Natalie Sabanadze

Ambassador Natalie Sabanadze is Director for Political Affairs and External Relations at the Council of Europe. She previously served as Senior Research Fellow at the Europe and Russia Programme of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House. Before that role, she was Cyrus Vance Visiting Professor in International relations at Mount Holyoke College between 2021-2023. Prior to this, she served as head of Georgian Mission to the EU and ambassador plenipotentiary to the Kingdom of Belgium and Grand Duchy of Luxembourg since 2013. In the period of 2005-2013, she worked as a senior official at the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities in The Hague, where she held several positions including head of Central and South East Europe section and later, head of the Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia section. She holds MSc in International Relations from London School of Economics and D.Phil in Politics and International Relations from Oxford University. Her research interests include Russian Foreign Policy, Russia and the Global South, the changing geopolitics of the South Caucasus, the Black Sea security and the EU enlargement.