Inside Putin’s Russia

Vladimir Putin has ruled Russia either as president or prime minster for nearly 20 years. His rule has been characterized by troubled relations with the United States and the West; military interventions; election interference in the United States and fears of further interference across the West; a crackdown on economic and political dissent; and a commodities-fueled economy that is increasingly stagnant. Will Russia’s sputtering economy undermine Putin’s apparent domestic popularity? And will Putin continue to vex the United States and its allies as they struggle to implement a coherent Russia policy? Join the World Affairs Council for a discussion with William Pomeranz, Deputy Director of the Kennan Institute, a part of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Lunch will be provided.

About the Speaker
William Pomeranz is the Deputy Director of the Kennan Institute, a part of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars located in Washington, D.C. He also has taught Russian law at the Center for Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies (CERES), Georgetown University. He holds a B.A. from Haverford College, a M.Sc. from the University of Edinburgh, a J.D. cum laude from American University, and a Ph.D. in Russian History from the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London. He is author of Law and the Russian State: Russia's Legal Evolution from Peter the Great to Vladimir Putin.

Prior to joining the Kennan Institute, Dr. Pomeranz practiced international law in the United States and Moscow, Russia. He advised clients on investment in the Russian Federation as well as on U.S. anti-money laundering requirements, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and various U.S. sanctions programs. His research interests include Russian legal history as well current Russian commercial and constitutional law. His academic articles have been published in the Russian Review, Slavonic and East European Review, Kritika, Review of Central and East European Law, Demokratizatsiya, and Problems of Post-Communism. He also has provided commentary and conducted numerous press interviews with CNN, NPR, C-SPAN, Reuters, VOA, Bloomberg, and other media outlets.

About the Moderator
Jacqueline has led the World Affairs Council of Seattle since May 2014. She held senior positions in policy organizations and non-profits on the east coast before moving to the Pacific Northwest. In Seattle, she also serves on the Mayor’s International Affairs Advisory Board; is a board member and chair of the membership committee of Global Ties U.S.; is a member of the Civic Council for UW’s Master of Arts in Applied International Studies (MAAIS) program; and serves on the Washington State Advisory Committee for the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition. She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Prior to joining the World Affairs Council, Jacqueline served as Director of External Relations at Independent Diplomat in New York, working with marginalized democratic political actors to help them navigate the United Nations, the EU, and other international diplomatic fora. Previously, she was a Senior Associate at the EastWest Institute (EWI) in New York, where she created and led the U.S. program. At EWI, she focused on national security policy, the U.S.-Russia and U.S.-China relationships, as well as nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation issues. She was deputy director of the Council on Foreign Relations’ Washington (DC) programs, where she oversaw CFR’s robust DC meetings program as well as outreach on Capitol Hill and the DC diplomatic community. She got her start in think tanks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, where she was deputy director of the Russia and Eurasia program. She has also taught at The George Washington University, where she undertook graduate work after earning undergraduate and graduate degrees from Cornell University.

She has been a commentator for various news sources (print, web, and broadcast), including the New York Times, the BBC, CBC, and Voice of America. Her honors include being named a Truman Security Fellow as well as receiving a Foreign Language Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS) for Russia. She was also an International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) Visiting Scholar in Kyrgyzstan.