Poland recently completed a major reshuffle of personnel at its Foreign Ministry. Since the Law and Justice Party (PiS) came to power in 2015, Soviet-era graduates of Russia’s most prestigious academic institution – the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) – have been gradually dismissed from senior positions at home and abroad. Rather than diminishing Russian influence – purportedly exercised through MGIMO graduates – the move weakens vital expertise at a time when Russian-speaking specialists with the necessary regional knowledge, appreciation of current events, and contacts across the region are most needed.
Read Katarina Kertysova’s op-ed, published by the EUobserver here.
