On July 11 and 12, NATO held its widely anticipated Vilnius Summit to discuss current functions of the alliance as well as the future of Ukrainian membership. Despite hope that NATO may provide a clearer path for Ukraine’s accession into NATO, the alliance reiterated its commitment to Ukrainian membership once allies agree and conditions are met, leaving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy upset. Despite a high emphasis on Russia's war in Ukraine, the Aaliance also discussed Chinese influence, defense expenditures, and cybersecurity. To discuss the key takeaways of the Vilnius Summit, Ambassador Kurt Volker and Ambassador Douglas Lute join Carisa Nietsche and Jim Townsend on the latest episode of Brussels Sprouts.

Ambassador Douglas Lute is the former U.S. Permanent Representative to the North Atlantic Council. He currently serves as the chair of International and Defense Practices at BGR Group.

Ambassador Kurt Volker is the former U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations from 2017-2019. He is also the former U.S. Ambassador to NATO from 2008-2009. He currently serves as co-chair of the BGR’s advisory board.

In collaboration Foreign Policy Magazine, today we bring you a special bonus episode featuring Paul Scharre, Executive Vice President and Director of Studies here at CNAS. He joins host Ravi Agrawal and the Foreign Policy Live podcast to discuss his latest book Four Battlegrounds: Power in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, his Foreign Policy cover article, and the global state of AI.

We return with a new episode this Friday. 

As NATO prepares for its annual summit in Vilnius this July, one of the biggest topics on the agenda will be how to guarantee long-term security for Ukraine. Given that membership in the alliance is unrealistic before the end of active fighting with Russia, the West will need to find an alternative arrangement that allows Ukraine to remain secure in the interim. While there is no consensus yet on what such an arrangement might look like, numerous proposals have emerged in recent months—including from both of our guests on today’s episode. To discuss their ideas for what it will take to guarantee Ukraine’s security as well as the future of Western support for Kyiv more broadly, Liana Fix and Eric Ciaramella join Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Jim Townsend on the latest episode of Brussels Sprouts.

Liana Fix is a fellow for Europe at the Council on Foreign Relations. She is a historian and political scientist, with expertise in German and European foreign and security policy, European security, transatlantic relations, Russia, and Eastern Europe.

Eric Ciaramella is a senior fellow in the Russia and Eurasia program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where his work focuses on Ukraine and Russia. Prior to joining Carnegie, Ciaramella served for twelve years in the U.S. government as an intelligence analyst and policy official.

Last weekend, the outbreak of an insurgency against the Russian state by Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner Group shocked observers across the world. After accusing the Russian Ministry of Defense of having attacked Wagner troops on Friday, Prigozhin vowed to retaliate and proceeded to lead his forces into Russia, seizing the city of Rostov-on-Don and coming within 200 kilometers of Moscow. While the insurgency came to an abrupt end on Saturday with the announcement of a deal brokered by Belarusian President Aleksandr Luksahenko, its implications for the future political stability of Russia are likely to be profound. After facing the greatest threat to his rule since taking office 23 years ago, how secure is Vladimir Putin’s hold on power, and how is he likely to respond going forward? To discuss all of this and more, we’re happy to have Angela Stent with us on the latest episode of Brussels Sprouts.

Angela Stent is a professor emerita of government and foreign service at Georgetown University as well as a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Over the weekend, infighting between Prigozhin and Shoigu led to seismic shifts in Russian domestic stability. This episode was recorded on Friday, June 23, prior to start of the Wagner Group’s insurgency within Russia. The implications of Wagner’s armed rebellion remain uncertain. This Brussels Sprouts, released in conjunction with the launch of the CNAS Russia Stability Tracker, focuses on the broader context of Russian domestic stability. As the war in Ukraine continues and elite fissures begin to emerge, Catherine Belton and Arkady Ostrovksy join the conversation to discuss Putin’s hold on power, and how we might expect Russian domestic dynamics to evolve moving forward.

Catherine Belton reports on Russia for The Washington Post. She is the author of Putin’s People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West.

Arkady Ostrovsky is the Russia and eastern Europe editor for The Economist. He is the author of The Invention of Russia: The Journey from Gorbachev’s Freedom to Putin’s War and The Invention of Russia: The Rise of Putin and the Age of Fake News.

Three weeks ago, Ukraine began its widely anticipated counteroffensive. Observers are watching for key developments on the battlefield as Ukraine attempts to regain territory, which is unfolding slower than hoped. Mike Kofman and Konrad Muzyka join Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Jim Townsend to discuss how the conflict will likely evolve and what it means for Western resolve on the latest episode of Brussels Sprouts.

Mike Kofman is the Research Program Director in the Russia Studies Program at CNA as well as an Adjunct Senior Fellow at CNAS. His research focuses on Russia and the former Soviet Union, specializing in Russian armed forces, military thought, capabilities, and strategy.

Konrad Muzyka is the Director of Rochan Consulting and an independent defense analyst. He provides consultancy and advisory services on the Russian and Belarusian Armed Forces.

On Wednesday, June 14th, the German government presented the country’s first ever National Security Strategy, laying out Germany’s commitment to three key pillars: active defense, resilience, and sustainability. Following Scholz’s “Zeitenwende” paradigm shift, experts wonder whether Germany is ready to assume a more prominent role in the Euro-Atlantic security architecture. In the latest episode of Brussels Sprouts, Christian Mölling and Constanze Stelzenmüller join Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Jim Townsend to discuss the future of Germany’s security landscape.

Christian Mölling is deputy director of the Research Institute and head of the Center for Security and Defense at the German Council on Foreign Relations. He is an expert on German defense policy, European security, and NATO.

Constanze Stelzenmüller is an expert on German, European, and trans-Atlantic foreign and security policy and strategy. She is the director of the Center on the United States and Europe and the inaugural holder of the Fritz Stern Chair on Germany and trans- Atlantic Relations at the Brookings Institution.

In this special episode marking the podcast’s 5-year anniversary, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and U.S. Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith join Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Jim Townsend for a conversation about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the ongoing response to the war from NATO allies, lessons learned from the conflict, and the future of the alliance.

Jens Stoltenberg became NATO Secretary General in October 2014, following a distinguished international and domestic career. As a former Prime Minister of Norway and UN Special Envoy, Mr. Stoltenberg has been a strong supporter of greater global and transatlantic cooperation. Mr. Stoltenberg’s mandate as NATO Secretary General has been extended until the end of September 2023.

Ambassador Julianne Smith assumed her position as the U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO in November 2021. Prior to her current position, she served as a Senior Advisor to Secretary Blinken at the Department of State. Previously, she served as the Director of the Asia and Geopolitics Programs at the German Marshall Fund of the United States

On May 30-31, the fourth ministerial meeting of the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council was held in Luleå, Sweden. All eyes were on this meeting, after previous ministerials failed to produce concrete results due to fissures in transatlantic industrial policy. Items on the agenda for Luleå included artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and new initiatives for green transitions. To discuss the key takeaways from this latest TTC meeting, Fran Burwell and Tyson Barker join Carisa Nietsche and Jim Townsend in the latest episode of Brussels Sprouts.

Frances G. Burwell is a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center and a senior director at McLarty Associates.

Tyson Barker is a senior advisor for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. He previously served as the head of the Technology and Global Affairs program at the German Council on Foreign Relations

The trajectory of the war in Ukraine hinges on the outcome of the widely anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive. Recent events spell trouble for Russia as Pro-Ukrainian Russian fighters launched attacks on Russian soil in Belgorod this week and the United States promised to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets. With battlefield developments shifting daily, the future of the war in Ukraine remains uncertain. To discuss how all of this impacts the Ukrainian war effort, we are pleased to welcome Gustav Gressel to the podcast.

Gustav Gressel is a senior policy fellow with the Wider Europe Programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations. His topics of focus include Russia, Eastern Europe, and defense policy.