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The Geopolitics of Ukraine – a public lecture by Yulia Osmalovska
January 20, 2016 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm
Free
WHEN:
Wednesday 20 January, from 5.30-6.30pm
WHERE:
This event will take place in Room S3, Alison Richard Building, Cambridge University. See the map here.
Admission:
Free. All are welcome to attend. Please register your interest by emailing Dr Maeve Ryan:[email protected]
On Wednesday 20 January, 5.30pm, former Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine official and former Head of the Political Section of the Embassy of Ukraine in the UK Yulia Osmolovska will deliver a lecture to the Forum on Geopolitics on the subject of Geopolitics and the Ukraine today.
In this lecture, Ms Osmolovska will explore key questions relating to Ukrainian foreign policy and sovereignty – particularly in its relations with Russia – and the role Ukraine continues to play as a bridging power between Russia and the EU.
About this lecture
For a complex series of historical reasons which Ms Osmolovska will explore, Ukrainian foreign policy thinking to date has not tended towards the strategic or the overtly geopolitical. Upon gaining its independence in 1991, Ukraine pursued a multi-vector foreign policy which has in no small part influenced Russia’s recent retaliatory actions within the sovereign territory of Ukraine.
Throughout, however, Russia and Ukraine have remained economically and socially interlinked at the most fundamental levels. It is imperative that the two countries enter into substantive bilateral negotiations on a wide range of essential issues of common concern, but much will depend on Ukraine adopting a more forward-thinking, assertive foreign policy
strategy. Of particular interest are the questions of how Ukraine addresses her future relations with Russia, and to what extent other key big players as the EU and US will be involved in the dialogue.
About Ms Osmolovska
For most of her professional career (from 1999 to 2014), Ms Osmolovska worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. She was head of the team for Strategic Initiatives and Planning between Ukraine and the EU at the EU Department; was a member of the Secretariat of the Delegation of Ukraine for negotiations on the Association Agreement, as well as a coordinator of the working group on Chapter on Political Dialogue, Foreign and Security Policy of the Association Agreement.
She was posted twice to the Embassy of Ukraine in the UK and, from 2009-2011, Yulia was Head of the Political Section and the Acting Deputy Head of Mission. Since then, Ms Osmolovska has held a variety of senior positions under the government of Ukraine, including under the Economic Reforms Coordination Centre mandated by the President of Ukraine; under the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, and as executive director at the Ukrainian Investment and Trade Facilitation Center.
In 2014 she became a partner at the Institute for Negotiation Skills, promoting Harvard negotiation model in Ukraine.
A graduate from Kyiv National Economic University, Ms Osmolovska holds a Master of Philosophy in European Studies degree from the University of Cambridge and Master in Foreign Policy degree from the Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine. She also studied Psychology of Negotiations and Mediation at St. Petersburg State University.