Dr Viktorija Rusinaité takes up the position of Director of Research and Analysis (R&A) at Hybrid CoE on 11 April 2023. Viktorija replaces Dr Hanna Smith, who was appointed Senior Strategic Advisor to the Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in November 2022.
“The R&A leadership is an important position in Hybrid CoE and I’m very pleased to have a person with such broad expertise in many core fields of Hybrid CoE’s activities to lead this function,” said Hybrid CoE Director Teija Tiilikainen. “In welcoming Viktorija to her new position, I also want to thank the Lithuanian government for making such a valuable contribution to Hybrid CoE’s staff,” Dr Tiilikainen added.
Viktorija has been working at Hybrid CoE since October 2020. Since joining the Centre, she has been in charge of the deterrence of hybrid threats workstrand, first as Senior Analyst and from July 2022 as Deputy Director of COI Hybrid Influence. Previously, she served as Head of the European Security Programme at Vilnius Institute for Policy Analysis, and curator of the annual foreign policy and security conference ‘Vilnius Consultations’. Viktorija’s analytical interests include transatlantic strategic security efforts, Russian strategic culture, and Belarus-Russia relations. She holds a PhD in Political Science from the Vytautas Magnus University, Lithuania.
“The R&A team has been doing brilliant work in investigating the strategic cultures of Russia and China, hybrid threats in the Arctic, trends in cognitive intrusion, and processes in Eastern Partnership countries,” Viktorija pointed out. “Moreover, R&A is the main connecting point between practitioners in Participating States and the academic world. I am thrilled to lead this team and to further strengthen the Centre’s ties to the academic community and to support our Participating States with the most topical knowledge on hybrid threats.”
Hybrid CoE’s mission is to strengthen its Participating States’ security by providing expertise and training for countering hybrid threats, and by enhancing EU-NATO cooperation in this respect. The Centre is an autonomous hub for practitioners and experts, located in Helsinki, Finland.
