Dr. Nikolay Kozhanov is a Senior Lecturer in Political Economy of the Middle East at the School of Economics of the St.-Petersburg State University (Russia). He also works as an expert at the Institute of the Middle East (Moscow, Russia). During the period of 2006-2009, Dr. Kozhanov worked as an attaché at the Political and Economic Section of the Russian Embassy in Tehran where his responsibilities included the analysis of socio-economic developments in Iran.