On December 5, 2016, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation, an expert in the field of arms control, Sergey Batsanov gave a lecture to students of St. Petersburg State University at the invitation of the head of the master's program ‘Strategic and Arms Control Studies’.
Sergey Batsanov told about the history and current state of the various arms control regimes and platforms where international community discusses the issues of non-proliferation and disarmament. During Q&A session, a wide range of topics was covered: from the prospects of Russian-US cooperation in nuclear arms control to non-nuclear states’ role in the promotion of recent initiatives designed to strengthen the nuclear non-proliferation regime.
Sergey Batsanov believes that in the sphere of arms control researchers and experts should pay attention to details and adhere a comprehensive approach to resolving problems. There is a close connection between the military, political, legal, geopolitical, economic, industrial, technological, and scientific aspects of the tasks that define the essence of current international cooperation in the field of arms control. ’Recent graduates who want to build a career in research centers or government agencies dealing with military security and strategic studies, should read a lot, learn how to select reliable sources, consider the received information critically and use every opportunity to communicate with practitioners,’ said the Ambassador.
In St Petersburg state University issues in the field of arms control, non-proliferation and military strategy are studying within the framework of the master's program ‘Strategic and Arms Control Studies’. Since 2017 teaching in the program is going to be completely in English.
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Sergey Batsanov is a long-time practitioner and scholar in the field of international security, arms limitation, and WMD non-proliferation. From 1976 till 1989 he worked on the whole range of arms control and disarmament issues in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the USSR; then, in 1989-1993 was the Soviet, then Russian Ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament. He participated in a number of US-Soviet Ministerials and Summits, in many sessions of General Assembly and other UN bodies. Since 2005 he is heading the Geneva Office of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs.