Garcevic Gives Talk at BBN Technologies on Russian Influence
Ambassador Vesko Garcevic, Professor of the Practice of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, gave an October 2, 2018 talk on Russian influence operations in Eastern Europe and the Balkans as part of the BBN Technologies Science and Development Seminar Programs.
Amb. Garcevic’s presentation was focused on Russia’s posture in Eastern Europe and the Balkans with an emphasis on how Moscow exerts its soft and sharp power (“soft power with a hard edge”) to keep those countries under its control. In broader terms, Garcevic said this approach can be described as an example of a hybrid political conflict.
According to Moscow, the Region is a zone of competition between the ‘Russian World (Ruskiy Mir)’ and a hostile West. Russia exploits loopholes and democratic deficiency in Eastern European states to project its power. It utilizes their problems with democratic incapacity, corruption, their discontent with the EU and NATO, outstanding bilateral issues (like ones in Ukraine, Moldova, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina), ethnic tensions to widen the existing gaps, incite crisis and provoke conflicts.
According to Garcevic, Montenegro is just an example of Moscow’s assertiveness. Ukraine, Greece (recently), France (during the Presidential elections) even the U.S. are different cases, but in all of them, one can recognize similar patterns.
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During his diplomatic career, Amb. Vesko Garcevic dealt with issues pertinent to European security and NATO for almost 14 years. In 2004, he was posted in Vienna to serve as Ambassador to Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He had been a Montenegro’s Ambassador to NATO from 2010 until 2014 and served as a Montenegro’s National Coordinator for NATO from 2015 until he joined the faculty at the Pardee School.