DSI Events
Frozen Assets – from Freezing to Seizing?
In cooperation with the Finnish and Estonian Embassies to Germany and the German-Ukrainian Bureau, DSI organised this breakfast discussion on how to go about confiscating Russia’s frozen assets to support Ukraine.
In a discussion moderated by DSI Senior Fellow Aaron Gasch Burnett, speakers including economist Tim Ash, lawyers Patrick Heinemann and Tetyana Nesterchuk, and International Centre for Ukrainian Victory co-founder Olena Halushka addressed common legal and economic myths around asset seizure – and laid out how a Ukraine compensation fund using seized assets would work in practice.
Defending Europe - A Conversation with Tomáš Pojar, Czech National Security Advisor
In an expert roundtable moderated by DSI Chair Benjamin Tallis, Czech National Security Advisor Tomáš Pojar spoke about the capabilities – and mindset – European militaries would need to actually deter Russia from acts of aggression against European NATO.
Pojar spoke about using the full breadth of economic and diplomatic sanctions to constrain Russia – as well as the need for Europe to be willing to defend forward against Russia, in order to establish credible deterrence.
Missile Matters in the Pub with Fabian Hoffmann
In April 2025, DSI hosted Oslo Nuclear Project Doctoral Research Fellow Fabian Hoffmann – a member of DSI’s international network and expert on nuclear deterrence and missile strike capability.
Hoffmann briefed an expert DSI group on Europe’s serious deficit in missile strike capability – both in terms of overall assets and production capability – and the measures needed to solve the problem.
In a discussion with participants facilitated by DSI Chair Benjamin Tallis, Hoffmann also commented on the balance European militaries need to strike between missile assets and Emerging Defence Technology such as strike drones and loitering munitions.
Fabian Hoffmann is the author of the Missile Matters Substack, which you can read here.
DSI at Café Kyiv – 6 Panel Sessions!
As a full partner of Café Kyiv – the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung’s premier annual event on Ukraine – DSI organized six panels on the most pressing issues in Ukrainian and European security.
DSI Director Benjamin Tallis spoke on why Ukraine is integral to better strategy in Europe, and moderated a panel on how to beat Russia through playing to European strengths in defence innovation, testing in Ukraine, and aim at winning. Senior Fellows Britta Jacob and Aaron Gasch Burnett moderated panels on the strategic necessity of seizing Russia’s frozen state assets and how to beat the authoritarian alliance of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea in Ukraine and beyond.
DSI panelists at Café Kyiv included Ukrainian Senior Lieutenant Serhii Rotchuk, Chair of the German Bundestag European Affairs Committee Anton Hofreiter, German Green Budget Spokesperson Sebastian Schäfer, Deputy Chair of the German Bundestag Intelligence Oversight Committee Roderich Kiesewetter, former Federal Constitutional Court Judge Andreas Paulus, former NATO Chief of Intelligence Arndt Freytag von Loringhoven, Finnish Ambassador to Germany Kai Sauer, grand strategy professor Max Terhalle and Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany Olekseii Makeiev, among many others.
DSI’s Café Kyiv panels included:
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"Why Ukraine is Integral for Better Strategy in Europe" with Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung
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"Make Russia Pay - zum Stand und Notwendigkeit der Konfiskation des russischen Zentralbankvermögens" (the status and necessity of confiscating Russia’s central bank reserves) with Deutsch-Ukrainisches Büro
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"We’re Next - Communicating the Stakes of the War in Ukraine" with Open Platform and CRISP e.V.
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"Introducing Financial Deterrence - The Strategic Case for #MakeRussiaPay" with Razom for Ukraine and Deutsch-Ukrainisches Büro
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"Beating Russia: Ukrainian Lessons for European Defence" with Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung
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"Beating the Authoritarian Axis in Ukraine and Beyond" with Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung
DSI Organises Five Events During the
Munich Security Conference 2025
Over the course of five sideline events in Munich during MSC 2025, DSI gave participants the opportunity to discuss what would, in March, become DSI Director Benjamin Tallis’ landmark report on Emerging Defence: Offset and Competitive Strategies for Europe, with insights from former Dutch Defence Minister Kajsa Ollongren, former Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, Czech National Security Advisor Tomáš Pojar, and Chair of the German Bundestag’s European Affairs Committee Anton Hofreiter.
Partnering also with Razom for Ukraine, DSI led discussions on economic security and security guarantees for Ukraine featuring Estonian Foreign Affairs Minister Margus Tsahkna, former Latvian Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš, Deputy Speaker of the Lithuanian Parliament Żygimantas Pavilionis, Ukrainian MP Halyna Yanchenko, and Federation of German Industries (BDI) Executive Board Member Wolfgang Niedermark.
DSI events during MSC 2025 included:
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High-Level Briefing – European Defence Industrial Strategy
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‘We Win. They Lose’: Feierabend Strategic Ideas Session on Economic Warfare with Razom for Ukraine
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Kaffeeklatsch Brainstorming with Razom for Ukraine – Security Guarantees for Ukraine
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High-Level Roundtable Discussion - European Defence Industrial Strategy
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DSI Friends & Family Stammtisch
Turning Point by Benjamin Tallis - Book Launch
Released in January 2025, DSI hosted Turning Point author and DSI Director Benjamin Tallis, former Dutch Defence Minister Kajsa Ollongren, and Andrew Michta – Director of the Scowcroft Center at the Atlantic Council for the Berlin launch of the book of essays on Germany, Ukraine, and European security.
Panelists and a public audience at Berlin’s Das Progressive Zentrum discussed why Germany’s Zeitenwende ultimately failed, but that real foreign policy sea changes are occurring in other parts of Europe – raising the risk of Germany being left behind without more strategic foreign policy leadership.
The Berlin launch complemented two Turning Point launch events held in Vilnius in partnership with the Institute for European Right, and in Prague in partnership with NAFO CZ-SK. Speakers included European Defence and Space Commissioner Andrius Kubilius, The Times columnist Edward Lucas, then Lithuanian Vice-Minister of Justice Gabija Grigaite Daugirde, and Czech envoy to Ukraine Tomáš Kopečný.
You can order Turning Point here.
Who Will Defend Europe? by Keir Giles - Book Talk
In November 2024, British Russia expert Keir Giles gave a sobering assessment of Russia’s military build-up at a public book talk hosted by DSI, In conversation with DSI Director Benjamin Tallis, Giles warned that the hollowing out of European military forces would need a quick, sharp correction to prepare for a possible Russian attack in the next three to five years – something he argues requires defence spending levels that are even higher than the projected increases Europe is currently committing to. Without such a course correction, Giles warned Europe would not be able to match Russia’s current military production and hot war economy.
You can order Who Will Defend Europe? here.
How Germans view the Zeitenwende
On 25 September 2024, d|part Co-Founder Jan Eichhorn and Senior Research Fellow Tobias Spöri presented their findings on “Zeitenwende – Perceptions and Desires Regarding German Foreign Policy”, exploring the German public’s opinion of the country’s “sea change” in foreign policy, and public assessment of political leadership on geopolitical questions.
Eichhorn and Spöri briefed an audience including members of DSI’s Action Group of German politicians and experts. d|part’s research found that members of the German public do care about geopolitical questions, but had lost faith in German political leadership to address foreign policy challenges.
Book Talk & Strategic Master Class with General Mick Ryan
On 8 September 2024, one of the world’s most renowned strategists, retired Australian Major General Mick Ryan, visited DSI to preview his latest book “The War for Ukraine: Strategy and Adaptation Under Fire”. General Ryan also discussed the free world’s current strategic deficit, its implications for free societies everywhere from Europe to East Asia – and how we address strategic deficits.
First and foremost, the way forward to a more secure and prosperous world runs through a strategic Ukrainian victory.
“A Russian win in Ukraine will see a curtain of darkness descend across the whole world,” General Ryan said.
You can order The War for Ukraine here.
