The third stop on Senior Course 120’s third and final field study was in Moscow where the course arrived on the evening of Thursday 14th June. The following morning the NDC Delegation assembled in the Conference Centre of the International Federation for Peace and Conciliation for a full day of briefings and presentations. The Course Members were welcomed by Professor Alexander Nikitin who is the Director of the Centre for Political and International Studies who opened the day’s briefings with an explanation of the varying views on the importance of NATO to Russia. His lecture was followed by a briefing by General Anatoly Kulikov, former Minister of the Interior and former Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, on Russia’s policy for combatting terrorism and on the lessons they had learned from their operations in the north Caucasus.
In the afternoon the presentations continued: Colonel Sergey Klopov briefed on Modern Russian Military Doctrine and current military reform initiatives; Major General Vladimir Nikishin briefed on the Collective Security Treaty Organisation and its Operational and Peacekeeping Forces; and Dr Tatianan Parkhaklina, who is Director of the Centre for European Security, briefed on “Russia and the West: Diverging and Common Values and Interests”. This last lecture sparked a particularly lively and animated question and answer session which, due to time constraints, unfortunately had to be cut short.
Dr Victor Kamyshanov finished the series of briefings with an explanation of the work of the International Federation for Peace and Conciliation, a non-governmental organisation of which he is President. The day’s briefings certainly helped the Course members of Senior Course 120 to better understand Russia’s views and perspectives of global security issues and were much enjoyed by all.
More about the Field Study:
Collège de Défense de l'OTAN