David Kostelancik, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service of the United States, is the State Department Advisor to the Helsinki Commission. From July 2012 until August 2014, he served as Director of the Office of Russian Affairs in the Department of State’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs. In that capacity, he oversaw political, economic and bilateral issues with the Russian Federation. Prior to that assignment, he served as Director of the Office of Europe and Asia in the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, coordinating law enforcement, criminal justice and counternarcotics related assistance provided by the U.S. Government throughout Europe, Central, South and East Asia. He served as Deputy and Acting Minister Counselor for Political Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow from 2008 until 2010. He also served in Moscow earlier in his career as the Special Assistant to then Ambassador Thomas Pickering. Other overseas postings include the U.S. Mission to the OSCE as Deputy Political Counselor (Vienna, Austria), the U.S. Mission to NATO (Brussels, Belgium), the U.S. Embassy Tirana, Albania and the U.S. Embassy Ankara, Turkey. He has held other assignments in Washington, including as Deputy Director of the Office of North Central Europe in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs.

Sponsors: Eastern Michigan University’s Department of Political Science, International Affairs Program; CREES.