ABOUT US
Eastern Circles is a French think tank with a mission to shed light on the geopolitics of energy and defense in Eastern Europe, focusing on Ukraine since the full-scale invasion.
Our mission is to explain to policy and business decision-makers the changing nature of regional geopolitics and their impact on the future of European defense and energy security, and on the global system of alliances.
We fulfill it through analytical writing, discussion series on how Ukraine war changed the world, and applied projects building people-to-people contacts for an in-depth understanding on Ukraine and the nature of this war.
CROSS-SECTION OF THREE APPROACHES
OUR TEAM
Founder and president of Eastern Circles, she has 11 years of experience in consulting and energy industry, where she worked on companies, technologies and market analysis in the renewable energy, utilities, nuclear energy, and e-mobility. She led development of international cross-industry partnership research projects on these subjects and represented business in European industrial and research associations. Anastasiya is a lecturer on geopolitics in Sciences Po Paris since 2012, focusing on the role of business in the EU-Russia relations. Author of articles on the geopolitics and geoeconomics in the Former Soviet Union, she has regular TV and radio appearances. Anastasiya graduated from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, German and European Studies Program.
Rodolphe Oberle studied international relations at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Strasbourg and the Business School where he earned a Master. He is also followed the Military Staff Command course from the Paris Military School. After a short military experience as officer specialised in former Soviet Union and information operations marked by several deployments, moved to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Occupied politico-military functions in several field missions: Chechen Border Monitoring Team Leader and Planning Officer, Parliamentary Advisor for Defence Reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Project Manager for Central Asia border security and engagement with Afghanistan, Monitor Coordinator an Operations Officer in Donbas. Taking part in various long term monitoring missions of OSCE’S Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.
As a part of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academt sociologic community, Daryna has conducted in-depth research on the intricacies of societal dynamics within Ukraine, exploring the role of various actors in shaping the country’s civil society landscape. In the position of Strategic Communication Manager at MSA, a Ukrainian think and action tank, the primary objective was to foster cohesion among institution leaders in Ukraine’s Defense Sector, as well as the public and private sectors and conduct relative research. By employing strategic communication strategies, Daryna was working towards enhancing collaboration and cooperation among key stakeholders, contributing to the overall development and effectiveness of these institutions. Also Daryna is a member of the Paris School of International Affairs at Sciences Po Paris community with an academic focus on International Development, Social Innovation, and European Studies.
Tomas is a graduate of Ecole Nationale Supperieure des Techniques Avancees (ENTSTA) in Paris and holds an MSc. in Technical Cybernetics from Czech Technical University. He spent 7 years at EDF R&D in Paris working on mathematical models for power planning, trading, risk and valuation. Subsequently he worked as a subject matter expert in mathematical optimization at Sapient Global Markets based in London, working for energy trading clients in Switzerland and the US. He was also part of a proprietary trading team of the Slovak gas incumbent, SPP. In his current role, Tomas initiates, coordinates and leads various strategic initiatives at Slovenske Elektrarne ranging from asset backed trading enhancements, investment projects in new flexibility with a budget of 200+ m EUR and company strategy. Tomas also coordinates the response for strategic planning documents such the TYNDP, NDP, INECP, European energy such legislation as market design and is a member of working groups at Eurelectric and Nuclear Europe.
ADVISORY BOARD
Ukrainian literary scholar, journalist, essayist, she graduated from Kyiv-Mohyla Academy National University. In 2002 she received a scholarship from the French government to study at the Paris XII Val-de-Marne University, and in 2007 she defended her dissertation and acquired PhD in Literary Studies at the same university. Since 2006 she has been teaching History of French Literature, Theory of Literature and History of European Literary Avant Garde in Kyiv Mohyla Academy. In 2013-2013 she actively supported events on the Maidan. Since then, apart from academia and teaching, she is engaged in public and journalistic activity: in 2014-2015 she wrote a series of publications for The Ukrainian Pravda; since 2015 she has been coordinating the international department of the Ukrainian Crisis Media Center, where she prepares texts about Ukraine for the foreign audience.Since the full-scale invasion, Tetyana has travelled Ukraine extensively with PEN Ukraine and led Ukraine on Fire podcast in FR and EN.
Velina Tchakarova is an expert in Russia-China relations and runs a geopolitics consultancy. Before that, she was Director of the Austrian Institute for European and Security Policy (AIES) and Peer Board Member of the Defence Horizon Journal. She is a lecturer at the Real World Risk Institute led by the best-selling author Nassim Taleb and a Member of the Strategic and Security Policy Advisory Board of the Science Commission at the Austrian Federal Ministry of Defence.
Velina Tchakarova holds a M.A. from Heidelberg University, Germany, and BA from the University for World and National Economy, Bulgaria.
Velina is invested in many Global South fora in India, China and in Africa, and has advised EC on the Global South Fellowship, in addition to editing Russia-China relations report for MinArm.
NON-RESIDENT FELLOWS
Clotilde Warin is an associate fellow on democracy issues at Jacques Delors Institute and at the think tank Euro Créative. She was an advisor at CAPS (Centre for Analysis, Planning and Strategy), the Policy Planning of the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (2020-2025), where she monitored issues related to the rule of law, the rise of illiberalism in Europe, the enlargement of the European Union, the Eastern Neighborhood Policy, and the Western Balkans. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of the Review of the think tank Confrontations Europe. She has also conducted research on European migration policy for the Clingendael Institute. Her articles have been published in the London Review of Books, Foreign Policy and XXI. She graduated from Sciences Po Paris and the CFJ (Centre de Formation des Journalistes) in Paris.
French journalist based in Tbilisi for the past 21 years, covering extensively the region for Le Figaro and other French media, co-author of the Wagner report
Dr. Swasti Rao is a geopolitical expert Commentator and Author. She was Fellow at the Europe and Eurasia Centre, Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses(MP-IDSA), India’s premier think tank under the aegis of Ministry of Defence. At MP-IDSA, Swasti had worked on projects for Ministry for External Affairs and Ministry of Defence on European geopolitics and geo-economics. Herresearch project at MP-IDSA has been on Conflicts in Europe amidst Shifting Power Structures and Europe’s Indo Pacific outreach.
Recognized as a “Geopolitical Expert” by the Government of Uttar Pradesh, India, for the G20 Summit in 2023, Dr. Rao was also honored as one of the under-40 Young Leaders by EICBI for substantiating India-Europe relations. She is affiliated with the EU-India Women’s Council and serves as a reviewer for the peer reviewed publications by National Maritime Foundation (NMF), India, and Royal United Servic
Secretary-General of NAKO, or the Independent Anti-Corruption Commission, Ukrainian NGO created by Transparency International in 2017; Member of the Anti-Corruption Council of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry; she used to hold a director position in Ukraine’s Ministry of Economic Development and Trade
Velina Tchakarova holds a M.A. from Heidelberg University, Germany, and BA from the University for World and National Economy, Bulgaria.
Velina is invested in many Global South fora in India, China and in Africa, and has advised EC on the Global South Fellowship, in addition to editing Russia-China relations report for MinArm.
One of the founders and executive director of the Ukrainian think-tank “Foreign Policy Council “Ukrainian Prism”. Founded in 2015 Ukrainian Prism is a leading non-governmental research and advocacy institution in field of foreign policy of
Ukraine and international security. Maksak is also a part of the Ukraine and Eastern Europe Programme at GLOBSEC Policy Institute in Bratislava, Slovakia.
Fields of expertise: International relations and foreign policy of Ukraine, security in Eastern Europe, Eastern partnership policy, European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine, diplomatic service, expert diplomacy, economic diplomacy.
Florent Parmentier (@florentparmenti) is a professor strategic foresight at Sciences-Po and is Secretary General of CEVIPOF. He holds a PhD in political science and is a research associate at the HEC Center for Geopolitics. He is a regular speaker on national and international media, radio and television.
MEDIA FELLOWS
Industries in focus
GEOGRAPHIC SCOPE
Contact and follow us on social media
