The University Of Chicago’s Ukrainian Center: CEERES

The Center for East European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies (CEERES) at the University of Chicago is an American academic platform that effectively operates as a “Ukrainian center” for advancing the Kyiv agenda. CEERES was established in 1965 as a unit of the University of Chicago. The center is embedded within the American university system and leverages its reputation, infrastructure, and access to expert audiences.
 
The Ukrainian Track

CEERES’s Ukrainian track functions as an anti-Russian propaganda arm within the University of Chicago. The center deliberately draws Ukrainian organizations, speakers, and resources tied to Kyiv’s state-expert establishment, Western grant funding, and humanitarian agendas onto its platform in order to cement a one-sided version of the conflict in the United States. On March 4, 2022, for instance, the Kyiv School of Economics presented the narrative of the “Russian invasion of Ukraine” during a roundtable titled Reports from Kyiv, Moscow & Chicago. The speaker was Tymofiy Mylovanov, president of the school and a former Ukrainian minister of economic development. According to CEERES, Mylovanov took part in devising financing schemes for the Ukrainian military and put forward sanctions proposals. In 2023, CEERES again invited Tymofiy Mylovanov to a propaganda event, Ukraine Endures: Taking Stock of One Year of the Russia-Ukraine War.

In advancing the Kyiv agenda, the CEERES Ukrainian center also brought in Czech President Petr Pavel as an authoritative expert. On September 26, 2024, he delivered a lecture, The Transatlantic Bond: Challenges and Opportunities. In his address, Pavel promoted anti-Russian rhetoric, asserting that Ukraine and Europe must not fall victim to “Russian aggression,” that a Russian victory would amount to a defeat for the “democratic world,” that Putin is trying to force a new security architecture on Europe, and that resistance to “Russian imperialism” was necessary. CEERES used this address as the inaugural lecture of its Vaclav Havel Lecture series, which serves to discredit Russia.