Ivanka Barzashka

Barzashka is a visiting scholar at the Center for National Security and Defense Research at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. A physicist, Barzashka was formerly a researcher with the Strategic Security Program at the Federation of American Scientists.

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Articles by Ivanka Barzashka

Opinion
14 May 2012
Nuclear Weapons

Technical concerns: Why Russia worries about missile defense

Ivanka Barzashka

Russia's Ministry of Defense held an unprecedented international conference in Moscow last week to explain "how NATO missile defense facilities … may affect Russia's forces of nuclear deterrence." Senior Russian military officials used the meeting, which included 200 participants from 50 countries, to publicly back President Vladimir Putin's decision to skip the NATO summit in Chicago later this mon

Opinion
25 July 2011
Nuclear Weapons

How to avoid a new arms race

Ivanka BarzashkaTimur KadyshevGöetz Neuneck Ivan Oelrich

US missile defense deployments in Europe, now the nucleus of a NATO system to protect alliance European territory against emerging missile threats, have long worried Russia: After all, an effective missile defense has the potential to undermine Russia's nuclear retaliatory capability against the United States.

Agree to Disagree
2 November 2010

New fuel deal with Iran: Debunking common myths

Ivanka Barzashka

After a year-long stalemate, nuclear negotiations with Iran are expected to restart. Since October 2009, the deal to refuel Tehran's medical isotope reactor proposed by the Vienna Group -- France, Russia, the United States, and the IAEA --  has been the touchstone of engagement.

Opinion
19 May 2010
Nuclear WeaponsNuclear Energy

Deconstructing the meaning of Iran's 20 percent uranium enrichment

Ivan OelrichIvanka Barzashka

On February 11, the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivered the "sweet" news that Iran had successfully produced 20 percent enriched uranium. More than anything, the announcement served as Iran's response to the stalemate over purchasing fuel for the Tehran Research Reactor that is used, in part, to produce medical isotopes.

Opinion
19 March 2010
Nuclear Weapons

There's still nothing new on Iran

Ivan OelrichIvanka Barzashka

The International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) February report on Iran, the first under the agency's new director-general, Yukiya Amano, has created quite a stir.

Opinion
23 November 2009
Nuclear WeaponsNuclear Energy

A technical evaluation of the Fordow fuel enrichment plant

Ivan OelrichIvanka Barzashka

Editor's note: Since the publication of this article, the authors and David Albright and Paul Brannan of the Institute for Science and International Security have had a lively online exchange disagreeing over estimates for the enrichment capabilities of Iran's IR-1 centrifuges. A discussion about this debate by Bulletin columnist Joshua Pollack can be found on the blog, Arms Control Wonk.