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Solidarity Academy 2024-2025

I’m excited to share that the European Solidarity Centre (ECS) in Gdańsk has just opened a call for applications for their Solidarity Academy 2024-2025. It is a unique a meeting space for young leaders coming from different backgrounds to share experiences and to involve in new initiatives.

The Academy will begin in October 2024 and will last until June 2025. It involves meetings in Gdańsk, Warsaw and Cracow, as well as online workshops in-between the physical sessions. The programme will feature international events at ECS, such as the All About Freedom Film Festival and Europe with a View to the Future international forum. Participants will also get the opportunity to publish their texts in the print edition of the New Eastern Europe bimonthly.

ECS welcomes journalists, academics and social activists. Deadline for applications is 25 September 2024. You can find more information on ECS’ website: https://ecs.gda.pl/en/solidarity-academy-2024-2025/.

I took part in the 2010 edition of the Academy and I can highly recommend it. The European Solidarity Centre is a special place on the maps of Poland and Europe. Located in the historic Gdańsk Shipyard, it merges the past and present, creating space for discussions about our shared future as Europeans.

Please share this info with your contacts and let’s make the change together!

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Speaking at Medium Day, August 17

I am excited to share this news with you:

On August 17, 14:00 ET / 20:00 CET, I will speak about using analogue cameras to teach about the Cold War division of Europe, the beginnings of European integration and the difficult history of European nation-states. In my class at DIS Study Abroad, we travel, do scavenger hunts, visit site where history took place and stop to snap the roses, as my former student Hannah put it.

This is not to say that Instagram with its instant sharing of photos should be banned, but it is certainly not the only way to capture the world around us. Analogue photography can provide a great alternative and turn out to be useful in a modern classroom.

I would love to share my thoughts about how to enrich the usual political studies teaching toolbox and to involve in a conversation with you. Join me this Saturday at 14:00 ET / 20:00 CET and check out other exciting Medium Day events! After clicking the link, just search for ‘CounterGram’ and you will find my session.

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DIIS report: Kaliningrad Oblast 2024

What do we know about Russia’s Kaliningrad Oblast as of early 2024 and what do we make of it?

For a long time, this semi-exclave remained among few Russian regions which enjoyed more civil activity and represented openness despite growing authoritarian pressure in the country.

Over two years after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian authorities claim Kaliningrad Oblast is at the forefront of Russia’s defensive war against the West. It is a bulwark of Kremlin-defined Russianness with its traditional values and militarisation of history. Regional politicians, rather than advocating for the Oblast’s interests, use it as a trampoline to Moscow. Regional economy is being overtaken by federal-level oligarchs and security services.

Most importantly, Kaliningrad Oblast poses a threat to security in the Baltic Sea Region, including the Danish island of Bornholm, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden, as well as critical infrastructure in the area.

If you want to learn more, read the report I prepared for DIIS – Danish Institute for International Studies.

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Briefing Silba observers before the 2023 Polish general election

A few days ago, I was happy to run a training session for Silba – Initiative for Dialogue and Democracy Election Observation Mission. We went through the current political situation, main contenders and controversies around the referendum which took place at the same time as elections.



The presence of foreign observers is crucial especially in countries where authorities have employed the state apparatus and public resources to influence the electoral campaign and, ultimately, the election results. Democracy and pluralism need constant care.

Silba EOM released their preliminary report that includes key findings. You can download it here.

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Warsaw Security Forum 2023 report is out

Allow me to share the 2023 Warsaw Security Forum Annual Report which I had the pleasure of co-preparing as Lead Analyst of the Foreign Policy Expert Group.

Given the rapidly changing security environment in Europe, we have focused on eight advocacy clauses that seek to increase Western institutional cohesion and resilience in Central and Eastern Europe and in the collective West as a whole:

1. Promoting a better defined, clearer, and more urgent path for Ukraine’s membership in NATO.

2. Striving towards a paradigm shift in defence posture of the Western community.

3. Reviving CEE regional and cross-regional cooperation via formats such as Visegrad Four, Bucharest Nine, the Weimar Triangle, and the Lublin Triangle.

4. Strengthening EU’s foreign policy by creating a coherent European policy on China.

5. Strengthening transatlantic cooperation for energy security and supplies resilience.

6. Driving Ukraine’s energy integration with Europe.

7. Analysing influence operations of adversarial states against CEE and creating common standard capabilities for the region.

8. Strengthening CEE cyber resilience by establishing an organisation that uses telemetry on cyber operations against Ukrainian infrastructure.

In case the link does not work, the report is available here: https://warsawsecurityforum.org/2023wsf-report/

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On Kaliningrad Oblast for Lithuanian magazine IQ

‘Since Kaliningrad Oblast is geographically separated from Russia, its situation is complex and completely different from other regions. Especially now [that the ferry connection is responsible for supplying the region] it becomes clear that Kaliningrad will be completely dependent on Saint Petersburg.’

Lithuanian IQ magazine interviewed me about the state of affairs in Kaliningrad Oblast. The title – A military place and nothing more (Karinis miestelis ir nieko daugiau) – is somewhat provocative but gives a good feeling of what the region has become in the last decade.

Thank you, Agnė Baltrūnaitė, for an interesting talk!

See this post on LinkedIn.

Karinis-miestelis-ir-nieko-daugiauDownload
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On Kaliningrad Oblast for Casimir Pulaski Foundation

In Casimir Pulaski Foundation’s latest policy paper, I argue that Kaliningrad Oblast faces the biggest challenges ever since the disintegration of the Soviet Union and that these challenges are impossible to overcome under the current circumstances.

It happened so not only because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but also because of the events that had led up to it: growing centralisation, ignoring the semi-exclave’s natural needs related to trade and cross-border cooperation, as well as its militarisation.

The Oblast and its inhabitants is have been cut off from main sources of economic growth. Russia will not be able to provide effective and efficient supply lines to make up for it as the Kremlin has different priorities.

As a result, Kaliningrad Oblast has become a besieged fortress that is drifting further away both from Moscow and the West. In the eyes of Russian authorities, it only exists to threaten.

Big thanks to Katarzyna Pisarska and Andrzej Kozłowski for a great cooperation opportunity!

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Om Rusland & Ukraine i Udenrigs

Jeg er beæret over, at The Danish Foreign Policy Society har udgivet min artikel om langtidsperioden for de russisk-ukrainske forbindelser. I en kompakt form forsøger jeg at løfte sløret for de myter, som den russiske fortælling har skabt om #Ukraine, dets stat og dets påståede afhængighed af #Rusland. Når det kommer til anciennitet, er det omvendt – det er Rusland, der er Ukraines lillesøster.

Det er min første artikel udgivet på dansk. Tusind til for Charlotte Flindt Pedersen, Ida Sparre-Ulrich og Ane Dalegaard Hansen!

Source: Wikimedia Commons.