summary: A native of Russia, Volk is an international security and economics expert who heads Heritage's Moscow Office. He serves as a liaison between Heritage and the Russian reformers, as their nation struggles to become a more democratic, free-market society. Volk is a former deputy director for the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies and previously was Advisor to the Committee on Defense and Security Issues for the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation. Volk also has served at the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He is a graduate of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations.