Eastern Europe & Russia

The war in Ukraine has fundamentally changed the West's relationship with Russia. At the same time, the war has brought renewed focus on the historical and political significance of Eastern Europe. Among other topics DIIS researches Russia's hybrid warfare as well as the importance of energy security for the West and Western Europe's relationship with Eastern Europe.

Research and activites

  • Soldiers in Ukraine
    Livestreaming
    DIIS Auditorium
    DIIS offers a compact series of a total of four seminars to give you a comprehensive understanding of some of the most pressing issues relating to Ukraine. This seminar discusses the challenge of dealing with acute security threats and reforming a state at war
  • Building in Kyiv, Ukraine
    Livestreaming
    DIIS Auditorium
    DIIS offers a compact series of a total of four seminars to give you a comprehensive understanding of some of the most pressing issues relating to Ukraine. At this seminar, we take a closer look at how Russian occupation of the temporarily occupied territories in Ukraine has been accompanied by strategies and policies to change the composition, both physically and mentally, of these territories
  • Russian troops in Popasna, Ukraine
    Livestreaming
    DIIS Auditorium
    DIIS offers a compact series of a total of four seminars to give you a comprehensive understanding of some of the most pressing issues relating to Ukraine. At this seminar, James Nixey from Chatham House will give a talk on the lessons learned and the prospects for the war in Ukraine
  • Tractor with Danish and Ukrainian flags in Mykolaiv
    Livestreaming
    DIIS Auditorium
    DIIS offers a compact series of a total of four seminars to give you a comprehensive understanding of some of the most pressing issues relating to Ukraine. This seminar will zoom in on Mykolaiv and Denmark’s support to the reconstruction of the city and region
  • Cover Danish Foreign Policy Review 2024 DIIS.jpg
    DIIS Book
    2024
    The Review covers key topics relevant to Danish foreign, security, and development policy
  • 03_Kaliningrad Oblast 2024_COVER.jpg
    DIIS Report
    2024
    Russia will keep using the semi-exclave to provoke its neighbours and fuel its belligerent anti-Western rhetoric
  • Cover DIIS Report 2024 11.jpg
    DIIS Report
    2024
    New report outlines the improvisation of the legion and tells the story of Danish volunteers
  • cover-international-affairs.PNG
  • Cover DIIS Report 2024 02.jpg
    DIIS Report
    2024
    In parallel to its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Russia has ramped up its activities in Africa
  • Cover for brief on aid in Ukraine #2
    DIIS Policy Brief
    2024
    Ukraine presents a unique challenge for many international humanitarian organisations. Operating in a context of heightened geo-political and donor interest, and in close proximity to military actors, amateur volunteer groups and Ukrainian civil society are testing the core principles of neutrality and impartiality that once underpinned humanitarian work.
  • Cover for brief on aid in Ukraine
    DIIS Policy Brief
    2024
    An interstate war in Europe presents new security challenges for humanitarians. Along the 960km Ukraine-Russia frontline, humanitarian infrastructure has been hit by shelling, missiles and drone strikes, and aid delivery disrupted by electronic warfare. Supporting specialised training and removing outdated bureaucratic burdens are some of the ways in which donors and policymakers can help humanitarian organisations adapt to this new context.
  • greenland-in-arctic-security-cover.png
    Book
    2024
    Greenland in Arctic Security delivers a comprehensive overview of how security dynamics unfold in and in relation to Greenland. From great power interests in geostrategic infrastructure to domestic debates centered on promoting and protecting Greenland identity when engaging with the outside world.
  • Everyday Humanitarianism in Tanzania
    Livestreaming
    DIIS Auditorium
    This seminar brings together leading scholars on humanitarianism to discuss the state of humanitarianism today, its historical entanglements and its future
  • Big Loop of Saar River near Orscholz, Mettlach, Saarland, Germany, Europe
    DIIS Auditorium
    Power, theory and practice are each inescapable for understanding international relations. In the case of all three, Stefano Guzzini's contributions have been core to advancing scholarship
  • journal of arctic and climate security studies
    Journal Article
    2023
    The writing of an Arctic chapter in the US autobiography
  • cover.png
    DIIS Policy Brief
    2023
    The frozen relations between Russia and the West have serious ramifications in the Arctic, politically and scientifically. It is time to think of ways to exempt climate science and data from this geopolitical split.
  • Post-Sovjet Affairs
    Journal Article
    2023
    Before the war in Ukraine the Wagner Group was considered illegal according to Russian law. In the public Russian discourse however, they are increasingly considered to be a legal private company.
  • European Political Community, European Union
    Webinar
    Online via Zoom
    Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has upended the political constellation of the wider Europe. In the wake of the invasion, The European Political Community (EPC) was launched in October 2022 by 44 European countries, including all 27 EU member states. The EPC's establishment raises new questions about the European security architecture and institutional alignment in light of Russia’s invasion. At this webinar we take a closer look at what this new body can and cannot achieve.
  • Putin and Xi meeting Moscow
    Livestreaming
    Researcher explains why great powers like China and India challenge international order.
  • Biden's Summit for Democracy
    Livestreaming
    DIIS Auditorium
    In this seminar, leading international experts take stock of Joe Biden’s Summit for Democracy initiative in the shadow of the war in Ukraine, which has exacerbated the tensions between democracy and authoritarianism
  • ukraine-women
    DIIS Comment
    2023
    Ukrainian women have been in the spotlight of international media for months. Pictures of mothers crossing the border, representing the victims of the war in the news, has aroused sorrow and pity in audiences. But women that flee or migrate are much more than powerless victims.
  • Albania in the UN Security Council
    Livestreaming
    Denmark has launched its campaign for the UNSC in 2025-2026 but what can Denmark hope to achieve in the UN Security Council if elected?
  • A British soldier training a Mali soldier
    Article
    2023
    After 10 years of failed counter-terrorism efforts, Europe is losing influence to Russia in Mali. Europe has overlooked key voices in the West African Sahel region, and the current situation risks global security policy consequences.
  • Drone and soldier - Baltic Sea
    Livestreaming
    Highly relevant 1,5-day conference with over 20 experts on security challenges in the Baltic Sea Region
  • UN Security Council meeting Zelensky
    Livestreaming
    A year into Russia's war in Ukraine and with the UN Security Council caught up in great power rivalry, this event explores strategies available to non-permanent elected members of the UN Security Council to exert influence
  • Building in Kyiv, Ukraine
    Livestreaming
    DIIS Auditorium
    DIIS offers a compact series of a total of four seminars to give you a comprehensive understanding of some of the most pressing issues relating to Ukraine. At this seminar, we take a closer look at how Russian occupation of the temporarily occupied territories in Ukraine has been accompanied by strategies and policies to change the composition, both physically and mentally, of these territories
  • Soldiers in Ukraine
    Livestreaming
    DIIS Auditorium
    DIIS offers a compact series of a total of four seminars to give you a comprehensive understanding of some of the most pressing issues relating to Ukraine. This seminar discusses the challenge of dealing with acute security threats and reforming a state at war
  • Russian troops in Popasna, Ukraine
    Livestreaming
    DIIS Auditorium
    DIIS offers a compact series of a total of four seminars to give you a comprehensive understanding of some of the most pressing issues relating to Ukraine. At this seminar, James Nixey from Chatham House will give a talk on the lessons learned and the prospects for the war in Ukraine
  • Tractor with Danish and Ukrainian flags in Mykolaiv
    Livestreaming
    DIIS Auditorium
    DIIS offers a compact series of a total of four seminars to give you a comprehensive understanding of some of the most pressing issues relating to Ukraine. This seminar will zoom in on Mykolaiv and Denmark’s support to the reconstruction of the city and region
  • Everyday Humanitarianism in Tanzania
    Livestreaming
    DIIS Auditorium
    This seminar brings together leading scholars on humanitarianism to discuss the state of humanitarianism today, its historical entanglements and its future
  • Big Loop of Saar River near Orscholz, Mettlach, Saarland, Germany, Europe
    DIIS Auditorium
    Power, theory and practice are each inescapable for understanding international relations. In the case of all three, Stefano Guzzini's contributions have been core to advancing scholarship
  • European Political Community, European Union
    Webinar
    Online via Zoom
    Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has upended the political constellation of the wider Europe. In the wake of the invasion, The European Political Community (EPC) was launched in October 2022 by 44 European countries, including all 27 EU member states. The EPC's establishment raises new questions about the European security architecture and institutional alignment in light of Russia’s invasion. At this webinar we take a closer look at what this new body can and cannot achieve.
  • Putin and Xi meeting Moscow
    Livestreaming
    Researcher explains why great powers like China and India challenge international order.
  • Biden's Summit for Democracy
    Livestreaming
    DIIS Auditorium
    In this seminar, leading international experts take stock of Joe Biden’s Summit for Democracy initiative in the shadow of the war in Ukraine, which has exacerbated the tensions between democracy and authoritarianism
  • Albania in the UN Security Council
    Livestreaming
    Denmark has launched its campaign for the UNSC in 2025-2026 but what can Denmark hope to achieve in the UN Security Council if elected?
  • Drone and soldier - Baltic Sea
    Livestreaming
    Highly relevant 1,5-day conference with over 20 experts on security challenges in the Baltic Sea Region
  • UN Security Council meeting Zelensky
    Livestreaming
    A year into Russia's war in Ukraine and with the UN Security Council caught up in great power rivalry, this event explores strategies available to non-permanent elected members of the UN Security Council to exert influence
  • Blinken og Lavrov corona greeting
    Webinar
    Online via Zoom
    This webinar brings together officials and experts from Denmark, Greenland, Norway and Finland to discuss the current and future state of the Arctic Council following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
  • Tank, Krigen i Ukraine
    Livestreaming
    DIIS Auditorium
    The seminar explores the underlying causes of Russia’s war in Ukraine and discusses its implications for international order, with a special focus on the UN system
  • President of Russia Vladimir Putin gives a speech at the Valdai International Discussion Club meeting, in Moscow Oblast, Russia.
    Livestreaming
    DIIS Auditorium
    At least two positions are taking shape around the ongoing war in Ukraine. One states that the world is facing the same old Russia, and so any change can come as a result of its defeat on the battlefield. The other is detecting important changes in Russian foreign policy articulations and political culture generally. The seminar will focus on the analytical tools required for deciding between these two positions
  • Massebegravelse i Ukraine
    DIIS Auditorium
    Explaining state terror and atrocities, from Nazi Germany to the war in Ukraine
  • illustration of the psychology of war
    The history and politics of trauma, from 9/11 to Ukraine
  • nuclear energy
    Webinar
    Online via Zoom
    This webinar invites four experts on nuclear energy from Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Germany to discuss the future of nuclear energy in the respective countries of the Baltic Sea
  • UN Security Council - Norway
    Livestreaming
    DIIS, Auditorium
    How small states can navigate the UNSC in the new era of great power rivalry
  • Cover DIIS Report 2022 01 Women on the move
    Webinar
    Online via Zoom
    In the past years we have seen images of West African women en route to Europe crossing the Mediterranean and currently newspapers and media are brimming with images of Ukrainian women.
  • Mass grave in Bucha, Ukraine
    Livestreaming
    Auditorium, DIIS
    Both national and international investigative teams have already started investigating alleged mass atrocities committed in the war in Ukraine. But how do such investigations operate, and how can war crimes be prevented? Five researchers share their thoughts at this seminar
  • Bilateral meeting between NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and US Vice President Joe Biden
    Webinar
    From Trump to Biden
  • OSCE
    Webinar
    Gender, conflict settlement and democratization. Take a look inside the 2021 OSCE catalogue as we open the doors to the world’s largest regional security organization and give you three prominent speakers
  • DIIS Auditorium
  • Livestreaming
    Auditorium
    Trade and technology, diplomacy and defense, and the decade ahead