Graduated from the Faculty of Geography at Moscow State University and earned a PhD in Economics from the Institute of Europe at the Russian Academy of Sciences, where she later worked as a senior research fellow.
Holds a Doctor of Political Science degree from MGIMO and serves as a professor in the Department of Applied Political Science at HSE University in St. Petersburg.
Was a visiting researcher at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University. Research fellow at the Center for East European and International Studies in Berlin and the Center for European Policy Analysis in Washington, D.C.