“If a new element emerges in strategic plans of the United States, for example implying replacement of nuclear capabilities with conventional missiles that can fulfill the same tasks as the nuclear weapons –it would be rather difficult for us to think about further reductions. Taking into account such compensation in conventional arms, the negotiations for the next treaty on nuclear disarmament would hardly be the right step to make,” – PIR Center Advisory Board Member, Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Anatoly Antonov
News
16.05.2013
“The exchange of letters between presidents is an important step, but merely the first one on the path to normalize relations. The exchange must be followed up by practical measures. At a minimum, we must go beyond state documents and give a green light to activate contacts on all levels. This will make it possible for concrete, effective joint projects to crystallize,” – PIR Center Vice President Dmitry Polikanov
15.05.2013
“Persian Gulf states’ plans for development are ambitious. However, they also run into a rising arc of instability around the region and extremely high political risks within the region itself. Today, a number of Gulf monarchies are choosing to project their strength – financial and military – outside the region, hoping to place sources of the current instability under their control. Inside the region, there is a focus on increasing military spending and acquiring the latest military technology, both defensive and offensive. Such steps create merely an illusion of stability in the short term, but they cannot provide stability in the long term,” – PIR Center President Vladimir Orlov
About PIR Center
The Russian Center for Policy Studies is an independent nongovernmental organization, which carries out research, as well as educational, public awareness and publishing activities, and provides consulting services. From the time of its founding in April 1994 to this day, the priority areas of the Center's research studies remain international security, control and nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction. PIR Center is in consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
PIR Center is a Moscow-based organization. In addition, Centre russe d'etudes politiques founded on the PIR Center initiative at the territory of the Canton Geneva represents the organization interests in Europe.
The first project and the trademark publication of the PIR Center was the Yaderny Kontrol journal, the pilot issue of which came out in November 1994. The Russian and international establishments and expert communities have recognized Yaderny Kontrol as the source of objective analytical information on the subject of nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction and arms control. The understanding of the complex character of current security problems brought the existing group of authors and the editorial board to the decision to expand the scope of the journal and to release the new edition under the title Security Index. Beginning in 2007, the journal is published four times a year in both Russian and English. The English edition of Security Index is published by Routledge publishing house and distributed from London worldwide. In 2012 a landmark 100th issue of the Journal came out in print.
PIR Center has become a leading Russian nongovernmental research organization in the area of international security. In its day-to-day operations, the Center maintains close contacts with executive and legislative agencies. The Center receives considerable support from its Advisory Board that numbers more then 60 individual and corporate members.
Since 1997, the PIR Center has been developing educational programs in the area of nonproliferation and international security. Under its educational projects, the Center closely interacts with the leading Russian higher education institutions: MGIMO, MEPhI, St. Petersburg, Tomsk and Novosibirsk State Universities and others. With the appointment of PIR Center president Vladimir Orlov in 2001 as a UN consultant on disarmament and nonproliferation education, the Center won international recognition in the sphere of education.
PIR Center makes intensive efforts to involve young specialists in its work. The Center staff in different times included recent graduates of the top Russian higher education institutions, such as MGIMO, Moscow State University and MEPhI. Their professional development, however, would be impossible without support and advice given by experienced senior colleagues: one of the founding fathers of the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, Doctor of History, Ambassador Plenipotentiary and Extraordinary, Professor Roland Timerbaev; Doctor of Military Sciences, Lieutenant-General (Ret.) Vasily Lata; Lieutenant-General (Ret.) Gennady Evstafiev.
The Center has almost 20 staff members working on various short- and long-term projects.
Since its establishment, the PIR Center has been publishing materials on nonproliferation, arms control and international security either in its periodicals or as monographs of the PIR Center Library series.
