Kotryna Jukneviciute is a defense analyst at the RAND Corporation, and her work has focused on Russian military operations, defense of the Baltics, nuclear escalation dynamics, space security, security cooperation, and U.S./Turkey relations. Her recent work has explored dynamics between Belarus and its regional neighbors, Russia-China military cooperation, and the use of commercial space capabilities in conflict. Kotryna currently co-leads NSRD's international portfolio -- helping build, manage, and grow RAND's international partnerships. She has also worked on operational experimentation designs for DoD. Jukneviciute completed her undergraduate and graduate studies (SSP) at Georgetown, with a focus on Russia/Eastern Europe and unconventional warfare/nonproliferation. During her time at Georgetown, Jukneviciute also spent six months living in Jordan, studying the psychology of extremism and regional politics and relations between the United States and the Middle East. 

Jukneviciute has also worked for Carnegie's nonproliferation program while living in Moscow and studying at MGIMO. As a consultant at the State Department, she helped develop an assessment framework to measure great-power competition in the Political-Military Affairs Bureau. During this time, she looked at security cooperation through a multipolar lens and attempted to draw comparisons between Russia/China/US. Jukneviciute held internships with the State Department (focusing on Central Asia/Afghanistan), Cambodia-based Build Your Future Today NGO, and represented the U.S. at the G20 Youth Summit in Beijing and Shanghai, China, in 2016. Jukneviciute is originally from Vilnius, Lithuania.

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