Perspectives and Insights From the Moscow Security Conference and Associated Local Visits
Speaker(s): Zwack, P. (Global Fellow, The Wilson Center & Adjunct Fellow, Salve Regina University)
Date: 10 August 2021
Speaker Session Summary
SMA hosted a speaker session with BG (Ret) Peter Zwack (Global Fellow, The Wilson Center & Adjunct Fellow, Salve Regina University) as part of its SMA EUCOM Speaker Series.
Following a recent trip to Russia for a conference, BG (Ret) Zwack shared his experiences and observations with the SMA audience. To begin, he reviewed some vital aspects of history and geography that must be known when examining Russia and its current state. He pointed out that Russia is increasingly concerned with protecting its border because its population is decreasing. Russia continually reminds its domestic population of past Russian victories and successes to stoke Russian nationalism. Murals of Russian heroes have been painted across its cities to increase nationalist sentiment. This is an important objective for Putin because he considers NATO’s expanding influence as a threat to his government’s sovereignty. BG (Ret) Zwack cited the annual Zapad military exercise and NATO’s border in the Black Sea as potential areas for conflict escalation between Russia and NATO. He emphasized that NATO be careful to not accidentally encroach on Russia’s sovereign soil.
Even though Russia and the US have a confrontational relationship, it is important that the US continues to have a presence at international conferences in Russia, such as the Moscow Security conference (MCIS). BG (Ret) Zwack commented that while he experienced anti-American sentiment during the latest MCIS, the Russian participants expressed appreciation that the US had taken part. Some security concerns Russian and international participants expressed were the movement of militants in Africa, global terrorism, and the Artic. Cyber security was also discussed, but there were few major solutions offered.
Note: We are aware that many government IT providers have blocked access to YouTube from government machines during the pandemic in response to bandwidth limitations. We recommend viewing the recording on YouTube from a non-government computer or listening to the audio file (below), if you are in this position.
Brigadier General Peter B Zwack (Ret.) served as the United States Senior Defense Official and Attaché to the Russian Federation during the challenging years of 2012-2014. Retired in 2015 after 34 years of military service, he served for four years as the Russia-Eurasia Fellow in the Institute for National Strategic Studies within the National Defense University. While there he taught a Masters course in National Security Studies. BG Zwack is currently a Global Fellow at the Kennan Institute within the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars. He also serves as an Adjunct Fellow at the Pell Center forInternational Relations.
BG Zwack began his work in Russian-Eurasian affairs as an U.S. Army Soviet Foreign Area Officer (FAO) at the Defense Language Institute(1988), and then the Russian Institute in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, West Germany (1989-1991). He has served and written extensively in this field since then. His written and spoken insights, many personal, are based on his over 30-years of analytical and in-country USSR-Russia experiences that began in summer 1989 as a young U.S. Army Captain studying Russian and culture in a provincial Soviet cityon the Volga River. He takes a broad Eurasian perspective while explaining key aspects of the complex US-Russia and increasinglyChina “triangle,” and how these and other relationships will shape the course of the world ahead. BG Zwack brings apersonal hands-on perspective to Russia and Eurasian affairs and the challenges and opportunities facing the U.S. and Russia today.
Since1989, he has interacted with Russians and international colleagues on multiple levels including defense, security, academia, policy, veterans, and private citizens. He regularly consults, writes and lectures within the interagency, defense department, think tanks, academic institutions and business community on contemporary Russian and Eurasian security issues, and leadership lessons learned.
BG Zwack enlisted in the US Army in 1980 and received his commission via Officer Candidate School (OCS) at Fort Benning, Georgia. Hesubsequently served 34 years as a Military Intelligence and Eurasian Foreign Area Officer in diverse and challenging duty locationsincluding Afghanistan, Kosovo, South Korea, Germany and Russia. Inducted into the OCS Hall of Fame in 2015, BG Zwack is a recipient of the Bronze Star, Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit and numerous other awards and decorations. He was also honored as the Joint Chiefs of Staff "Action Officer of the Year" in 1999and proudly wears Airborne Wings and the Ranger tab.
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