John Lechner

John Lechner holds an MS in Foreign Service (MSFS) from Georgetown University. He is an expert on Russia's growing influence in Africa, and speaks fluent Russian; advanced French, Turkish, and Georgian; and conversational Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), Chechen, German, and Sango (the lingua franca of the Central African Republic). He currently works as a freelance journalist and researcher, reporting on the Central African Republic (CAR) and Libya. He is an expert on the history, languages,...See more

John Lechner holds an MS in Foreign Service (MSFS) from Georgetown University. He is an expert on Russia's growing influence in Africa, and speaks fluent Russian; advanced French, Turkish, and Georgian; and conversational Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), Chechen, German, and Sango (the lingua franca of the Central African Republic). He currently works as a freelance journalist and researcher, reporting on the Central African Republic (CAR) and Libya. He is an expert on the history, languages, and politics of Central Africa, Turkey, and the former Soviet Union. You can find his articles published in Foreign Policy , War on the Rocks , Kyiv Post , The Diplomat , Africa is a Country , African Arguments, The National Interest , and Defense One , among others. He resides in Washington, D.C. See less