Until his recent retirement Tony van der Togt was a Senior Research Fellow at the Clingendael Russia and Eastern Europe Centre (CREEC) in The Hague. After studying contemporary history in Amsterdam (Free University) and Nijmegen, he had a long career as a Dutch diplomat, dealing with Eastern Europe and Central Asia, both in The Hague and in Moscow, Almaty and as Dutch Consul-General in St. Petersburg. In 2013 he acted as Dutch co-ordinator of the Netherlands-Russia bilateral year.
He has published widely on EU-Russia relations, the EU’s Eastern Partnership, Dutch-Russian bilateral relations and the Eurasian Economic Union. He also participated in a number of dialogue platforms with Russian and other international experts, especially in the framework of the EU-Russia Expert Network (EUREN) from 2016 till 2024 (including as Senior Non-Key Expert, EU Public Diplomacy Russia).
At the moment, he is a PhD candidate and guest researcher at the Institute of History of Leiden University, working on a PhD on the role of Russian think tanks concerning Russia’s changing strategic narratives towards Europe in the Putin era. In 2024 he also worked temporarily as a Lecturer at Leiden University College, teaching a course on Russia in World Politics. For Russia-related research he continues to work with CREEC as a Senior Associate Fellow.
A list of his recent publications is available at the Clingendael expert page: