Category: News

Mariia Vladymyrova at the 16th Maritime Security Dialogue: Strategy and Military Mobility in the North and the Baltic Sea in Berlin (SWP)

On 3 November 2026 Mariia presented insights from her PhD research at the 16th Maritime Security Dialogue: Strategy and Military Mobility in the North and the Baltic Sea, organised by Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP).

The discussion focused on matters of naval strategy and mobility adaptation in the High North/Arctic and the Baltic Sea, and what are the gaps in how we understand Russia’s evolving maritime activities and naval force posture in these regions.

Mariia contributed her assessment on the Kremlin’s evolving maritime posture in the Baltic Sea: the re-establishment of Leningrad Military District but also Trans Arctic Transport Corridor point that Russia is moving towards treating the Baltic and the Arctic as one North-Western strategic direction. Moscow appears to have concluded that a regional conflict is now a realistic prospect. For now, though, it has to keep tensions in the Baltic low, because its war economy depends heavily on the region’s ports and energy facilities. The rhetoric shifts between nuclear threats, grey-zone actions and an emphasis on freedom of navigation. That pattern is Russian deterrence par excellence: a continuous, cross-domain effort to shape the strategic environment, rather than a linear choice between dissuasion and escalation.

Mariia Vladymyrova speaks at the Naval Seminar at the Royal Danish Defence College

On 27 November Mariia Vladymyrova took part in the Naval Seminar “Russia’s conventional and hybrid maritime operations from the Baltic Sea to the Arctic” co-hosted by the Centre for Military Studies (University of Copenhagen), the Royal Danish Defence College and the Royal Danish Navy. The seminar brought together researchers from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Ukraine and naval officers to discuss various aspects of the Russian threat at sea. Major General Jette Albinus, Commandant of the Royal Danish Defence College, welcomed the participants, and Rear Admiral Søren Kjeldsen, Head of the Royal Danish Navy, delivered the keynote address.

Mariia Vladymyrova presented insights from her PhD research on Russian approaches to deterrence at sea in doctrine and practice along three dimensions: spatial ramifications of Russian thinking about deterrence, key trends of evolving Russian naval posture in the Baltic and the Arctic, and cross-domain rationale of Russian deterrence practice.

 

Cameron Hunter teaches Multi-Domain Warfare through Wargaming

Earlier this month, Cameron Hunter convened an educational wargame at the Leverhulme Centre for Humanity and Space at the University of Leicester. The event used experiential teaching methods to introduce a cross-disciplinary group of scholars to the tactical-operational detail of modern warfare, with a particular emphasis on the role of space technology.

 

The event supported Cameron’s ongoing research on wargames as rituals, and the concluding seminar discussion with the participants explored the emotional and symbolic aspects of the game.

Mariia Vladymyrova contributes to The Telegraph’s landmark investigation into Russian fishing vessels activities in the North-Atlantic

Mariia has contributed with insights from her research on Russian fishing vessels grey zone activity and its coercive signaling rational to The Telegraph landmark investigation into suspicious patterns in the activities of Russian fishing vessels in UK waters.

The threat Russia and its proxies pose to maritime security has become multifaceted. It ranges from the environmental risks of the shadow fleet, and its tankers’ potential use as drone-launch and sabotage-by-anchor-dragging platforms, to suspicious research vessels and dangerous manoeuvres by Russian naval ships themselves, as the recent standoff with a Danish Armed Forces helicopter showed.

The fishing fleet remains a particular case. It is one of the few areas where cooperation with Russia still matters, because sustainable management of shared fish stocks requires it. Yet that same cooperation gives Russian-flagged vessels access they would otherwise not enjoy. Geography matters too: fishing grounds may coincide with sensitive seabed areas such as the GIUK gap. Or there may be no fish at all, and the access remains.

There is no clear-cut answer here beyond continued vigilance. A remainder is that Russia’s 2022 Maritime Doctrine is unambiguous: it calls for preparing transport, fishing and special-purpose vessels, for requisition, including for “special operations in peacetime”. The data from this and other investigations should push us to take this challenge more seriously, and the sanctions against Norebo show what that can look like.

Please find more details below:

Exclusive: Putin sends fishing trawlers to spy on Britain
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/10/21/exclusive-putin-sends-fishing-trawlers-to-spy-on-britain/

 

Image credit: The Telegraph.

Cameron Hunter attends CSIS Mid Career Cadre Finale

Cameron Hunter attended the finale held for his cohort of CSIS’ Mid Career Cadre (as part of the Project on Nuclear Issues). The Cadre is a scheme aimed at nurturing expertise within the transatlantic security community. He had been part of the three year program since 2023, attending a variety of events aimed at broadening practical experience and sharing knowledge.

 

The event in Washington involved discussions with senior retired and serving officials, think tank analysts and within the cadres themselves (on an off the record basis). While in Washington, Cameron also undertook archival research at the Asian Division of the Library of Congress, focusing on official Chinese military texts.

 

Members of the 2023 PONI Mid Career Cadre, with PONI Staff

Maria Mälksoo presents at the NATO SACT International Academic Conference 2026

Prof. Maria Mälksoo gave plenary remarks on strategic cultures and NATO ‘s grand strategy at the international academic conference 2026 (AC2026), organised by NATO Headquarters Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (HQ SACT), the University of Bologna, and the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) at the Centro Residenziale Universitario di Bertinoro on 28-30 September 2026. She also participated in the working group on Russian strategic culture during the conference.

Maria Mälksoo and Thomas Fraise at the EISA PEC2026 in Lisbon, 1-4 September 2026

Maria Mälksoo and Thomas Fraise participated in the European International Studies Association’s 19th Pan-European Conference at the ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon, Portugal on 1-4 September 2026.

Maria Mälksoo co-convened a pre-conference workshop with Dr Andrew Hom (University of Edinburgh) and Dr Lauren Rogers (University of Leuven) on ‘Ritual Times of War and Peace’ (with 13 participants). She also spoke at two book roundtables (on Mirko Palestrino’s Military Victory Beyond the Battlefield, Oxford University Press 2025 and Dorothy Noyes and Tobias Wille’s edited volume on Exemplarity in World Politics, Bristol University Press 2025).

Together, Maria Mälksoo and Thomas Fraise presented their respective work in progress at the panel ‘Temporal politics of catastrophe: War, climate and competing visions of survival’. Maria’s paper was entitled ‘Ritual Endtiming as International Ordering’ and Thomas’s ‘Apocalyptic World-Ordering: The Logic of the Liberal International Order’.

Thomas Fraise also featured his paper ‘Nuclear Deterrence as Ontological Security: The Origins of NATO’s Extended Nuclear Deterrence’, chaired a panel ‘Martial Materialities of Environmental Devastation’, and presented his paper (co-authored with Sterre Van Buuren and Benoît Pelopidas) ‘The Climate Security Costs of the New Nuclear Arms Race’.

 

 

Maria Mälksoo at the SRM panel discussion, University of Copenhagen 26 August 2026

Maria Mälksoo spoke at the panel ‘What if Russia tests NATO in the Baltics?’, organised by the Security Risk Management Student Association at the University of Copenhagen on 26 August 2026. The panel discussed threat scenarios in the Baltic region and beyond, NATO’s credibility, and the problems with crying wolf.

 

Mariia Vladymyrova presents her work on Russian lawfare in the Arctic at the Law and Security Conference 2026 at the University of Copenhagen

On 27 August Mariia Vladymyrova attended the PhD symposium within the framework of the Law and Security Conference at the Law Faculty, University of Copenhagen. She presented her recent study of the coercive signaling elements embedded in the Russian regime of the Northern Sea Route. This regime provides a framework through which Moscow asserts its dominance in the Arctic and signals resolve and commitment by introducing escalatory threshold without resorting to the overt hostility (and cost) of militarized threats.

 

‘There is no fish’: Mariia Vladymyrova comments on her research on Russian grey zone activity for Euronews

While it is difficult to provide a “credible number” of Russian fishing vessels involved in espionage operating in European waters, their presence is increasing. By leveraging ambiguity and dual-use capabilities, Russia blurs the line between civilian and military operations, complicating NATO’s maritime situational awareness and demanding adaptive countermeasures in an evolving security environment. The EU has recently made a step into the right direction with issuing sanctions against two major Russian fishing players. However, national governments, including those overseeing port authorities and domestic legislation, can be just as effective. “More meaningful interventions can be made at the national level because fisheries are usually a matter for the coast guard or police, depending on national laws,” Mariia argues.

Read full text here.