Tony van der Togt

Senior Research Fellow

Expertise

  • Europe in the World
  • Europe and the EU
  • Trade and Globalisation

Regions

  • Russia & Central Asia
  • The Netherlands

Tony van der Togt is a Senior Research Fellow at the Clingendael Russia and Eastern Europe Centre (CREEC) on secondment from the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) since 1 September 2022. As such, he has returned to Clingendael after a previous secondment between September 2014 and September 2018. After he left Clingendael in 2018 to become a senior strategist at the MFA, he remained a Senior Research Associate at Clingendael before returning once again as a Senior Research Fellow in 2022.

Before joining the Clingendael Institute, he held different positions in the Netherlands MFA, both in The Hague and at Dutch representations abroad, dealing with Eastern Europe and Central Asia. He established the first Netherlands Embassy in Kazakhstan and served as Dutch Chargé d’Affaires a.i. in Almaty from 1995-98. At the Ministry, he worked on Eastern Europe and Central Asia in several functions, including as Head of the Eastern Europe/Central Asia Division from 2000-2005. Most recently, he served as Dutch Consul-General in St Petersburg (2008-2011) and Special Representative for the Netherlands-Russia bilateral year in 2013.

Tony van der Togt studied contemporary history and international relations at Amsterdam Free University, Radboud University, Nijmegen and Leiden University. At the moment, he is a guest researcher at Leiden University, working on a PhD on Russian strategic narratives towards Europe since 1991.

He published an overview of Dutch-Russian bilateral relations (in Dutch): Wantrouwen en betrokkenheid: het verhaal van een complexe relatie. Diplomatieke betrekkingen tussen Nederland en Rusland, 1942-2013; in: N.Kraft van Ermel/J.S.A.M. van Koningsbrugge, Nederland en Rusland, een paar apart? 400 jaar Nederlands-Russische betrekkingen, Groningen 2013.

As Clingendael researcher he has published widely on EU-Russia relations, the EU’s Eastern Partnership, Dutch-Russian bilateral relations and the Eurasian Economic Union. These publications are included on this expert page. His most recent publications include:  The role of EU member states and the future of EU-Russia relations: Disentangling the role of Germany and the Netherlands in EU-decision making on relations with Russia since the Ukraine crisis. In: Fabienne Bosschuyt and Peter van Elsuwege, Principled pragmatism in practice: The EU’s policy towards Russia after Crimea, Brill, Leiden, April 2021 and (in Dutch): Post-sovjet Rusland. Een schizofrene grootmacht op zoek naar zijn plaats op het wereldtoneel. In: Lien Verpoest (red.), Rusland, onveranderlijk anders? Russische identiteit in politiek, cultuur en geschiedenis. Universitaire Pers Leuven, 2019

Finally, he also participated in a number of dialogue platforms with Russian and other international experts, including in the framework of the EU-Russia Expert Network (EUREN), the Minsk Dialogue and the Cooperative Security Initiative.

My work

30

Publications

Russia & Eastern Europe

What Will Happen to EU-Russia Relations after Merkel Leaves

19 July 2021 - 12:59
Europe in the World

US & Europe could realign Russia & China policies after Elections

09 November 2020 - 13:29
Europe in the World

EU & Eurasian Economic Union: a Common Chinese Challenge

30 April 2020 - 16:46
Europe in the World

In search of a European Russia Strategy

09 March 2020 - 10:38
Security and Defence

Conflict Prevention and Regional Cooperation in the Arctic

02 October 2019 - 09:57
Security and Defence

Hybrid Conflict: The Roles of Russia, North Korea and China

16 May 2018 - 12:03
Show more Publications

Events

Security and Defence

Strengthening Europe's 'soft' and 'hard' defence

25 March 2019 - 13:00
Security and Defence

Hybrid cooperation: How could the EU still engage with Russia?

11 October 2018 - 17:00
Europe in the World

Putin 4.0: ready for a new Cold War?

18 May 2018 - 14:00
Europe in the World

Expert seminar on conflict resolution in Eastern Ukraine

23 March 2018 - 09:30

News