From 2012 - 2014, BG Zwack served as the United States Senior Defense Official and Attache to the Russian Federation. By interacting with Russians at multiple levels since 1989, including defense, security, academia, policy, veterans, and private citizens, BG Zwack developed a unique hands-on perspective on Russia and Eurasian security affairs during a turbulent period that included the recent strife in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine.
Brigadier General Peter B. Zwack enlisted in the US Army in 1980 and received his commission via Officer Candidate School (OCS). He subsequently served 34 years as a Military Intelligence and Eurasian Foreign Area Officer serving in diverse and challenging duty locations including West Germany, South Korea, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Russia.
Inducted into the OCS Hall of Fame in 2015, BG Zwack is a recipient of the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Defense Superior Service Medal, the Bronze Star, and many other awards and citations including the Afghan Service Medal and NATO/Kosovo Medal. He was also honored as the Joint Chiefs of Staff "Action Officer of the Year" for 1999. He proudly wears the Ranger Tab and Airborne Wings.
BG Zwack now serves as a senior global fellow The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars - Kennan Institute - (The Kennan Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars was founded in 1974 to carry out studies of the Soviet Union, and subsequently of post-Soviet Russia and other post-Soviet states. The Institute is widely regarded as the foremost institute for advanced Russia studies in the United States.) He has just authored two books: Swimming the Volga: A U.S. Army Officer's Experiences in Pre-Putin Russia and Afghanistan Kabul Kurier: One Soldier's Story of the Taliban, Tribes & Loyalties, Opium Trade, & BurqasPreviously, he served as the senior Russia-Eurasia Research Fellow at National Defense University (Institute for National Strategic Studies) at the National Defense University.
BG Zwack regularly consults and lectures within the defense department, private industry, think tanks, and academic institutions on contemporary Russian and Eurasian security issues, and leadership lessons.
BG Zwack speaks Russian, German, Italian, and some French.
Ukraine is a nation the size of Texas with a large 44 million population. The Russian forces that invaded are estimated to number about 250,000 with likely many more reinforcing. Even if they capture Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, how could this formidable but relatively small force hold the vast, seething Ukrainian countryside over a sustained period?
This is the looming critical front threatening the heart and mind of Russia’s aggression. Putin’s regime is taking increasingly draconian methods to insulate its population from the truth behind the growing costs of the war including combat losses and the collapse of its economy. As history has shown, Russian people and even some leadership are not endlessly patient and compliant.
From countryside to village, to towns and cities the fighting in Ukraine is becoming increasingly brutal and bloody. In every dimension, ground, air, sea, fighting rages in Ukraine including use of drones and cyber technology. What are the risks, especially with talk of No Fly Zones and cross-border reinforcement, of the Russians escalating toward even more massive strikes including more aggressively brandishing tactical nuclear weapons.
Why did Vladimir Putin order his military into a massive unprovoked invasion of neighboring Ukraine? What are the motives and history driving this aggression, the scale of which has not been seen in Europe since WWII. What’s going on in Putin’s mind that would lead him to undertake such a massive, reckless gamble?