Deepening British-Ukrainian relations in a competitive era

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Though on different sides of Europe, Ukraine and the United Kingdom have a direct geostrategic and geoeconomic interest in one another. Since the signing of their Strategic Partnership in October 2020, the two countries have been drawing closer to one another, economically and politically. With Russia’s renewed offensive against Ukraine, the relationship has deepened as Britain has led the way in Europe in providing financial and military assistance, culminating in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s address to the Houses of Parliament and Prime Minister Boris Jonhson’s two visits to Kyiv during the spring and summer of 2022.

The Council on Geostrategy invites you to attend an official launch of the report ‘Deepening British-Ukrainian relations in a more competitive era’, which provides a number of diplomatic, informational, military and economic options for strengthening the partnership between the two countries. By kind invitation of host Lord Risby – Advisory Council Chairman, Council on Geostrategy, the panel will include: Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Maj. Gen. Volodymyr Havrylov, Deputy Defence Minister of Ukraine, H.E. Vadym Prystaiko – Ambassador of Ukraine in London, Dr Alexander Lanoszka, Associate Fellow, Council on Geostrategy, James Rogers – Co-founder and Director of Research, Council on Geostrategy, Dr Hanna Shelest, Security programmes Director, Ukrainian PRISM, and an FCDO Minister (TBC), online as they discuss how to build on and improve the relationship between Britain and Ukraine in an era that is both more dangerous and competitive. ​​

Speakers

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Lord Ahmad is the Minister of State for South and Central Asia, North Africa, United Nations and the Commonwealth, in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). He joined the Conservative Party in 1994 and served as a councillor in Wimbledon and from 2008-2010 he served as Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party. He was made a Life Peer in 2011 and since 2014 served as a minister for various departments, serving in the FCDO since 2017.

Maj. Gen. Volodymyr Havrylov

Deputy Defence Minister of Ukraine

Major General Volodymyr Havrylov is the Deputy Defence Minister of Ukraine. Prior to his appointment, in 2022, he was Defence Attaché of Ukraine in the United States, the United Kingdom and Romania. Maj. Gen. Havrylov has also participated in the peacekeeping operation in Balkans in 1998 and the Anti-Terrorist Operation against Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine in 2015. Prior to being appointed Defence Attaché in the United States in September 2015 he was the Commandant of the Military Diplomatic Academy in Kyiv.

Dr Alexander Lanoszka

Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Waterloo

Ernest Bevin Associate Fellow in Euro-Atlantic Geopolitics, Council on Geostrategy

Dr Alexander Lanoszka is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Waterloo and the Balsillie School of International Affairs in Waterloo, Canada. He has previously taught at City, University of London, and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Dickey Center for International Understanding at Dartmouth College, and a Stanton Nuclear Security Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT’s Security Studies Programme. Dr Lanoszka has worked for the United States Department of Defence and has consulted for Global Affairs Canada. He holds a PhD in Philosophy and an MA in Politics, both from Princeton University.

H.E. Vadym Prystaiko

Ukrainian Ambassador to the United Kingdom

H.E. Vadym Prystaiko is Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom (since July 2020). Previously he was Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister (European Relations) in 2020 and Foreign Minister of Ukraine from 2019-2020. He joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine in 1997. Over the years, he has held multiple diplomatic positions including the Ukrainian Ambassador to Canada (2012-2014) and Ukrainian representative to the International Organisation of Civil Aviation.

James Rogers

Co-founder and Director of Research, Council on Geostrategy

James Rogers is Co-founder and Director of Research at the Council on Geostrategy, where he specialises in geopolitics and British strategic policy. Previously, he held positions at the Henry Jackson Society, the Baltic Defence College, and the European Union Institute for Security Studies. He has been invited to give oral evidence at the Foreign Affairs, Defence, and International Development committees in the Houses of Parliament.

Dr Hanna Shelest

Director of Security Programmes, Ukrainian PRISM

Hanna Shelest, PhD, Editor-in-chief of UA: Ukraine Analytica, Head of the Security Programmes at the Foreign Policy Council “Ukrainian Prism”. Previously H.Shelest served as a Senior Researcher at Odessa branch of the National Institute for Strategic Studies and a Visiting Research Fellow at the NATO Defence College (Italy). She has a PhD in International Relations, specializing in conflict resolution and security issues.

Chair

Lord Risby

Prime Minister’s trade envoy to Algeria and Lebanon, House of Lords

Lord Risby was Member of Parliament for Bury St. Edmunds from 1992 to 1997, and for West Suffolk from 1997 to 2010. He was created a Life Peer in 2010, and currently sits in the House of Lords. From 2011 to 2015, Lord Risby was the Vice-Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for East Asian Business. In November 2012, he was announced as one of nine prime ministerial trade envoys, with responsibility for Algeria and, in 2019, Lebanon.

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This event will take place online.