Mr Hannu Himanen was Ambassador of Finland to the Russian Federation in 2012 to 2016, his third tour of duty in the country. Earlier, he was Ambassador to Indonesia (1996–2000) and Ambassador/Permanent Representative to the UN Organisations in Geneva (2008–2012). In 2003 to 2008, he was Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign Ministry, in charge of strategic management. Mr Himanen’s earlier postings include Leningrad, New Delhi, New York/UN Delegation, Moscow and Vienna/CSCE Delegation. He was Fellow at the Center for International Affairs at Harvard University in 1995–1996 and was Vice President for International Security and Governance at the EastWest Institute (Prague Center) in 2001–2002. Since his retirement in 2017, he has been an active public commentator on security policy and Russia. He has published two books in Finnish: Länttä vai itää: Suomi ja geopolitiikan paluu (“West or East: Finland and the Return of Geopolitics”, 2017) and Iloniemi – Eminenssi (“Eminence: Jaakko Iloniemi’s Life in Foreign Policy”, 2022). Mr Himanen earned his MA at the University of Tampere in 1976, majoring in journalism.