My research explores the contestation of hegemonic orders, norm-breaking behaviors, and the evolving dynamics of international governance, with a particular focus on Russia and the European Union (EU). My work examines Russia’s challenge to the Liberal International Order, analyzing how its foreign policy disrupts existing norms and reshapes geopolitical alignments. For this research, I have conducted extensive field research in Armenia, Moldova, Brussels and Moscow to assess the impact of Russian influence on democratization and European integration. Building on this regional expertise, my current project, funded by a postdoc.mobility grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation, shifts to the international level, investigating how multilateral organizations respond to norm violations like Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Book
EU and Russian hegemony in the ‘Shared Neighbourhood’: Between coercion, prescription, and co-optation. Forthcoming in Palgrave EU in International Affairs Book Series. Available open access here.
Articles
"Political Parties and Russia’s Escalation of the War in Ukraine: Consequences for Left-Wing Parties in Moldova". 2024. Cambridge Review of International Affairs, online first. DOI: 10.1080/09557571.2024.2426781
"Bringing Agency Back in: Neighbourhood Countries’ Hegemonic Power Relation with the EU and Russia". 2024. Journal of European Security, 33(4), pp. 615-643. DOI: 10.1080/09662839.2024.2390536
"Quo Vadis, Moldova? The Role of Social and Political Elites in the Norm Internalization Process", with Dorina Baltag. 2022. Democratization 29(3): 487–506. DOI: 10.1080/13510347.2021.1963237
Book chapters
"Northern Sea Route from the Russian and EU Perspectives", with Egor V. Pak, 2022. In Pak, E. V., Krivtsov A. I., & Zagrebelnaya, N. S. (eds.) The Handbook of the Arctic: A Broad and Comprehensive Overview, Singapore: Springer Nature, 523–541. DOI: 10.1007/978-981-16-9250-5\_26-1
Articles reviewed by editor
"Political Threat Assessment in Eastern Neighbourhood and Western Balkan Countries", with F. Bieber, S. Blockmans, L. Delcour, A. Ermurachi, K. Kakachia, A. Osypchuk, P. Petrović, L. Pollozhani, A. Suslov. REUNIR Working Paper
"Divided Paths to Europe: Politicization and the 2024 Referendum in Moldova". 2025. Moldovan Analytical Digest 1: 6–10. DOI: 10.3929/ETHZ-B-000715250
"The Origins and Evolutions of the EU's Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policies in the Area of Democracy Promotion", with L. Delcour, L. Pollozhani, F. Bieber, A. Dandashly, M. Kmezic & G. Noutcheva. 2024. REUNIR Working Paper
"What stands in the way of ‘the end of the rule of thieves’? The curious case of the Republic of Moldova", with Dorina Baltag. 3 November 2021. LSE Public Policy Blog
"EU and Russian Coercive Strategies towards the Shared Neighbourhood: The Case of Moldova". 2021. Der Donauraum 61(4): 37–56. DOI: 10.7767/dedo.2021.61.4.37