David R. Marples is a distinguished university professor of Russian and East European History, University of Alberta. He is the author of sixteen single-authored books, including Understanding Ukraine and Belarus (2020), Our Glorious Past: Lukashenka’s Belarus and the Great Patriotic War (2014), Russia in the 20th Century: The Quest for Stability (2011), and Heroes and Villains: Creating National History in Contemporary Ukraine (2008). He has published over 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals. He has also edited four books on nuclear power and security in the former Soviet Union, contemporary Belarus, and Ukraine.

Alla Hurska is an associate fellow with the International Centre for Policy Studies (Kyiv) and an Analyst in the Jamestown Foundation (Washington, US). She is a team member of the Defence and Security Foresight Group (European NATO team), University of Waterloo and a Graduate Fellow of the North American and Arctic Defence and Security Network (Trent University, School for the Study of Canada).