Gustav Gressel
Acting Director, Wider Europe programme
Senior Policy Fellow
Languages: German and English (fluent), Spanish and Polish (conversational)
Areas of Expertise: Eastern Europe; Russia; armed conflict and military affairs; defence policy; missile defence; missile proliferation
Gustav Gressel is the Acting Director and a senior policy fellow with the Wider Europe Programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations' Berlin office. His topics of focus include Russia, Eastern Europe, and defense policy.
Before joining ECFR, Gressel worked as a desk officer for international security policy and strategy in the Bureau for Security Policy of the Austrian Ministry of Defence from 2006 to 2014, and as a research fellow of the Commissioner for Strategic Studies with the Austrian MoD from 2003 to 2006. He was also a research fellow with the International Institute for Liberal Politics in Vienna. Before his academic career he served five years in the Austrian Armed Forces.
Gressel holds a PhD in Strategic Studies at the Faculty of Military Sciences at the National University of Public Service, Budapest and a Masters Degree in political science from Salzburg University. He is the author of numerous publications regarding security policy and strategic affairs and a frequent commentator on international affairs. His opinions have appeared in media such as the New York Times, the Guardian, Die Welt, NZZ, Bild, the Diplomat, New Eastern Europe, Foreign Policy, Gazeta Prawna, Rzeczpospolita, Kyiv Post, the Moscow Times, Capital, the Telegraph, the Economist, Newsweek, Deutsche Welle, RTL, al Jazeera, TVP, TRT, Polskie Radio, RFI, FM4, Ukraine Today, and Radio Free Europe.
Latest from Gustav Gressel
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Open Skies: Trump’s next big blunder? (Commentary)
Gustav Gressel - 04 December 2019
Partisan argument in Washington is helping undermine the Open Skies Treaty. The US could lose one of the most useful instruments in its relations with Russia.
Managed chaos: Russia’s deal with Turkey on northern Syria (Commentary)
Gustav Gressel - 03 November 2019
Russia is now in charge of a multi-front war. It will need to manage relations between multiple local actors very carefully.
The authoritarian entente: Sino-Russian security cooperation (Commentary)
Gustav Gressel - 17 October 2019
Sino-Russian arrangements for deepening cooperation on surveillance technology codify a process that has been going on for years.
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Reaching out to Russia – joining hands or getting the mitten?
In this week’s podcast, Mark Leonard, Gustav Gressel and Kadri Liik analyse Macron’s plans and ideas for recreating the European security order, an initiative which he launched with a speech at the Ambassador’s conference this year. Moreover, according to French officials, France will instead of starting with a top-down plan, try to build European security from the bottom-up and see if there is a desire in Moscow to make progress on specific issues, one brick at a time. They have laid out a roadmap with five different areas: Disarmament, security dialogue, crisis management, values, and common projects.
Further read: “Emmanuel Macron’s very big idea on Russia” by Gustav Gressel, Kadri Liik, Jeremy Shapiro & Tara VarmaThe podcast was recorded on 30 September 2019.
Bookshelf:
Ukraine prisoner swap: A sign of hope or desperation? (Commentary)
Gustav Gressel - 26 September 2019
The West is drawing the wrong lessons from Ukraine’s exchange of prisoners with Russia. It now risks rushing Kyiv into an unstable ‘resolution’ to the conflict in Donbas
Emmanuel Macron’s very big idea on Russia (Commentary)
Gustav Gressel, Kadri Liik, Jeremy Shapiro, Tara Varma - 25 September 2019
Negotiations with Russia over a new European security order would have huge – to many, alarming – implications for Ukraine, the EU, and the NATO alliance
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Guarding the guardians: Ukraine’s security and judicial reforms under Zelensky
by Gustav Gressel - 29th August, 2019
The EU, US, and NATO must ensure that these services remain high in the minds of the Zelensky administration and of Rada members
PDF
Protecting Europe against hybrid threats
by Gustav Gressel - 25th June, 2019
Europe should pursue a ‘dual track’ approach of confrontation followed by dialogue with unfriendly cyber powers.
PDF
Fellow travellers: Russia, anti-Westernism, and Europe’s political parties
by Gustav Gressel - 14th July, 2017
Anti-Western elements, exploitable by the Kremlin, exist not only on the fringes of European politics, but reach right into the heart of established parties.
PDF
The great unravelling: four doomsday scenarios for Europe’s Russia policy
by Gustav Gressel, Fredrik Wesslau - 19th June, 2017
There is no room for complacency in Europe’s stance towards Russia and Ukraine.
PDF
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Open Skies: Trump’s next big blunder? (Commentary)
Gustav Gressel - 04 December 2019
Partisan argument in Washington is helping undermine the Open Skies Treaty. The US could lose one of the most useful instruments in its relations with Russia.
Managed chaos: Russia’s deal with Turkey on northern Syria (Commentary)
Gustav Gressel - 03 November 2019
Russia is now in charge of a multi-front war. It will need to manage relations between multiple local actors very carefully.
The authoritarian entente: Sino-Russian security cooperation (Commentary)
Gustav Gressel - 17 October 2019
Sino-Russian arrangements for deepening cooperation on surveillance technology codify a process that has been going on for years.
Ukraine prisoner swap: A sign of hope or desperation? (Commentary)
Gustav Gressel - 26 September 2019
The West is drawing the wrong lessons from Ukraine’s exchange of prisoners with Russia. It now risks rushing Kyiv into an unstable ‘resolution’ to the conflict in Donbas
Emmanuel Macron’s very big idea on Russia (Commentary)
Gustav Gressel, Kadri Liik, Jeremy Shapiro, Tara Varma - 25 September 2019
Negotiations with Russia over a new European security order would have huge – to many, alarming – implications for Ukraine, the EU, and the NATO alliance
Occupational hazards: The Russian military in Crimea (Commentary)
Gustav Gressel - 17 April 2019
While its current disposition in Crimea is mainly defensive in nature, Russia's military build-up on the peninsula could soon turn the Black Sea region into a security black hole.
After Crimea: Does NATO have the means to defend Europe? (Commentary)
Gustav Gressel - 02 April 2019
Military spending may now figure in public conversation about NATO. But the alliance, at 70 years old, still lacks military capabilities strong enough to protect Europe from Russia
Negative energy: Berlin’s Trumpian turn on Nord Stream 2 (Commentary)
Gustav Gressel - 27 February 2019
Berlin's handling of the controversial Nord Stream 2 project reveals double standards and neglect of the pipeline's security repercussions.
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Reaching out to Russia – joining hands or getting the mitten?
In this week’s podcast, Mark Leonard, Gustav Gressel and Kadri Liik analyse Macron’s plans and ideas for recreating the European security order, an initiative which he launched with a speech at the Ambassador’s conference this year. Moreover, according to French officials, France will instead of starting with a top-down plan, try to build European security from the bottom-up and see if there is a desire in Moscow to make progress on specific issues, one brick at a time. They have laid out a roadmap with five different areas: Disarmament, security dialogue, crisis management, values, and common projects.
Further read: “Emmanuel Macron’s very big idea on Russia” by Gustav Gressel, Kadri Liik, Jeremy Shapiro & Tara VarmaThe podcast was recorded on 30 September 2019.
Bookshelf:
Protecting Europe against hybrid threats
In the third episode of ECFR’s summer series on strategic sovereignty, Mark Leonard talks to Gustav Gressel, Acting Director of the Wider Europe programme and Senior Policy Fellow at ECFR, about hybrid threats. Using Gressel’s recent paper on hybrid threats as a starting point, they discuss all elements of hybrid warfare: from sponsored proxy groups to propaganda war, and from economic pressure to cyber attacks. Importantly, they ask what impact hybrid warfare might have on European sovereignty.
This podcast was recorded on Friday, 12 July, 2019.
Picture:
Cyber warfare specialists serving with the Maryland Air National Guard’s 175th Cyberspace Operations Group engage in weekend training at Warfield Air National Guard Base in Middle River, Md., June 3, 2017. Air Force photo by J.M. Eddins Jr.
Public domain. Retrieved from: www.defense.gov/Newsroom/News/Art…-on-capitol-hill/
Mark Leonard's World in 30 Minutes: Are Europe's elections still safe?
ECFR’s director Mark Leonard speaks with ECFR Policy Fellows Stefan Soesanto, Kadri Liik and Gustav Gressel on Russia's interferences in Western politics.
The podcast was recorded on 5 January 2017.
Bookshelf:
Maurice Paléologue, An Ambassador’s Memoirs
Harvey Pitcher, Witnesses Of The Russian Revolution
Timothy Snyder, Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin
Michael Hayden, Playing to the Edge: American Intelligence in the Age of Terror
Yuval Noah Harari, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow
The GCHQ Puzzle BookPicture: commdiginews.com
ECFR’s World in 30 Minutes: Ukraine's 25th anniversary of independence
ECFR’s director Mark Leonard speaks with experts Andrew Wilson, Fredrik Wesslau and Gustav Gressel, about rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine in the Donbass, the Minsk agreement, and whether European sanctions on Russia should be renewed. The podcast was recorded on 30 August 2016.
Bookshelf:
Enough said: What’s gone wrong with the language of politics by Mark Thompson
The decline of the West by Oswald Sprengler
Ukraine crisis: What it means for the West by Andrew Wilson
The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation by Andrew Wilson
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Deutschlandfunk
04th December, 2019
Interview with Gustav Gressel on German-Russian relations after suspected Russian involvement in a murder in Berlin.
Deutsche Welle
03rd December, 2019
Gustav Gressel on the Russian involvement in the Georgian murder case in Berlin.
Euronews
11th November, 2019
Tara Varma and Gustav Gressel quoted on the Russian influence on Brexit and the EU.
La Stampa
08th October, 2019
Gustav Gressel is cited in La Stampa on fake news and elections in Eastern Europe and Russia
“L’Ue ha bisogno di una legge sullo spionaggio per combattere fake news e minacce ibride
08th October, 2019
Fake news, campagne manipolate da falsi profili social e guerre di informazione fanno ormai parte del dibattito politico. Per Gustav Gressel, ricercatore dello European Council on Foreign Relations esperto di Russia, Est Europa e politiche della Difesa, quando se ne parla si tocca spesso solo la punta dell’iceberg.
Tagesspiegel
01st October, 2019
Gustav Gressel explains in his opinion piece in Tagesspiegel why you cannot compare Austria and Germany after the recent elections.
ZDF
26th September, 2019
Gustav Gressel talks about the upcoming elections in Austria on ZDF Germany.
MDR Aktuell
09th September, 2019
Gustav Gressel talks in an interview with MDR Aktuell about the Russian-Ukrainian relations after the current exchange of prisoners.
Euronews
28th August, 2019
Gustav Gressel discusses on Euronews whether the EU is concerned enough about future cyber threats.
France 24
11th July, 2019
Gustav Gressel is quoted by France24 about relations between Moscow and Washington.