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 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.
How is Russia dealing with covid-19? What impact does the pandemic have on the other underlying political issues in Russia – such as the change of the constitution and Putin’s decision to essentially stay in power until 2036? Our ECFR experts also point out the strange absence of the Russian leader from the fight against corona – has covid-19 as well as the oil price crisis caused more turbulence and chaos in the country as he wants to admit? Host Mark Leonard, Gustav Gressel, Kadri Liik and Nicu Popescu come forward with analyses and predictions: if the EU doesn’t handle the crisis well, could Russia have been right in its Hobbsian view of the world?
This podcast was recorded on 8 April 2020.
Check out our “Dive Deep into Russia” lecture series by the ECFR Wider Europe Programme!
Bookshelf:
Gustav Gressel - 13 February 2020
Maintaining a self-sufficient defence-industrial complex has long been an uphill struggle for Russia – and recent sanctions have only steepened its climb.
Gustav Gressel - 03 February 2020
The Kremlin is losing long-time Ukraine policy chief, Vladislav Surkov. But his successor has more in common with “Putin’s Rasputin” than first meets the eye.
It came as a surprise when Russia’s government resigned just hours after Putin’s announced his plans for a possible referendum of constitutional changes. Host Mark Leonard is joined by Kadri Liik and Gustav Gressel to elaborate on the recent political changes that have happened in the world’ largest country over the course of just the past weeks. What role will Putin play in the future in Russia and on the global stage? Is there a change to recent the relationship between the EU and Moscow? And was does this all mean to Belarus, Ukraine and the NordStream 2 project?
Further read:
This podcast was recorded on 27 January 2020.
Bookshelf:
Gustav Gressel - 19 December 2019
The Tiergarten hitman travelling freely across the Schengen area should prompt reflection in European capitals, and greater demands of Berlin to act. But a pan-European response remains unforthcoming.
_806.jpg "Pic: kremlin.ru - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Normandy_format_talks_in_Paris_(October_2015)_02.jpg - CC BY 4.0 - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/")
Gustav Gressel - 09 December 2019
Zelensky and EU leaders want the Normandy summit to show they are giving diplomacy a chance. But the risk all lies on their side, not Putin’s
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.
Gustav Gressel - 06 November 2019
La Russia è responsabile di una guerra su più fronti. Dovrà gestire con molta attenzione le relazioni tra molteplici attori locali.
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
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by Gustav Gressel - 25th June, 2019
Europe should pursue a ‘dual track’ approach of confrontation followed by dialogue with unfriendly cyber powers.
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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.
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by Gustav Gressel, Fredrik Wesslau - 19th June, 2017
There is no room for complacency in Europe’s stance towards Russia and Ukraine.
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by Gustav Gressel - 05th October, 2016
Reforms in key state institutions, such as the judiciary, have failed to deliver results.
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by Dennison et al. - 28th January, 2016
The sixth ECFR Foreign Policy Scorecard highlights the EU's diminishing ability to influence its neighbours, and the neighbourhood's growing impact on the EU.
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EPUB
Mobi
by Gustav Gressel - 13th October, 2015
Putin’s expansionist policy in Russia’s neighbourhood is backed up by a poised and professional military.
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Gustav Gressel - 13 February 2020
Maintaining a self-sufficient defence-industrial complex has long been an uphill struggle for Russia – and recent sanctions have only steepened its climb.
Gustav Gressel - 03 February 2020
The Kremlin is losing long-time Ukraine policy chief, Vladislav Surkov. But his successor has more in common with “Putin’s Rasputin” than first meets the eye.
Gustav Gressel - 19 December 2019
The Tiergarten hitman travelling freely across the Schengen area should prompt reflection in European capitals, and greater demands of Berlin to act. But a pan-European response remains unforthcoming.
Gustav Gressel - 09 December 2019
Zelensky and EU leaders want the Normandy summit to show they are giving diplomacy a chance. But the risk all lies on their side, not Putin’s
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.
Gustav Gressel - 06 November 2019
La Russia è responsabile di una guerra su più fronti. Dovrà gestire con molta attenzione le relazioni tra molteplici attori locali.
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.
Gustav Gressel - 17 October 2019
Sino-Russian arrangements for deepening cooperation on surveillance technology codify a process that has been going on for years.
How is Russia dealing with covid-19? What impact does the pandemic have on the other underlying political issues in Russia – such as the change of the constitution and Putin’s decision to essentially stay in power until 2036? Our ECFR experts also point out the strange absence of the Russian leader from the fight against corona – has covid-19 as well as the oil price crisis caused more turbulence and chaos in the country as he wants to admit? Host Mark Leonard, Gustav Gressel, Kadri Liik and Nicu Popescu come forward with analyses and predictions: if the EU doesn’t handle the crisis well, could Russia have been right in its Hobbsian view of the world?
This podcast was recorded on 8 April 2020.
Check out our “Dive Deep into Russia” lecture series by the ECFR Wider Europe Programme!
Bookshelf:
It came as a surprise when Russia’s government resigned just hours after Putin’s announced his plans for a possible referendum of constitutional changes. Host Mark Leonard is joined by Kadri Liik and Gustav Gressel to elaborate on the recent political changes that have happened in the world’ largest country over the course of just the past weeks. What role will Putin play in the future in Russia and on the global stage? Is there a change to recent the relationship between the EU and Moscow? And was does this all mean to Belarus, Ukraine and the NordStream 2 project?
Further read:
This podcast was recorded on 27 January 2020.
Bookshelf:
_kremlin.jpg?v=1570437912218)
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 Varma
The podcast was recorded on 30 September 2019.
Bookshelf:
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/
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 Book
Picture: commdiginews.com
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
Interview with Gustav Gressel on German-Russian relations after suspected Russian involvement in a murder in Berlin.
Gustav Gressel on the Russian involvement in the Georgian murder case in Berlin.
Tara Varma and Gustav Gressel quoted on the Russian influence on Brexit and the EU.
Gustav Gressel is cited in La Stampa on fake news and elections in Eastern Europe and Russia
Gustav Gressel explains in his opinion piece in Tagesspiegel why you cannot compare Austria and Germany after the recent elections.
Gustav Gressel talks about the upcoming elections in Austria on ZDF Germany.
Gustav Gressel talks in an interview with MDR Aktuell about the Russian-Ukrainian relations after the current exchange of prisoners.
Gustav Gressel discusses on Euronews whether the EU is concerned enough about future cyber threats.
Gustav Gressel is quoted by France24 about relations between Moscow and Washington.