Simon Saradzhyan
Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Contact:
Telephone: 617-496-8228
Email: simon_saradzhyan@hks.harvard.edu
AP Photo
February 17, 2012
"Putin, the protest movement and political change in Russia"
Journal Article, EU Institute for Security Studies
By Simon Saradzhyan, Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and Nabi Abdullaev
Few leaders undertake major reforms in either domestic or foreign policy late in their rule, and Vladimir Putin – who seeks to return to the Kremlin this spring for at least six years – hardly wants to be an exception. However, should the disparate groups behind the recent unprecedented protests in Russia develop into an organised movement leading to a sustained increase in public pressure on the Kremlin, then Putin may end up pursuing far more extensive domestic political and economic reforms than he would wish.
December 20, 2011
"Mutually Assured Stability"
Op-Ed, Moscow Times
By Simon Saradzhyan, Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
"Fall 1991 saw U.S. and Soviet leaders display goodwill by pledging to unilaterally consolidate and reduce their nations' arsenals of tactical nuclear weapons in what became the last milestone in the history of U.S.-Soviet arms control....Twenty years after, however, the two countries still have thousands of tactical nuclear weapons outside any of the existing international arms control regimes," writes Simon Saradzhyan
(AP Photo/ RIA Novosti, Yekaterina Shtukina. pool)
October 5, 2011
"Putin's Comeback: Fast Forward to the Past"
Op-Ed, International Relations and Security Network
By Simon Saradzhyan, Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev’s decision to swap jobs may put an end to the diarchy in Russia but is unlikely to lead to any tectonic policy shifts, writes Simon Saradzhyan. Instead, it will further cement the system of ‘managed democracy’, which in time will become so inflexible that it may fail to cope with a protracted crisis.
June 6, 2011
The U.S.-Russia Joint Threat Assessment of Nuclear Terrorism
Report
By Matthew Bunn, Associate Professor of Public Policy; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom, Yuri Morozov, Rolf Mowatt-Larssen, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Simon Saradzhyan, Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, William H. Tobey, Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Viktor I. Yesin and Pavel S. Zolotarev
Researchers from the United States and Russia have issued a joint assessment of the global threat of nuclear terrorism, warning of a persistent danger that terrorists could obtain or make a nuclear device and use it with catastrophic consequences. The first joint threat assessment by experts from the world’s two major nuclear powers concludes: “If current approaches toward eliminating the threat are not replaced with a sense of urgency and resolve, the question will become not if but when, and on what scale, the first act of nuclear terrorism occurs.”
April 11, 2011
The U.S.-Russia Initiative to Prevent Nuclear Terrorism Newsletter: February - March 2011
Newsletter
By Simon Saradzhyan, Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
High-Ranking U.S. Official To Discuss HEU Removal from Ukraine; Bunn on Lessons Learned at Fukushima; Heinonen Proposes Empowering IAEA to Probe Trafficking of Dual Use Items; NATO and Russia Urged to Start Building Security Alliance; more.
AP Photo
March 22, 2011
"Russia Presses Ahead With Nuclear Plants After Japan Crisis"
Op-Ed, The Huffington Post
By Simon Saradzhyan, Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
While Russian authorities saw the recent calamities in Japan as a chance to initiate a rapprochement with the country, says Simon Saradzhyan, Moscow's overtures to Tokyo have received a cool reception. However, he says, "Japan's nuclear crisis nonetheless represents an opportunity for Russian policy-makers to take a fresh look at the country's nuclear energy policies in order to ensure that both existing and future plants are protected against natural or man-made calamities, even those that may still seem unthinkable."
AP Photo
December 23, 2010
"Russia's North Caucasus, The Terrorism Revival"
Op-Ed, International Relations and Security Network
By Simon Saradzhyan, Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Terrorism has recently staged a deadly comeback in Russia after a lull of several years, writes Belfer Center fellow Simon Saradzhyan. "Escalatory logic and rivalry among leaders of the North Caucasus-based terrorist networks combined with landmark events planned in Russia and the dynamics of violence in the greater Middle East may fuel further spikes in organized political violence..."
AP Photo
December 22, 2010
"Working Toward a Russia For All"
Op-Ed, Moscow Times
By Simon Saradzhyan, Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and Monica Duffy Toft, Former Associate Professor of Public Policy; Former Board Member, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Former Director, Initiative on Religion and International Affairs
The show of force by ultranationalists across Russia should serve as a wake-up call for the authorities, write Simon Saradzhyan, a Belfer Center research fellow, and Monica Duffy Toft, associate professor of public policy. "While [the authorities] took some steps over the past few years to dismantle violent ultranationalist groups, more needs to be done — and soon," they argue.
October 4, 2010
"Moscow Mayor's Ouster Sets Stage for Russian Elections"
Op-Ed, Global Intelligence Report
By Simon Saradzhyan, Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
INCIDENT: After several weeks of public trading of barbs between the Kremlin and Moscow city authorities, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev decreed to fire the Russian capital's long-time mayor Yuri Luzhkov "due to loss of confidence."
August 11, 2010
"Chechnya: Divisions in the Ranks"
Op-Ed, International Relations and Security Network
By Simon Saradzhyan, Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Doku Umarov's attempt to resign has revealed a schism in the leadership of North Caucasus-based insurgency and terrorism networks, but whether he stays or goes will have no long-term impact on the network's capabilities, Simon Saradzhyan comments for ISN Security Watch.
