Senior Researcher

igor.torbakovupi-fiia.fi
Telephone +358 206 111 754

Current projects at the Institute
Understanding Russia's policies in the Post-Soviet lands: A Reappraisal

• Politics of memory and its geopolitical implications
• Domestic drivers of Russia's foreign policy: How the nature of the regime affects the Russian international posture

Academic degree
PhD in History, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 1997

Professional experience
Visiting Fellow, Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study, Uppsala, 2006-2007
Analyst, Jamestown Foundation, 2004-2006
Analyst, Central Eurasia Project, Open Society Institute, 2000-2006
Visiting Fellow, Harvard University, 2002
Fulbright Scholar, Columbia University, 2000
Kyiv Correspondent, Russkaya Mysl/La Pensee Russe (Paris), 1998-2000
Researcher, Institute of Russian History, Russian Academy of Sciences, 1988-1996
Visiting Scholar, Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies, Washington D.C., 1995

Recent publications
"The Southern Vector: Russian Strategic Interests in Central and South Asia," in Does South Asia Exist: Prospects for Regionalism in South Asia. Stanford University Press/Brookings Institution, 2009, forthcoming.

"'Can't Buy Me Love: Will the Global Economic Downturn Help Russia Consolidate Its Influence in Post-Soviet Eurasia," FIIA Briefing Paper 33, September 2009.

"China-Turkey and Xinjiang: A Frayed Relationship," Open Democracy, July 31, 2009.

"Looking for a New Strategic Identity: Is Turkey Emerging as a New Regional Power?" FIIA Briefing Paper 30, May 2009.

“Rethinking the Nation: Imperial Collapse, Eurasianism, and George Vernadsky’s Historical Scholarship,” Kennan Institute Occasional Paper # 302, November 2008.

"The Georgia Crisis and Russia-Turkey Relations," Jamestown Foundation Occasional Paper, November 2008.

"From Hegemony to New Geopolitical Competition: Assessing Russia's Strategic Footprint in Central Asia," FIIA Briefing Paper 22, October 2008.

“Making Sense of the Current Phase of the Turkish-Russian Relations,” Jamestown Foundation Occasional Paper, October 2007.

“Stuck in Two Overlapping Neighborhoods: Dilemmas of Kyiv’s European Integration and Russian-Ukrainian Relations,” Insight Turkey, vol. 9, no. 2, 2007.

“The West, Russia and China in Central Asia: What Kind of Game Is Being Played in the Region,” Transition Studies Review, vol.14, no. 1, 2007.

“Plans for Turkic Commonwealth,” CEPS European Neighborhood Watch 19, September 2006.

“Russia’s Failed Transition: Revisiting the Interrelationship between National Identity and Democratic Development,” Insight Turkey, vol. 8, no. 4, 2006.

“US-Russia Relations: Growing Rift Over Eurasia’s Democratization,” Russia Profile, March 28, 2006.


Positions of trust
Member of Central Eurasia Studies Society (CESS)

Association for the Study of Nationalities (ASN)

American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (AAASS)

Association of Researchers of Russian Society in the Twentieth Century (AIRO-XX)

Council of Scientists, International Association for the promotion of co-operation with scientists from the New Independent States of the former Soviet Union (INTAS), Brussels (2004-2006)

Languages
Russian, English, Ukrainian, Polish, French