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Russia launched its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 based on a number of mistaken assumptions. One was that the United States was too distracted to respond and would be unable to rally its European and Asian allies behind it to support Ukraine. 

Contrary to Putin’s calculations, the Biden administration was able to create a strong coalition to counter Russian aggression and support the Zelensky government. The collective West has, so far, remained united, much to Russia’s chagrin. Yet China and much of the rest of the world, particularly the Global South, have remained neutral in this conflict, declining to condemn Russia’s invasion or sanction Russia.

What accounts for these very different reactions? How has Russia benefited from these contrasting responses? And how might domestic politics in the United States, Europe and Russia alter this trajectory in the next few years?

Angela Stent is senior adviser to the Center for Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies and Professor Emerita of Government and Foreign Service at Georgetown University. She is also a fellow at the Brookings Institution and a senior advisor to the United States Institute of Peace. She was a member of the senior advisory panel for NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander in Europe for Admiral James Stavridis and General Philip Breedlove.

Stent’s primary research focus is Russian foreign policy, with special emphasis on the triangular U.S-Europe-Russia relationship. Her latest book is Putin’s World: Russia Against the West and With the Rest (2019, updated paperback 2023), for which she won the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy’s prize for the best book on U.S-Russian Relations.

Dr. Stent received her B.A. from Cambridge University, her MSc. with distinction from the London School of Economics and Political Science and her M.A. and PhD. from Harvard University.

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