The Russian troop build-up near Ukraine
How serious is the Russian troop build-up near the Ukraine border? And what should NATO do about it?
Experts & Staff
Kadri Liik
Senior Policy Fellow
Areas of expertise
Russian domestic and foreign policy; relations between Russia and the West; the Baltic Sea area; Eastern Europe
Languages
English, Russian, Estonian
Biography
Kadri Liik is a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. Her research focuses on Russia, Eastern Europe, and the Baltic region.
Before joining ECFR in October 2012, Liik was the director of the International Centre for Defence Studies in Estonia from 2006 until 2011, where she also worked as a senior researcher and director of the Centre’s Lennart Meri Conference. Throughout the 1990s, Liik worked as a Moscow correspondent for several Estonian daily papers, including the highest-circulation daily in Estonia, Postimees, as well as Eesti Päevaleht and the Baltic News Service. In 2002, she became the foreign news editor at Postimees. In 2004, she left to become editor-in-chief at the monthly foreign affairs magazine, Diplomaatia. She was also the host of “Välismääraja”, a current affairs talkshow at Raadio Kuku in Tallinn.
Liik holds a BA in Journalism from Tartu University (Estonia) and an MA in International Relations specialising in diplomacy from Lancaster University.
Russia, elections, and the West: Ten years later
If the Kremlin sees the Duma election result as a buffer that will allow it to safely prepare for a transition at the top, the Russian political system might still find a way to evolve. But, if it views the result as confirmation that the system works just fine, its ‘victory’ really is a Pyrrhic one.
The fall of the Afghan government and what it means for Europe
ECFR’s policy experts examine what the Taliban takeover means for countries and regions around the world: Europe, the US, the Middle East, Russia, China, Iran, Turkey, and the Sahel
Biden meets Putin: America, Russia, and the return of diplomacy
The Geneva summit recalled the power of old-fashioned diplomacy and working patiently away at difficult problems
11 Jun
What to expect from the Putin-Biden summit?
What, if anything, can one say about the longer-term perspectives for the US-Russia relationship?
The Nord Stream 2 dispute and the transatlantic alliance
Nord Stream 2 has become a suitcase without a handle: hard to abandon; hard to take along
The invisible battle for Russia’s future
There are homegrown democrats in Russia who do not automatically sympathise with the West. They could lead the country to change from the top.
Push back, contain, and engage: How the EU should approach relations with Russia
The bloc should reframe how it speaks of human rights and democracy, while developing closer security and military links with select neighbours
24 Mar
Should the EU revise its approach to Russia?
In February High Representative Josep Borrell visited Moscow to discuss key issues of concern and test the waters for building a more „constructive dialogue” between…
Stranger in Moscow: Borrell’s unwelcome visit
What lessons can be drawn from Josep Borrell’s controversial visit to Moscow?
Publications
The fall of the Afghan government and what it means for Europe
ECFR’s policy experts examine what the Taliban takeover means for countries and regions around the world: Europe, the US, the Middle East, Russia, China, Iran, Turkey, and the Sahel
Push back, contain, and engage: How the EU should approach relations with Russia
The bloc should reframe how it speaks of human rights and democracy, while developing closer security and military links with select neighbours
Russia’s relative resilience: Why Putin feels vindicated by the pandemic
Covid-19 has damaged Russia’s economy and President Vladimir Putin’s political agenda
The last of the offended: Russia’s first post-Putin diplomats
Russia’s new generation of foreign policy professionals bring with them a shift in attitudes that challenges centrality of “the West” in Russian foreign policy
Defender of the faith? How Ukraine’s Orthodox split threatens Russia
Introduction An average Westerner may well have overlooked the potentially seismic geopolitical event of 6 January 2019. On that snowy Sunday – Epiphany in western…
Winning the normative war with Russia: An EU-Russia Power Audit
The path to winning the normative war will not go so much through countering Russia as through improving Europe’s resilience and reinvigorating its model
Germany votes: European dilemmas in the Federal Election
In the federal election year, Germans are ready to give new European solutions a strong boost and take more risks
The new power couple: Russia and Iran in the Middle East
Joint military operations in Syria have brought Russia and Iran relations closer than at any point since World War II
Absorb and conquer: An EU approach to Russian and Chinese integration in Eurasia
Europe shouldn’t be afraid of Russian and Chinese efforts to integrate the Eurasian landmass, but should absorb them into its international order
European Foreign Policy Scorecard 2016
The sixth ECFR Foreign Policy Scorecard highlights the EU’s diminishing ability to influence its neighbours, and the neighbourhood’s growing impact on the EU
Articles
Russia, elections, and the West: Ten years later
If the Kremlin sees the Duma election result as a buffer that will allow it to safely prepare for a transition at the top, the Russian political system might still find a way to evolve. But, if it views the result as confirmation that the system works just fine, its ‘victory’ really is a Pyrrhic one.
Biden meets Putin: America, Russia, and the return of diplomacy
The Geneva summit recalled the power of old-fashioned diplomacy and working patiently away at difficult problems
The Nord Stream 2 dispute and the transatlantic alliance
Nord Stream 2 has become a suitcase without a handle: hard to abandon; hard to take along
The invisible battle for Russia’s future
There are homegrown democrats in Russia who do not automatically sympathise with the West. They could lead the country to change from the top.
The Putin paradox: Five things Navalny’s arrest says about Russia
The events Navalny set in motion both indicate the urgent need for change and make such change less likely to happen
The geopolitics of covid vaccines in Europe’s eastern neighbourhood
Many of the EU’s neighbours are hoping it will help them secure vaccines – leaving offers from China and Russia to flood in
Russia policy after the US election
Regardless of the election result, Moscow will continue to see US policies as provisional – as a part of a temporary phase that one needs to wait out, to see what follows
How Russia is winning at its own game
War and revolution are not inimical to Moscow if they follow paths Russian policymakers understand and even support
Why analysts in Moscow dismiss the UK Parliament’s Russia report
The July 2020 report by the UK Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee is part of a wider and somewhat depressing phenomenon: Western countries’ analyses of what Russia is doing are often mediocre in the eyes of those in Moscow
Coronavirus: Not Putin’s kind of crisis
With no heroes to laud or foes to lambast, Putin is not having a good crisis. But don’t write him off just yet.
Podcasts
The Russian troop build-up near Ukraine
How serious is the Russian troop build-up near the Ukraine border? And what should NATO do about it?
Stranger in Moscow: Borrell’s unwelcome visit
What lessons can be drawn from Josep Borrell’s controversial visit to Moscow?
Protest movement in Belarus: Will Lukashenko survive the current state (of) crisis?
In this week’s episode, Jeremy Shapiro stepped in as host and welcomes senior policy fellows Kadri Liik and Andrew Wilson as well as political scientist…
The last of the offended: Russia’s first post-Putin diplomats
Kadri Liik presented her latest policy brief “The last of the offended: Russia’s first post-Putin diplomats” in a webinar organised by the Rome Office on…
As covid-19 arrives, Putin disappears – Russia in the age of corona.
How is Russia dealing with covid-19? What impact does the pandemic have on the other underlying political issues in Russia – such as the change…
Reshuffling Russia’s leadership – old wines in new bottles?
It came as a surprise when Russia’s government resigned just hours after Putin’s announced his plans for a possible referendum of constitutional changes. Host Mark…
Reaching out to Russia – joining hands or getting the mitten?
In this week’s podcast, Mark Leonard, Gustav Gressel and Kadri Liik analyse Macron’s plans and ideas for recreating the European security order, an initiative which…
Crimea at five
Jeremy Shapiro is standing in for the regular host Mark Leonard and discusses the current situation in Crimea and relations between Russia and Ukraine with…
The Sea of Azov: The newest front in the war in Ukraine?
Mark Leonard speaks with Andrew Wilson, Kadri Liik and Nicu Popescu about the Kerch Strait ship capture, what this means and how the international community…
Chemical weapons attack in Syria: What next?
Mark Leonard speaks with ECFR experts Asli Aydintasbas, Kadri Liik, Julien Barnes-Dacey, and Manuel Lafont Rapnouil about how the international community might respond. Bookshelf:…
In the media
There is an aim underlying Moscow’s moves, to be sure. But usually it’s not straightforwardly about the West.
In her op-ed, Kadri Liik explains why Putin is not trying to bring down the West
What Russia wants is the great power privilege to break rules. But for that, you need rules to be there. And like it or not the US is still an important player among the world’s rule setters.
Kadri Liik comments on developments in US-Russian relations
Buying gas from Russia does not automatically mean dependence on Russia
You have to make sure you have alternatives, says Kadri Liik. Then Russia cannot use its natural gas as political leverage.
The newsletter on foreign policy refers to several of ECFR’s Afghanistan commentaries and interviews
It will be a fairly firm demand that the Ukrainian pipeline is kept in operation. And it is likely to be Gazprom’s plan as well, as demand for gas in Europe will go up before it goes down
Kadri Liik looks at what Nord Stream 2 will mean for Ukrainian gas pipelines