Russia, Sanctions and the Transatlantic Relationship

Charly Salonius-Pasternak is a Leading Researcher at FIIA and leads the work of the Center on US Politics and Power (CUSPP). His work at FIIA focuses on international security issues, especially Nordic and transatlantic security (including NATO), as well as U.S. foreign and defence policy. Recently he has focused on Finnish-Swedish defence cooperation and the evolution of US and NATO alliance reassurance approaches in light of the changed regional security situation. In 2017, he was a visiting research fellow at the Changing Character of War programme at Pembroke College (Oxford University), where he studied the hybridization of warfare and the impact of the Information Age on the character of war.

Daniel Fried is currently the Weiser Family Distinguished Fellow at the Atlantic Council. Previously he was at the State Department from 1977 to 2017. Fried assumed his position as the State Department’s Coordinator for Sanctions Policy in 2013 and prior to that, Ambassador Fried served as Special Envoy for Closure of the Guantanamo Detainee Facility with the additional responsibility as the Secretary’s Special Advisor on Camp Ashraf (Iraq). He served from 2005 until 2009 as Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs and as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for European and Eurasian Affairs at the National Security Council. Ambassador Fried was Principal Deputy Special Advisor to the Secretary of State for the New Independent States from May 2000 until January 2001. He was Ambassador to Poland from November 1997 until May 2000. Ambassador Fried served on the staff of the National Security Council from 1993 until 1997, first as a Director and then as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Central and Eastern Europe. In his service during the Administrations of the first President Bush, President Clinton, President George W. Bush, and the early months of the Obama Administration, Ambassador Fried was active in designing and implementing U.S. policy to advance freedom and security in Central and Eastern Europe, NATO enlargement, and the Russia-NATO relationship.

Deborah A. McCarthy is an expert on U.S. foreign and national security policy with over 30 years of diplomatic experience. Currently, she is a Fellow at Harvard University. She is also consultant with the Transnational Security Group and the producer of the national security podcast “The General and the Ambassador” (https://www.generalambassadorpodcast.org). She served as the U.S. Ambassador to Lithuania from 2013 to 2016. Previously, she was the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs. Ms McCarthy also served as Deputy Ambassador at the U.S. Embassy in Greece and the U.S. Embassy in Nicaragua. In Washington, she was the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Narcotics and Law Enforcement, the Senior Advisor for Counter Terrorism and the Special Coordinator for Venezuela. Other diplomatic postings include: Consul General Montreal, Economic Counselor U.S. Embassy Paris, Financial Economist U.S. Embassy Rome and assignments in the Dominic Republic and Haiti.