Olesya Vartanyan is a conflict analyst with over 15 years of experience in the South Caucasus, specializing in managing research, advocacy, communications, and donor relations. She most recently served as Senior Analyst at the International Crisis Group, where she led research on security issues in Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan, with a specific focus on conflict zones. Olesya has a proven track record in policy development and contributing to confidential peace processes.
Leyla Latypova is a journalist and political analyst focusing on politics and civil society in Russia’s ethnic republics. She is one of the few English-speaking Indigenous professionals whose scholarly and journalistic work is dedicated solely to advancing and protecting the rights of Russia’s non-Slavic Indigenous communities and ethnic minorities.
Latypova has more than a decade of experience in empirical research on politics and protest mobilization in Russia, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus and the Balkans, as well as strong connections with pro-democracy communities in those regions.