Valdai Club

On August 14, 2017, the Valdai Discussion Club held an expert discussion titled "Interference in elections and future relations between Russia and the West." The Valdai Paper titled “‘Russian Hackers’ in the US Election: Myths and Reality,” by Pavel Sharikov was presented during the discussion. 

The topic of the so-called Russian interference into the elections in Western countries over the past year has almost reached the first place in relations with the US and many European states. In late July, under the pretext of the so-called Russian interference into the presidential election of 2016, the US Congress passed the bill, giving to the majority of anti-Russian sanctions the force of law and depriving the president of the right to abolish them. In addition, Moscow was accused of trying to influence the outcome of the recent presidential elections in France, and with the upcoming parliamentary elections in Germany accusations of Russian "interference" are already gaining momentum.

In the near future, the relevance of the "Russian trace" is unlikely to slow down: it has become a factor in the internal political struggle in the key Western countries, and also serves as an excuse for a confrontational politics.

Speakers: 

• Pavel Sharikov, Director of the Center for Applied Research of the Institute of USA and Canada of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

• Oleg Demidov, Global Internet Governance and Cyber Security Consultant, PIR Center

• Sabine Fischer, Head of Eastern Europe and Eurasia division, German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP); Professor at the Freie Universität Berlin – via videolink from Germany

Moderator:

• Dmitry Suslov, Programme director of the Valdai Discussion Club.