Agnia Grigas

As an author of a critically acclaimed book on Russia, Beyond Crimea: The New Russian Empire (Yale University Press, 2016) and a prolific communicator both in print and in person, I cover various aspects of Moscow’s foreign policy in regards to the United States, European Union, Eastern and Central Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus and beyond. Also, I note how Moscow’s foreign policy has led to the creation of such new break-away territories like Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk, and older ‘frozen conflicts’ like Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Nagorno Karabakh. In my lectures particular focus is placed on Russia in geopolitics, US-Russia relations, hybrid-war strategies, information warfare, cyber-warfare, compatriot policies, and the use of energy exports as an instrument of blackmail.

As an author of a new book The New Geopolitics of Natural Gas (Harvard University Press, forthcoming April 2017), I am uniquely qualified to discuss the rapidly changing global industry of natural gas and the accompanying shifts in geopolitics. My central focus lies on the emergence of a new order of natural gas, which is marked by a growing abundance of gas resources - spearheaded by the American shale gas revolution, the proliferation of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) trade, and a global buildup of gas transportation infrastructure like pipelines or regional interconnectors. In particular, I cover the American, European, Russian and Eurasian natural gas markets, and the internal and external factors that will shape them in the future.

I am an experienced commentator on both internal and external European security issues. In particular, I cover the security threats that Russia poses to the various European Union member states and the post-Soviet countries such as Ukraine, both militarily and in terms of destabilizing propaganda campaigns orchestrated by the Kremlin. Moreover, I discuss how the rise of far-right political movements in Europe like France’s National Front, Germany’s Alternative for Germany and Britain’s UKIP might not only undermine the structural unity of the European Union, but can also put the whole concept of the West and the Transatlantic Alliance in great peril.

As someone who spent my early childhood in Soviet-occupied Lithuania as well as later worked as an advisor to the Lithuanian government an author of a seminal book on the Baltic States, The Politics of Energy and Memory between the Baltic States and Russia (Ashgate, 2013, Routledge, 2016), I am uniquely qualified to discuss these three small countries on Europe’s frontier. The Baltic States have been in the headlines these past few years because they are at the epicenter of tension in relation to US-Russia relations and a litmus test for NATO and the EU.

With a volatile international environment and the rise of transnational risks and conflicts, understanding political and geopolitical risk has become more important than ever for corporations and organizations with a global reach. As an author of an upcoming book on political risk, and as an individual who has spent over a decade advising leading corporations and government agencies on political risk, I am uniquely qualified to convey this message. My clients have included the likes of Barclays Bank, where I led its international growth initiatives including opening a global strategic engineering center in Lithuania. Furthermore, I have advised the Lithuanian government on energy security and economic diplomacy matters, which directly led to the establishment of the Klaipeda LNG terminal. Finally, I have worked in the leading political risk company Eurasia Group where I have advised various clients on political risk in Central and Eastern Europe, and Central Asia.

Having worked in a variety of sectors such as academia, finance, business, think-tanks and the public sector, I am uniquely qualified to provide college students and young professionals with career advice and industry insight. For the past 10 years I have been actively involved in Global Lithuanian Leaders and their LT Big Brother - the largest Lithuanian global mentoring program in the world, which aims to facilitate the transfer of professional knowledge and experience between established international Lithuanian professionals and ambitious Lithuanian students across the globe. In my day-to-day work as researcher and consultant I work closely with a team of young professionals. Over these years I have mentored some 50 individuals, most of which have not only achieved considerable professional success in their respective fields, but have also developed personally.