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Nataliya Bugayova

Director, Cognitive Warfare Project and Modern Warfare Fellow

Areas of Expertise

Russia & Ukraine

Focus Areas

Product Line

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Nataliya Bugayova is the Russia Fellow and a Modern Warfare Fellow at ISW. She previously led ISW’s Russia research team where she helped build the analytical framework that serves as the foundation for ISW’s reporting on Russia. Her work focuses on the Kremlin’s decision-making, information operations, and campaigns from Ukraine to Africa. She also serves as the Director of Intelligence at Babel Street – a US AI company and an ISW technology partner. She previously worked on reform efforts in Ukraine in the aftermath of the 2014 pro-democracy Euromaidan Revolution. She was the Chief Executive Officer of the Kyiv Post, then Ukraine’s only independent English-language publication. She also served as the adviser on international cooperation to a former Ukrainian Economy Minister, appointed in February 2014.

She is the author of “How We Got Here with Russia: The Kremlin’s Worldview” and the “Primer on Russian Cognitive Warfare.” Her insights have been featured in Foreign Policy, Fox News, PBS NewsHour, CNN, NBC News, The Hill, BBC. She has testified in the US Congress and the European Parliament.

She regularly briefs US military and civilian leaders. She is a graduate of Harvard Kennedy School. She is also an International Strategy Forum Fellow – an initiative of Google’s former CEO Eric Schmidt for rising national security and technology leaders.

Latest Research by

Nataliya Bugayova

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Middle East

Iran & Proxies

Iran Update, August 28, 2026

Latest Research by

Nataliya Bugayova

Multimedia, Video Briefings

Contemporary & Future WarMiddle East

Iran & Proxies

Hezbollah’s FPV Drones Pose an Acute Challenge to Israel

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