As the news cycle continues to focus on tensions at the Ukraine-Russia border, we've reached out to three people who know the region well to help us better understand current events and what has led to this situation. In this pop-up Obermann Conversation, we'll hear from:

Daria Kuznetsova — A PhD student in Political Science and a native of Ukraine, Kuznetsova studies democratic transitions and the survival of democracies. For her Masters in Community and Regional Planning from ISU, she focused on the impacts of the decentralization reform on the quality of local public services in Ukraine.

Danielle Lussier — The Department chair of Russian, Central European, and Eurasian Studies at Grinnell College, Lussier teaches courses on Russian politics, democratization, and regime change and is the author of *Constraining Elites in Russia and Indonesia: Political Participation and Regime Survival* (Cambridge University Press, 2016).

William Reisinger — A recent Obermann Fellow-in-Residence and a UI Political Science professor, Reisinger's research concerns politics in the former communist states, especially Russia. He is at work on a book about political corruption in several countries, including Ukraine.