16 March 2026
RIAC Conference "Conflicts in Middle East and North Africa: Escalation Factors and Transformation Tracks"
On March 16, 2026, the Conference “Conflicts in Middle East and North Africa: Escalation Factors and Transformation Tracks” was hosted by the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC).
The meeting was aimed at discussing the contemporary trends of the conflicts in Middle East and North Africa. The RIAC report “Conflicts in Middle East and North Africa: Current State and Possible Dynamics”, authored by Russian experts on Middle East and the regional conflicts, was the substantive basis of the conference.
RIAC Member Prof. Vasily Kuznetsov, IOS RAS Deputy Director, Head of CAIS presented a paper at the plenary session.
The RIAC report “Conflicts in Middle East and North Africa: Current State and Possible Dynamics” was presented during the first session. The participants discussed the key features of the conflicts at the current stage and their possible transformation tracks. This session speakers were the report authors, including IOS RAS researchers: Dr. Luiza Khlebnikova, Head of the Interdivisional Research Group on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict; Dr. Vladimir Sazhin, Center for Middle East Studies Senior Researcher; Dr. Sergey Serebrov, CAIS Senior Researcher, and Prof. Vasily Kuznetsov.
The second session was devoted to the escalation factors and triggers of the conflicts in Middle East and North Africa. Special attention was paid to the economic and ideological aspects of the issue, as well as the issue of non-state actors. Reports were presented by CAIS Researcher Grigoriy Lukyanov and Senior Researcher Dr. Ruslan Mamedov.
The third session was dedicated to the extra-regional actors’ role in the dynamics and settlement of the conflicts in Middle East and North Africa. Speakers at this session included Prof. Viktor Smirnov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Head of the Department of Israel and Jewish Communities, and Dr. Lida Oganisyan, CAIS Senior Researcher.
Dr. Tatyana Nosenko, Department of Israel and Jewish Communities Leading Researcher, Dr. Ilya Vedeneev, Center for Middle East Studies Researcher, Dr. Aida Petrosyan, CAIS Researcher, Mikhail Zubovsky, CAIS Research Assistant, and State Academic University for the Humanities major student, the Oriental Tribune expert Alen Saab also took part in the event.