Kristine Berzina

Managing Director, GMF North
Washington, DC Office
GMF North
Leadership,
Staff,
GMF Expert
English
Latvian
My Areas of Expertise:
Defense Cooperation Disinformation NATO Security and Geopolitics
Baltics Russia United States

Kristine Berzina is the Washington, DC-based managing director of GMF Geostrategy North. She is responsible for leading programming on US, Nordic, Baltic, and Arctic security and defense issues, and provides analysis on NATO and US and European foreign policy.

Berzina also leads GMF’s Across America initiative, which takes European officials into the US heartland to build regional connections on security issues. She is a frequent commentator in international media, including The New York Times, the BBC, CNN, NPR, France 24, Deutsche Welle, and The New Yorker. She is a co-host of Drošinātājs (The Fuse), a Ukraine-focused podcast and Latvian radio program.

Berzina previously worked on countering autocratic influence as head of GMF’s Alliance for Securing Democracy’s geopolitics team and, while based in Brussels and Berlin for the organization, on transatlantic security and energy issues. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and history from Yale University and a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Cambridge.

Media Mentions

by
Kristine Berzina
“ The results could add tensions to the U.S.-European bilateral relationship over time as European leaders face pressure to respond to the concerns of disaffected voters, said Kristine Berzina, who leads the German Marshall Fund of the United States’ GMF Geostrategy North program. ”
POLITICO
by
Kristine Berzina
“ While there is an overall agreement to give Ukraine as much as possible, as early as possible, there are challenging legal and regulatory implications of lending based upon the anticipated returns on frozen assets, said Kristine Berzina, managing director of Geostrategy North at the German Marshall Fund think tank. ”
Voice of America
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Kristine Berzina
“ GMF's Kristine Berzina Joins BBC News to Comment on the Russian UN Ambassador's Remarks ”
Translated from English
BBC News
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Kristine Berzina
“ But those plans, and the dollars, euros and political will to fulfill them, remain in doubt. And nowhere are those doubts deeper than in the Baltic states, where Russia’s threat is existential.

“If you want to prove that the alliance is real and credible, this is the place,” said Kristine Berzina of the German Marshall Fund, which organized a research trip to Latvia for several transatlantic security experts and me this month. ”
Washington Post
by
Kristine Berzina
“ "The winner of the Summit is the Eastern wing of NATO", emphasizes the managing director of the German Marshall Fund (GMF) North ”
Translated from Greek
TA NEA
by
Kristine Berzina
“ While Washington, as well as Sweden and Finland, had initially sought to have both countries join NATO together, 'there’s also a desire to keep this moving.' ”
Translated from English
Diplomatic
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Kristine Berzina
“ It will be very hard to make 2% a real floor. But I think some kind of commitment not to forever fail as badly — as many countries did — would be possible. ”
Translated from English
DW
by
Kristine Berzina
“ China has sought entry into all the relevant international organizations and has strategically undermined them from within ”
euronews
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Kristine Berzina
“ Ukraine is really showing the U.S. why democracy matters. Why open communication matters, why having press and having citizens on the ground, being able to show each other what's going on matters. ”
Spectrum News
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Kristine Berzina
“ Russia has its hand all across the energy sector in Europe. Trying to get away from Russian coal or from Russian gas or from Russian anything means shifting to a different fuel, but Russia's going to have a share in that, too. ”
U.S. News
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Kristine Berzina
“ Germans thought that, because the Wall came down peacefully, that Ostpolitik was right. Their lived experience was that those relations led to the right outcome, and that meant that making sure that the gas keeps flowing was paramount not only for the German economy but that it was the right strategic decision. ”
The New Yorker
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Kristine Berzina
“ As other forms of income are being reduced through sanctions, to have a steady stream of income through energy gives Russia something to rely on to keep making bullets, to keep making armour, and to do all the other things needed to sustain and potentially accelerate this war effort. ”
Sydney Morning Herald
by
Kristine Berzina
“ The European Union is about to push hard to get Europe off of Russian fossil fuels. [As long as European nations are still buying oil and gas from Russia, they are] funding the war machine. ”
Los Angeles Times
by
Kristine Berzina
“ The fact there is a lot of military resolve, that there is an understanding of the possibility for territorial conflict, if that had been more explicit, perhaps Russia would have felt it didn’t need to test that. ”
Bloomberg

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