UF experts available to talk about suspects in bombing case

April 19, 2013

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The following University of Florida experts are available to talk about the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing.

News media are reporting this morning that the two Chechen brothers were from the Russian Caucasus who moved to Kazakhstan before coming to the U.S. several years ago.

Paul D’Anieri, dean of UF’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, 352-392-0780 or danieri@ufl.edu. D’Anieri has followed the conflict in Chechnya and Chechen-sponsored terrorism in Russia since the early 1990s. He has been reading Russian newspaper websites today to gauge their reaction to the news.

D’Anieri’s research has been centered on the international and domestic politics of the former Soviet Union and, in addition to Germany and Ukraine, his studies have taken him to Russia, Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan.

During the summer of 1998, D’Anieri was a visiting associate professor at Harvard University’s Ukrainian Research Institute. He served as associate dean for international programs at Kansas from 1999 to 2003, director of the Center for Russian and European Studies in 2003-2004, and associate dean of Humanities from 2004 until accepting his position as dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at UF.

Bryon Moraski, associate professor of political science, 352-273-2361 or bmoraski@ufl.edu. Moraski studies regional politics in Russia, which includes Chechnya’s relationship with Moscow. The majority of his work focuses on parties and elections in the former Soviet Union. Courses and seminars he teaches include “Post-Communist Politics,” “Democratization and Regime Change,” and “Politics in Russia.”

Moraski has published articles in the American Journal of Political Science, Democratization, Europe-Asia Studies, Government and Opposition, Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics, Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, Journal of Politics, and Slavic Review. His book, “Elections by Design: Parties and Patronage in Russia’s Regions,” examines the process and consequences of electoral system design at the sub-national level in the Russian Federation.