Barrister and academic, with extensive research, publishing and advisory experience in former Soviet Union and other countries, fluent in Russian
The Expert is a Country Expert and academic with extensive fieldwork expeirience and providing expert reports (100+) for more than 40 firms in the UK, US, Netherlands, and Canada with areas of expertise such as but not limited to:
- Authentication documents originating from countries of expertise
- Country reports on the indicated countries of expertise
- Minority groups, religious groups
- Political, social and cultural groups: LGBT
- Organized crime and mafia, state crime
- Extremist and violent groups, including religious groups
- Human rights violations
- Women issues: honor killing
- Human trafficking
- Psychiatry and prison conditions
- Disadvantaged groups e.g. children, minorities, mentally ill, disabled, terminally ill
- Availability of medical services
- State structure, military and security services
- Drug dealing and trafficking
Expert on Russia and Post-Soviet Countries, including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.
Responds to inquiries within 1 hour and delivers reports within 1 week. Adheres to the minimum rate that meets Legal Aid requirements. Partnered with 15 law firms in the US and UK to provide expert reports on asylum and human rights cases. Authored over 100 reports that contributed to successful asylum claims. Specialised in human rights violations, political persecution, and market conditions in these regions. A seasoned publicist, PR expert, TV presenter, and journalist with a focus on Russia and Post-Soviet states. My background includes producing and hosting television shows, conducting in-depth interviews with political figures, and offering expert consultation on human rights issues. Winner of the Expert Witness Awards in the category of Best Immigration, Asylum & Refugee Expert Witness 2024, hosted by Acquisition International.Experienced scholar and consultant combining theoretical and practical skills of analysis, intelligence and policy advise with expertise in informal networks, organized crime, corruption, illicit trade, crime-terror nexus, policing and public sector reform
The Expert is an expert in autocratization, democracy, and rule-of-law institutions. He is a tenured Associate Professor of Diplomacy & World Affairs at Occidental College. His research and commentary have been published in highly regarded academic journals such as Communist and Post-Communist Studies, Democratization, European Journal of Politics and Gender, Europe-Asia Studies, and Russian Politics, among others. I have also contributed to popular publications such as The Washington Post.
His first book, Global Finance and Local Control: Corruption and Wealth in Contemporary Russia, was published by Cornell University Press in 2021 and received the co-winner of the 2023 Best Book Award given by the International Political Economy section of the International Studies Association. He holds a doctorate in Government from Cornell University and has taught at Wellesley College, the Cornell-in-Washington Program, the Harriman Institute at Columbia University, and the Monterey Institute for International Studies. As a native of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, he studied Physics and Mathematics at Lyceum #61.
BBC journalist, film-maker and broadcaster with extensive experience of travelling to and investigating human rights abuses in Russia, including Chechnya, Belarus and other parts of the former USSR. Also considerable experience working with victims of human rights abuses in location in countries such as Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Israel / Palestine, China, Turkey and Cuba.