Experts & Staff

Gustav Gressel

Senior Policy Fellow

Areas of expertise

Eastern Europe; Russia; armed conflict and military affairs; defence policy; missile defence; missile proliferation

Languages

German and English (fluent), Spanish and Polish (conversational)

Biography

Gustav Gressel is a senior policy fellow with the Wider Europe Programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations’ Berlin office. His topics of focus include Russia, Eastern Europe, and defense policy.

Before joining ECFR, Gressel worked as a desk officer for international security policy and strategy in the Bureau for Security Policy of the Austrian Ministry of Defence from 2006 to 2014, and as a research fellow of the Commissioner for Strategic Studies with the Austrian MoD from 2003 to 2006. He was also a research fellow with the International Institute for Liberal Politics in Vienna. Before his academic career he served five years in the Austrian Armed Forces.

Gressel holds a PhD in Strategic Studies at the Faculty of Military Sciences at the National University of Public Service, Budapest and a Masters Degree in political science from Salzburg University. He is the author of numerous publications regarding security policy and strategic affairs and a frequent commentator on international affairs. His opinions have appeared in media such as the New York Times, the Guardian, Die Welt, NZZ, Bild, the DiplomatNew Eastern Europe, Foreign Policy, Gazeta PrawnaRzeczpospolita, Kyiv Post, the Moscow TimesCapital, the Telegraph, the EconomistNewsweek, Deutsche Welle, RTL, al Jazeera, TVP, TRT, Polskie Radio, RFI, FM4, Ukraine Today, and Radio Free Europe.

Murder in Berlin: Not just Germany’s problem

The Tiergarten hitman travelling freely across the Schengen area should prompt reflection in European capitals, and greater demands of Berlin to act. But a pan-European response remains unforthcoming.

Open Skies: Trump’s next big blunder?

Partisan argument in Washington is helping undermine the Open Skies Treaty. The US could lose one of the most useful instruments in its relations with Russia.

Ukraine prisoner swap: A sign of hope or desperation?

The West is drawing the wrong lessons from Ukraine’s exchange of prisoners with Russia. It now risks rushing Kyiv into an unstable ‘resolution’ to the conflict in Donbas

Emmanuel Macron’s very big idea on Russia

Negotiations with Russia over a new European security order would have huge – to many, alarming – implications for Ukraine, the EU, and the NATO alliance

Publications

Articles

The case for sending fighter jets to Ukraine

Ukraine needs fighter jets to counter Russia’s changing military approach. The US should learn from last year’s delay over tank deliveries and approve their release as soon as possible

Shadow of the bomb: Russia’s nuclear threats

Russia is the first state to use nuclear threats as part of a war of expansion. Unless it loses in Ukraine, the world will become a far more dangerous place.

Ukraine: Time for the West to prepare for the long war

Russia is drawing on its Syria playbook and regrouping for a long war to seize the whole of Ukraine. The West needs to take action now to supply Ukraine with Western equipment.

Podcasts

Events

In the media