PIR Center announces participants of the 2013 International Summer School on Global Security.

"The course is defined by its high-level orientation to applied questions on disarmament, nonproliferation, and security. The course content is filled to the maximum with the most current information. I would also mention the all-around presentation of materials – a combination of visual aids and lectures. The discussions also had great meaning. The students and experts came across as true professionals in their fields,” – Ivan Zolotukhin, Director of the principle educational program “International Relations

“A distinctive feature of the current situation is that the majority of European states do not consider conventional arms a primary threat, one of the reasons that no new agreements have been reached. As a result, a number of Russia’s foreign partners suggest emphasizing potential cooperation on common European security rather than focusing on the threats,” – Oleg Shakirov, PIR Center Intern."

"A 2002 UN study put it well: the goal must be to learn how to think rather than what to think... Innovative teaching methods are one way forward, and here I credit the approach used at Dr. William Potter's Center, which relies heavily on simulations and role-playing." - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon

"Today's dilemma in US-Russian relations is not the choice between whether they are good or bad, but between whether they produce positive changes or nothing at all, whether we use this experience to reopen a constructive dialogue in the strategic sphere, expand it into new areas, and develop an agenda of bilateral relations or miss this opportunity " - PIR Center President Vladimir Orlov.

"Azerbaijan is a very important partner for Russia. This is the partnership that is well respected in Russia. There is a high probability of military action against our common neighbor Iran. Minimizing the risks and dangers of such a scenario is what we should work together at. Russia, of course, would not be interested in maintaining the situation around the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. The Azerbaijani side should not be feeling that Russia turned its back on Baku. Moscow listens to the Azerbaijani concerns with increasing attention and seriously considers views of the Azerbaijani side. It is not something temporary, it is a tendency," – PIR Center President Vladimir Orlov

«Nuclear and information technologies have become tightly interconnected. Civil nuclear infrastructure is becoming unprecedentedly vulnerable to cyber threats. Information technologies make impact on strategic positions of a nation state in the world. They also can be useful for tackling new challenges in the field of nonproliferation. In its turn, the experience of nuclear nonproliferation and arms control regimes would be useful for decision making in the field of international regulation of cyberspace», - PIR Center intern Maxim Simonenko.

“It was my first time to participate in PIR Center's Summer School and I was pleasantly surprised by high level of its participants. I think that in the future it will be advisable to use Summer School potential not only for discussion of topical issues of international security but also for decision-making process. Participants of the Summer School are able to make a valuable contribution to the discussion of strategic policy documents and policy proposals in security area. I send my sincere congratulations to the organizers of the Summer School and wish them success in the future!” – Elena Volchinskaya, Program Director of Infoforum, former Principal Adviser, Office of the Committee for Security of the Russian State Duma.

"The experience of conducting of situation analysis showed great intellectual potential of the participants of the PIR Center Summer School. A strong interest, liveliness and creativity of the speakers with a good level of training has convinced me that in CIS countries is growing a generation of talented specialists in foreign affairs, ready to strengthen foreign policy and economic position of their countries and historical ties of friendship and cooperation with democratic Russia,"- Vyacheslav Trubnikov, member of Directorate of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations.

“Mankind will never stop searching for new means of warfare. For example, today we intensified the process of the reduction of nuclear weapons - but not for the fact that this process will be brought to its logical end. And the more intense the elimination of nuclear weapons is, the more we should think about what will come to replace them,” - Member of PIR Center Executive Board, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Chief Research Officer at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Natalia Kalinina.