Professor of Government and Russian Studies, Harvard University
Past director of Harvard’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies; Co-chair of Working Group on the Future of Russian-American Relations; Has participated in the Valdai Discussion Club meetings since 2004.
Research interests: national and international politics of Russia and Eurasia. Books and articles include Transitional Citizens: Voters and What Influences Them in the New Russia (2000); Popular Choice and Managed Democracy (with Michael McFaul, 2003); The State after Communism (with Stephen Holmes, 2006); Yeltsin: A Life (2008); Leadership and the Politics of Modernization in Russia: The Challenges of Transformation (ed. by Piotr Dutkiewicz and Dmitri Trenin, 2011); Russia: What Everyone Needs to Know (2016); Everyone Loses: The Ukraine Crisis and the Ruinous Contest for Post-Soviet Eurasia (with Samuel Charap, 2017).Professor, Fudan University; Fellow of Beijing Clib for International Dialogue
Academic Supervisor of the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs at the National Research University Higher School of Economics; Honorary Chairman of the Presidium of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy
Chairman of the Editorial Board of the Russia in Global Affairs magazine. Co-founder of the Institute of Europe, Russian Academy of Sciences. Author and editor of more than 25 books and around 500 articles.
Member of the Academic Council of the Ministry of Foregn Affairs of the Russian Federation; Member of the Academic and Advisory Council, Russian Security Council; Member of the Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights under the President of Russia. In 1990s he was the member of the Presidential Council of Russia. Sergei Karaganov was a member of the High-level Panel of Eminent Persons on European Security as a Common Project under the OSCE (2014–2015).
Scientific interests: Soviet/Russian foreign and defense policies, international security, Greater Eurasia , USA and Europe, new global problems.Research Director, German-Russian Forum.
Career involved work as Project Researcher for the Federal Institute for East European and International Studies, Cologne (1978–1990); Senior Analyst at the Research Institute of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Munich (1982–1994); Consultant, RAND Corporation, USA (1985–1989); Program Director for Russia and Eurasia (Berthold-Beitz Center) at the German Council on Foreign Relations, Bonn/Berlin (1994–2012); Senior Advisor Russia for Wintershall Holding (2012–2015); Research Director, Project manager at the German-Russian Forum (2012–2015); Senior Advisor Europa for Gazprom (from 2015).
He was awarded with the German Federal Cross of Merit (2003) and he holds honorary professorships at the Moscow State Institute for International Relations and Higher School of Economics, Moscow. He is member of the Petersburg Dialogue (German-Russian civil society forum); Board member of Yalta European Strategy (YES); Board member of the German-Ukrainian Forum; cofounder of the Berlin Eurasia Club (Kazakhstan).Since 2015 –Programme Director of the Valdai Discussion Club; since 2023 – Director General of the Russian International Affairs Council; Associate Professor at MGIMO MFA of Russia.
Previously, he held the position of Director of Programmes of the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC), responsible for substantive work: research, educational and publishing projects, relations with government agencies and the media.
Before joining RIAC, Dr. Timofeev was Head of Analytical Monitoring Centre at MGIMO University (2009–2011). He has been Associate Professor at MGIMO University since 2006.
Dr. Timofeev is the author and co-author of more than 80 publications, issued in Russian and foreign academic press. He is a member of the editorial board at Comparative Politics journal.