Mr James Sherr
Lecturer at Lincoln College, Oxford
James Sherr is a Fellow of the Conflict Studies Research Centre (CSRC), which is part of the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom. He is also Lecturer in International Relations at Lincoln College, Oxford and a member of the Social Studies Faculty of Oxford University. He has long served as a consultant to NATO on Ukraine. Between 1998-2000, he was a Specialist Adviser to the House of Commons Defence Committee and, between 1983-85, Director of Studies of the Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies. He is the author of approximately 100 publications on Russia, Ukraine and European security.
Born in New York in 1951, Mr. Sherr holds British and US citizenship. He is the author of a number of articles and monographs on Soviet military doctrine and policy. He has also been engaged with wider policy discussions associated with NATO and EU enlargement, the Black Sea region and energy security. He lectures frequently at the Harvard JFK School’s Black Sea Security Programme and Russia Security Programme.
Mr Sherr explained that he is a civil servant and can speak and write without prior clearance. He defined spies as intelligence professionals.
Relations with Russia, he predicted, would get worse before they get better. Even though they are by no means good at the moment.
Nato enlargement - Russians think of it in adversarial terms and it is very difficult to discuss Ukraine calmly and rationally.
He believed that the West since 1991 has mishandled Russia. Russia is overwhelmingly state dominated and the country has defined itself as being different - as in pre world war times. 70% of the economy is in the hands of the state. The issue of energy is predominant and is what the army was to Russia.
Russia has an emphatically old-fashioned approach. Neighbouring central Asian countries are getting assertive and China is looming. Russia will be acquiring more markets and Putin will defer action on his future until the last moment; otherwise he would become a lame duck.
There is a feeling that "Western-style democracy is not for us". In Russia there has been some democracy and they believe that no democracy is not good but "the law will not get you far if you don't know the right people". There is a pervasive corruption and people make an effort to cultivate as many influential people as possible.
It was felt that Russia did not want Iran to have nuclear weapons.