Lilia Shevtsova graduated from the Institute for International Affairs (Moscow). She is considered to be an expert on transition, comparative politics, development of the post-communist countries, and domestic development of Russia. She is senior associate at the Moscow Carnegie Center and fellow at the Chatham House (the Royal Institute for International Relations), London. She has also authored several pieces on Russia's international relations, e.g.: Yeltsin’s Russia: Myths and Illusions; Putin’s Russia; Russia–Lost in Transition: The Yeltsin and Putin Legacies; Lonely Superpower, Change or Decay: Russia’s Dilemma and the West’s Response. Russia’s Dilemma’s and the west’s Response (in co-authorship with Andrew Wood).