Simon Schlegel Senior Analyst, Ukraine Please submit all media inquiries to media@crisisgroup.org or call +32 (0) 2 536 00 71 Crisis Group Role Simon joined Crisis Group in February 2022 as Senior Analyst for Ukraine. He conducts research on the war in Ukraine and its far-reaching political, humanitarian and economic consequences. His work focuses on identifying the small spaces for compromise or improvement on the ground. Professional Background Prior to joining Crisis Group, Simon worked for a humanitarian aid project in war-torn Donbas. In an earlier phase of the war, he also worked for Germany's Civil Peace Service program in Kyiv in a project that documented human rights violations in Donbas. Simon holds a PhD in Social Anthropology that he gained while working at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle, Germany, with a thesis on the history of ethnic boundaries in rural south-western Ukraine. He has worked as a researcher at Loughborough University (UK), where he focused on commemorative politics in Kyiv. He studied social anthropology and Slavic languages at the University of Zurich. Areas of Expertise Nationalities policies Language policies Commemorative politics Clientelism Humanitarian aid Languages German Russian Ukrainian Select Publications 2021. “Identity Politics as Pretext and Prediction — Vote Buying and Group Boundaries in Ukraine.” Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization 29 (2): 113–33. 2021. (with Alena Pfoser) “Uncovering Disciplined Pasts: Tour Guiding through Kyiv’s Changing Place Names.” History and Anthropology. https://doi.org/10.1080/02757206.2021.1881082 2020. (with Alena Pfoser) “Navigating Contested Memories in a Commercialised Setting: Conflict Avoidance Strategies in Kyiv City Tour Guiding.” International Journal of Heritage Studies 27 (5): 487–99. https://doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2020.1821235. 2019. Making Ethnicity in Southern Bessarabia — Tracing the Histories of an Ambiguous Concept in a Contested Land. Leiden and Boston: Brill. 2018. “Soviet Bureaucracy as a Category Coining Machine: Ethnicity, Ethnography, and the ‘Primordial Trap.’” Journal of Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society 4 (2): 1–26. In The News 13 Oct 2023 If [war in Gaza] morphs into a long, regional conflict, resource constraints on Ukraine may grow in time. Anadolu Agency Simon Schlegel Senior Analyst, Ukraine 24 Jun 2023 If Russian soldiers feel their commanders are not in control, their trenches will be much easier to take for advancing Ukrainian troops. The Hill Simon Schlegel Senior Analyst, Ukraine 10 May 2022 It’s really quite striking how much this defense effort has roots in [the Ukrainian] civil society. There are little networks of people who can buy almost anything, short... New York Times Simon Schlegel Senior Analyst, Ukraine Latest Updates Q&A / Europe & Central Asia 29 June 2023 Assessing the Wagner Group’s Aborted Run on Moscow: What Comes Next? Event Recording / Europe & Central Asia 28 June 2023 Wagner Rebellion Explained (Online event, 28 June 2023) Op-Ed / Europe & Central Asia 26 June 2023 What will Ukraine do with Russian collaborators? Revenge would be a mistake Op-Ed / Europe & Central Asia 28 November 2022 Russia wants to break Ukraine with the cold and dark. It hasn’t succeeded – so far Q&A / Europe & Central Asia 03 August 2022 Who are the Winners in the Black Sea Grain Deal? Photo Essay / Europe & Central Asia 28 July 2022 Picturing the Humanitarian Response in Western Ukraine Load more