Chiara Lovotti is an ISPI Research Fellow and Scientific Coordinator of “Rome MED-Mediterranean Dialogues”, ISPI’s and the Italian MoFA’s annual flagship event. She is a specialist in international relations of the MENA, with a focus on Russia’s foreign policy in the area and associated political and security issues. Chiara’s doctoral research (University of Bologna) explored the Soviet Union’s impact on State-building processes of postcolonial Arab countries (Egypt, Iraq, and Syria), with a focus on the military and security sector, institutions and party politics, and socio-economic development. During her Ph.D., she has been a Recognised Student (DPhil-level) at the Russian and Eastern European Studies centre (REES) of the University of Oxford. She is currently interested in examining Russia’s interventionist policy in countries of the MENA, Sahel, and Central Africa. She has published extensively on these subjects and recently co-edited a Routledge book entitled “Russia in the Middle East and North Africa. Continuity and Change”. Previously, Chiara has been a Research Assistant at the Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve.