Associate Fellow
Russian domestic and foreign policy; relations between Russia and the West; the Baltic Sea area; Eastern Europe
English, Russian, Estonian
Kadri Liik is an associate fellow with the European Council on Foreign Relations. Her research focuses on Russia, eastern Europe and the Baltic region. She was previously a senior policy fellow at ECFR.
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.
This podcast explores deeper trends beneath the surface of Russia’s daily politics. In this episode, we analyse who is really in charge of the Russian military and its nuclear weapons.
Exploring Russia’s global engagement and its implications for the West
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it has been competing with the West for the support of the rest of the world. But with all of its relationships now subordinate to its war effort, Moscow’s foreign policy is weakened
How do Russian officials “coexist” with the war nearly two years after the invasion? How has the bureaucratic system adapted to the requirements of the war?…
The Russian Orthodox Church is supporting Russia’s war on Ukraine in its sermons, sending priests to the front, and collecting humanitarian aid for soldiers and…
On 1 September, Russian high schools transitioned to new “patriotic” history textbooks authored by one of Russia’s staunchest conservatives, former culture minister Vladimir Medinsky. How…
Jeremy Shapiro welcomes Kadri Liik and Valerie Hopkins to discuss what Russian society really thinks about war in Ukraine
Europeans should allow their countries to be hosts for free debate among the Russian emigrés of the 21st century. But they should resist the temptation to view the exiles as channels of influence to reform Russia
Mark Leonard welcomes Theo Murphy, Pavel Slunkin, Kadri Liik, and Kirill Shamiev to shed light on the possible consequences of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s death
Mark Leonard welcomes Marie Dumoulin, Kadri Liik, Pavel Slunkin and Kiril Shamiev to shed light on the weekend’s events and discuss the new reality that has opened up in Russia
How the Kremlin’s view of a declining US and a mercurial Europe shapes the prospects for a Trump-Putin deal
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it has been competing with the West for the support of the rest of the world. But with all of its relationships now subordinate to its war effort, Moscow’s foreign policy is weakened
ECFR’s new EU-Russia power audit reveals a picture of success in decoupling from Moscow – and suggests the bloc could emerge stronger from the crisis
The West does not have an opportunity to prompt a policy U-turn in Moscow that divides Russia and China. But it could give Russia space to hedge against China in key areas
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
The bloc should reframe how it speaks of human rights and democracy, while developing closer security and military links with select neighbours
Covid-19 has damaged Russia’s economy and President Vladimir Putin’s political agenda
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
Introduction An average Westerner may well have overlooked the potentially seismic geopolitical event of 6 January 2019. On that snowy Sunday – Epiphany in western…
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
Russia will likely try to keep the Iranian regime weak and out of Western reach, hoping to exploit any deal for its own gains
Putin’s visit to Kursk revealed an effort to buy time and keep focused on his ultimate war goals
Europeans should allow their countries to be hosts for free debate among the Russian emigrés of the 21st century. But they should resist the temptation to view the exiles as channels of influence to reform Russia
Vladimir Putin may find his war on Ukraine toughens up the West rather than hastens its demise
Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is effectively ‘demodernising’ Russia. Military victories for Moscow will make it inordinately harder for more democratic-minded, if not pro-Western, successors to restore Russia to the international community
The invasion marks the beginning of a new era for not just the European security order but also Russian society
Moscow’s armed presence on Ukraine’s border may be connected to Vladimir Putin’s long-standing desire to discuss and change Europe’s geopolitical order
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 Geneva summit recalled the power of old-fashioned diplomacy and working patiently away at difficult problems
Nord Stream 2 has become a suitcase without a handle: hard to abandon; hard to take along
The prisoner exchange between the West and Russia last week was the largest swap since the end of the cold war. At Turkey’s Ankara airport,…
In this final episode, we discuss how the war has transformed Russian society and political culture, and outline possible scenarios for its medium to long term political trajectory
This podcast explores deeper trends beneath the surface of Russia’s daily politics. In this episode, we delve deeper into Russia’s foreign policy, taking a long-term perspective.
This podcast explores deeper trends beneath the surface of Russia’s daily politics. In this episode, we examine public opinion in Russia
This podcast explores deeper trends beneath the surface of Russia’s daily politics. In this episode, we dive deeper into Russia’s economy during the war on Ukraine
This podcast explores deeper trends beneath the surface of Russia’s daily politics. In this episode, we analyse who is really in charge of the Russian military and its nuclear weapons.
How do Russian officials “coexist” with the war nearly two years after the invasion? How has the bureaucratic system adapted to the requirements of the war?…
The Russian Orthodox Church is supporting Russia’s war on Ukraine in its sermons, sending priests to the front, and collecting humanitarian aid for soldiers and…
On 1 September, Russian high schools transitioned to new “patriotic” history textbooks authored by one of Russia’s staunchest conservatives, former culture minister Vladimir Medinsky. How…
Jeremy Shapiro welcomes Kadri Liik and Valerie Hopkins to discuss what Russian society really thinks about war in Ukraine
After taking office, Donald Trump did not stop the war in Ukraine in 24 hours. Yet, there are high expectations that his administration will at least attempt a ceasefire in the coming months. Both Ukraine and the EU countries have been waiting to see the US strategy for the settlement and calibrate their next steps…
This webinar will explore the role of ideology in the day-to-day management of the Russian political regime
Exploring Russia’s global engagement and its implications for the West
What are the political dynamics surrounding the Russian military? Exploring potential scenarios for Russia’s civil-military development and implications for NATO and Europe
Concluding that Russia poses a threat and that the EU let its dependencies grow too deep, the bloc so far attempted to decouple from Moscow. How should Europeans navigate the adversarial relationship in the future?
This event is part of the German Forum on Security Policy, organised by the Federal Academy for Security Policy (BAKS).
Do any outside powers have any chance of bringing Russia and Ukraine closer to peace?
This webinar will bring together a collection of EU and British views to see where everyone stands on the Russia-Ukraine crisis
This panel is part of the annual Japan-Europe Core Group Warsaw 2022 on “The Future of Russia-China Relations – Implications for European and Japanese Foreign Policy
What, if anything, can one say about the longer-term perspectives for the US-Russia relationship?
Kadri Liik on Russian emigration
Kadri Liik on the new Estonian ambassador to Sweden
Kadri Liik on smaller eastern European states’ fears of being ceded to Russia by big powers as part of a wider deal
I do not see either Kyiv or Moscow modifying their basic positions
Kadri Liik on the prospects for peace talks between Russia and Ukraine
Kadri Liik on the relation between Putin and Trump
