krakow District Bar Council, and passed the bar exam in 2015.
Between 2010 and 2014, he collaborated with the Jagiellonian Club as an international relations analyst. At the same time, he was involved with the Republic Foundation Centre of Analysis. From 2012 to 2015, he was a lecturer at the Pontifical University of John Paul II in Krakow, and from 2013 to 2015, he was president of the board of the Politics and Diplomacy Foundation, a think-tank. Between 2015 and 2019, he served as deputy director of the Foreign Affairs Office at the Chancellery of the Polish President.
Margarita Šešelgytė
Dr. Margarita Šešelgytė is the Director of the Institute of International Relations and Political Science, Vilnius University. Her main research interests include security and defence studies, strategic cultures, small states studies, European Union Security and Defence Policy, European Union Eastern Partnership Policy, regional security cooperation. Margarita Šešelgytė for a number of years was a Studies Director of the same Institute. She has also worked for the Baltic Defence College (Tartu, Estonia), the Lithuanian Military Academy, and has held several civil servant positions at the governmental institutions of the Republic of Lithuania. She has a PhD in Political Science from Vilnius University.
Viktar Shadurski
Dean of the Faculty of International Relations, Belarusian State University (since 2008), Doctor of Science (history), Professor. The area of his academic interest includes current foreign policy issues in the Republic of Belarus as well as its bilateral relations with neighbouring countries and other states. He is the author of over 300 academic papers. Viktar Shadurski is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the Belarusian State University. International Relations (published in English), Head of the Editorial Board of the Journal of International Law and International Relations, and editorial board member of a number of academic periodicals in Russia, Poland, Czech Republic and Estonia.
Michael Siebert
Ambassador Michael Siebert, currently Director for Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia in the German Foreign Office, joined the German Diplomatic Service in 1987, where his first overseas postings were in Nigeria, Russia (Deputy Consul General in St. Petersburg) and Washington DC. At the German Foreign Office, he held posts covering Northern Europe and Russia. He was deputy-head of division at the German Federal Chancellery from 2002 till 2006, covering Russia, Central and Eastern Europe, Balkans, Caucasus, and Central Asia. After a term as Deputy Head of the Political Department at the German Embassy in London, he was responsible for cultural and media relations with Asia-Pacific, Africa and Latin America at the Foreign Office. From 2012 till 2016, he served as German Consul General in Mumbai, India. Before his current posting, he was head of division at the Political Department of the German Foreign Office, covering Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia. Mr Siebert holds a “State Exam” Degree in History and French Literature/Linguistics from Bonn university. Before joining the Foreign Office, he worked in Paris as a journalist and language teacher.
Nadezhda Arbatowa
Nadezhda Arbatova (Nadia Alexandrova-Arbatova) holds a PhD in Political Science and is currently Head of Department of European Political Studies at the Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations at the Russian Academy Of Sciences. She is also Director of the Discussion Forum “European Dialogues”, Vice-President of the Russian Pugwash Committee, a Member of Council on Foreign and Defense Policy and author of numerous publications, including four individual monographs and brochures on EU-Russia relations, European security and Russia’s foreign policy. Her professional interests include: international relations, European integration, the EU-Russia relations, European security, Russian foreign policy, conflicts and conflict prevention.
Anna Maria Dyner
is an analyst dealing with Belarus and security policy of the Russian Federation in the International Security Programme in the Polish Institute of International Affairs (Warsaw, Poland). Her research interests include Russian security policy, Russia’s role in the post-Soviet space, and Belarus’ internal and foreign policy. She graduated from the Institute of Political Science and the Centre for East European Studies at the University of Warsaw. She is also an alumnus of the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) led by the U.S. Department of State. In 2008, she received the award of the Minister of Science and Higher Education for outstanding academic achievements.