Natalia Mirimanova is a conflict resolution scholar-practitioner and has over twenty five years of mediation, design and facilitation of dialogue processes, research, and advocacy experience in the South Caucasus, Central Asia, Russia, Moldova, Ukraine, Western Balkans, Eastern Europe and Cyprus. Natalia received her Ph.D. from the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University, USA. Natalia served as a consultant for the UN, OSCE, EU, International Alert, Internews, Aga Khan Foundation, Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue and other international, national and local governmental and non-governmental organizations.
Better engagement with Europe’s de facto states by international actors within a framework of nonrecognition should benefit all sides, yet it remains a big challenge.
A well-established private sector makes the Donbas conflict different from the separatist conflicts of the early 1990s in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Private business is a strong pro-peace force because lawlessness, a fragile security environment, and a shrinking population and its impoverishment can be crippling to business operations. Engaging the private sector in conflict prevention can contribute to the recovery and consolidation of peace in the region