45 participants from over 30 organisations within government and foreign affairs, business and consultancy, think tanks, academia and the media were assembled at Chatham House on Tuesday 15th June for an expert seminar organised in conjunction with the Centre for East European Language-Based Area Studies (CEELBAS) on Agents of Russia’s Modernisation. View draft programme.

With speakers including Alena Ledeneva (SSEES UCL and Co-Managing Director of CEELBAS), Andrei Yakovlev (Higher School of Economics, Moscow), Julian Cooper (University of Birmingham and Co-Director of CEELBAS), Philip Hanson (Russia and Eurasia Programme, Chatham House), Alexander Landia (Siberian Coal Energy Company (SUEK)) and Stanislav Shekshnia (INSEAD and Howell Zest Talent Equity Consultancy), the assembled experts examined the modernisation agenda in Russia and the prospects and challenges facing state-led efforts to diversify away from oil and gas and foster an innovation economy – reportedly a key challenge for the Medvedev Presidency.

This event formed part of the Chatham House Russia and Eurasia programme. A summary of the discussion is available on their website.