Arkady Mil-Man is a senior researcher and the Head of the Russia Program at the Institute for National Security Studies. He was the Israeli Ambassador to Russia (2003-2006) and Israeli Ambassador to Azerbaijan (1997-2000). He began his career at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a Senior researcher of the Soviet Union at the Center for Political Research. He later headed the department in the Center responsible for the research of Russia and the Far East. Mil-Man also served as Deputy Head of the Group of Israeli diplomats in Moscow (1989-1990) before the renewal of diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. He founded the Israeli Embassy in Kazakhstan (1992) and became the first Israeli Chargee d'Affairs in that country. Later he worked as a Counsellor and Minister Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary in the Israeli Embassy to Russia and held different positions in the headquarters of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs responsible for post-Soviet countries. After his diplomatic career, Mil-Man worked, among other positions, in the Israeli high-tech sector, managing a venture capital fund with his partners that invested in Israeli start-ups.