Michael Keays
Senior Diplomatic Fellow
(202) 691-4161
Schedule an interviewProfessional Affiliation
Senior Foreign Service Officer, US Department of State
Expert Bio
Michael Keays is a career Foreign Service Officer with over 30 years in the US Department of State. Most recently he served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Paramaribo, Suriname, and as Consul General at the US Consulate General in Vladivostok, Russia. Mr. Keays鈥 other previous diplomatic postings overseas include the US embassies in Tel Aviv, Warsaw, Moscow and Kingston. In Afghanistan, he was the State Department representative on a Provincial Reconstruction Team in Ghazni Province. At the State Department, he was a Senior Ukraine Policy Advisor in the State Department鈥檚 Office of Eastern European Affairs and served as an advisor to two US Special Negotiators for Conflicts in the Former Soviet Union, and as the Counterinsurgency & Political-Military Team Leader on the Afghanistan Desk. He joined the State Department鈥檚 Foreign Service in 1992, and received language training in Russian, Polish and Pashto.
Expertise
- Asia
- Europe
- Latin America
- Middle East and North Africa
- Russia and Eurasia
浪花直播 Center Project
Re-Engaging Russia in a Post Russia-Ukraine Conflict World
Project Summary
The project will consider the practical ways to re-engage Russia in a post Russia-Ukraine conflict situation, considering various scenarios and providing practical suggestions for each. It assumes the U.S. will choose to re-engage Russia in some form when re-engagement is deemed appropriate.
Insight & Analysis by Michael Keays
- Publication
- Governance
Difficult Times Demand Bold Action from the EU. Speed and Creativity are of the Essence

- Publication
- Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding
Kennan Cable No. 86: What the Resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict Teaches Us

- Article
Learning from the October 7 Attack on Israel: Perceptions Behind Taking Hostile Action

- Video
- Cold War
Reengaging Russia: When War Ends, Is There a Future for US-Russia Relations?


- Article
- US Foreign Policy
When and How to Re-engage Russia? | A Conversation with Senior Diplomatic Fellow Michael Keays

- Article
- Arts and Literature
Kennan Institute Reading List: Fall 2022 Edition
- By
- Michael Keays,
- Emma Leahy,
- Zarina Sautieva,
- and 1 more

- Article
鈥淩eferenda鈥 in Eastern Ukraine? We鈥檝e Seen this Before and Can Learn from the Past.
