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Dr Pierre Thévenin
Researcher
Dr Pierre Thévenin
Pierre Thévenin is a Researcher with SIPRI’s European Security Programme and an international technical expert for Expertise France. He joined SIPRI in May 2025 as part of a collaboration between SIPRI and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His current research interests revolve around maritime security, Russia and its projection of power across maritime spaces, with a special focus on the Arctic Ocean, as well as the Baltic and Black Seas. He is currently working on a monograph on Russia’s practice of the law of the sea.
Before joining SIPRI, Pierre was a doctoral and postdoctoral fellow at the University of Tartu in Estonia where he researched and analysed Russia’s practice of the law of the sea. Since 2022, Pierre has advised various ministries and organizations on law of the sea matters.
Subject expertise
International law, law of the sea, maritime security, foreign legal policy
Regional expertise
Russia, Russian Arctic, Baltic Sea, Black and Azov Sea, Caspian Sea, Pacific Ocean, Sea of Okhotsk
CONTACT Dr Pierre Thévenin
Languages
French, English, Russian
Education
PhD, Law, University of Tartu
MPhil, Russian and Eastern European Studies, University of Oxford
BA, International Relations and International Law, Université du Québec à Montréal
SIPRI COMMENTARY
- A legislative route to combat sabotage of undersea cables: A Q&A with Pierre Thévenin (Topical backgrounder, )
- What does Russia’s new maritime law mean for Baltic security? A Q&A with Pierre Thévenin (Topical backgrounder, )
External publications
- 'Власти РФ обвиняют США в нарушении норм морского права после задержания танкера «теневого флота». Вашингтон считает, что эти нормы нарушало само судно Москва в любом случае едва ли решится на ответные меры', 8 January 2026.
- 'Путин называет задержания странами ЕС танкеров российского «теневого флота» пиратством. А есть ли и правда основания для проверки таких судов?’,Meduza, 7 October 2025.
- Thévenin, P., ‘Une proposition fugace de mise à jour des lignes de base russes en mer Baltique: Interrogations juridiques et conséquences stratégiques’, Revue Stratégique, vol. 133, no. 1 (2025), pp. 145-161.
- Thévenin, P., ‘The concept of military activities in the law of the sea and its implications for the Baltic Sea in a context of growing threats of hybrid warfare’, in Lott, A. (ed.), Hybrid Warfare Through the Lens of Maritime Security Law (Brill: Leiden, 2024), pp. 57–85.
- Thévenin, P., ‘Back to the USSR: The consequences of the 1965 Soviet Decree №331-112 “On the Procedure for Navigation of Foreign Ships in the Straits Along the Track of the Northern Sea Route” on today’s navigation through the Russian Arctic straits’, Ocean Development & International Law, vol. 54, no. 1 (2023), pp. 63–91.
- Thévenin, P., ‘Requiem for a sector? Russia’s updated Arctic submission to the CLCS and its effect on Russian doctrinal debate about the Arctic legal regime’, Ocean Yearbook, vol. 36, no. 1 (2022), pp. 475–525.
- Thévenin, P., ‘A liberal maritime power as any other? The Soviet Union during the negotiations of the Law of the Sea Convention’, Ocean Development & International Law, vol. 52, no. 2 (2021), pp. 193–223.
- Thévenin, P., ‘The Caspian Sea Convention: New status but old divisions?’, Review of Central and East European Law, vol. 44, no. 4 (2019), pp. 437–463.
- Thévenin, P., ‘Минобороны предложило уточнить российскую границу в Балтийском море — а потом отозвало инициативу, успев вызвать гнев властей Литвы. Что это было? И правда ли, что Россия хочет перекроить морскую границу в свою пользу?’, Meduza, 25 May 2024, https://meduza.io/feature/2024/05/25/minoborony-predlozhilo-utochnit-rossiyskuyu-granitsu-v-baltiyskom-more-a-potom-otozvalo-initsiativu-uspev-vyzvat-gnev-vlastey-litvy-chto-eto-bylo.
- Thévenin, P., ‘Эстония правда хочет закрыть Финский залив для российских военных кораблей? Спойлер: нет, не хочет. И более того — не может этого сделать’, Meduza, 2023, https://meduza.io/cards/estoniya-pravda-hochet-zakryt-finskiy-zaliv-dlya-rossiyskih-voennyh-korabley.