Former Ukrainian ambassador to discuss Crimea crisis at symposium

March 20, 2014. New Haven, Conn.—A former Ukrainian ambassador will be among the experts discussing the politics behind the recent clash over Crimea, among other topics, at the symposium “A Response to the Crisis in Ukraine” on Wednesday, April 2.

The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held in the auditorium of SheffieldSterling-Strathcona Hall, 1 Prospect St. It is sponsored by the Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale, and organized by Natasha Chichilnisky-Heal of Yale’s Department of Political Science.

Former Ukrainian ambassador Valery Kuchinsky will present the symposium’s keynote address at 2:45 p.m. A retired career diplomat, Kuchinsky held the position of permanent representative of Ukraine to the United Nations with a diplomatic rank of ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary. He is now an adjunct professor of international relations at Columbia University.

Two panel discussions will follow.

The first, titled “The Politics of Ukraine: Nationalism, Secessionism, and East-West Relations,” will take place at 3 p.m. It will be chaired by Yale political scientist Stathis Kalyvas, and will feature Hannah Thoburn of the Brookings Institution, Colonel Scott Manning and Jeremy Friedman of Yale, and Philip Roeder of the University of California–San Diego.

The second panel, “Energy Security, International Security, and Long-Term Strategies in the Post-Soviet Sphere,” will begin at 5 p.m. It will be chaired by international energy expert Ed Chow of the Energy and National Security Program at the Center for Strategic & International Studies. The panelists will be Aigerim Shilibekova of Harvard University, Jenik Radon of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, Shamil Yenikeyeff of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, and William Hill of the National Defense University.

Contact Information:

Marilyn Wilkes

The Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale

(203) 432-3413