Robert Service Keynote Speaker

Robert Service is a noted Russian historian and political commentator. He is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and a fellow of St Antony’s College, Oxford.

His research interests concern Russian history and politics in all its aspects, from the late nineteenth century to the present day. Robert Service was awarded the 2009 Duff Cooper Prize for his biography Trotsky (2009).

Robert’s most recent publication is Kremlin Winter: Russia and the Second Coming of Vladimir Putin (2018). The book draws a connection between Russian foreign policy and the rise of the domestic security state under Putin. Robert argues that any former Soviet state is seen as disrupting this security should it move against Russian interests. His contention that Ukraine is the most acute example is particularly pertinent in light of the 2022 Russian invasion.

As one of the world’s most acclaimed historians of modern Russia, Robert Service brings a deep understanding of the country and the man who leads it. He reveals a President determined to impose his will not only his closest associates, but also on society at large. His authority has regularly been sought during the recent war. He describes a complicated historical relationship between the two countries, with those in Russian ruling circles seeing Ukraine as an artificial state and its citizens as lost brothers and sisters who should be brought back into the family. Robert also criticises the West’s weak leadership during 2021 for emboldening Putin’s invasion.

Robert Service is also the author of several other critically acclaimed books on Russia, including Russia and Its Islamic World (2017), Spies and Commissars: Russia and the West in the Bolshevik Revolution (2011), and Lenin: A Biography (2000)

Robert holds an MA in modern languages from the University of Cambridge and an MA and a PhD in government from the University of Essex.