Free Russia Foundation Launches #NoToWar Campaign

Free Russia Foundation is an international organization supporting civil society and democratic development in Russia.

Our vision is a free, democratic, peaceful and prosperous Russia, reintegrated into the international community as a constructive and positive actor.

Founded in 2014, Free Russia Foundation unites and coordinates the global efforts of activists, organizations and programs that share our vision.

Headquartered in Washington, DC (US), we have regional offices in:

We actively support political development and economic reforms, and defend democracies against autocratic threats— in countries neighboring Russia, throughout Europe, and worldwide— as we see the success of these processes directly linked with progress in Russia.

Our current programmatic geographies include Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, South Caucasus, Central Asia, Europe, North America.

We provide actionable analysis and in-depth expertise to the decision-makers in Europe, the US and Canada— in support of a smarter, sustainable Russia policy.

We are a non-partisan and non-profit organization registered as a 501C3. Free Russia Foundation’s work is supported by charitable giving of individuals and organizations, grants and volunteer work.

WHAT WE DO

Represent and coordinate the new generation of the Russian diaspora in the U.S. and Europe

Provide intellectual and fundraising support to Russia civil society

Provide analytical support to U.S. and European decision-makers and foreign policy institutions

Ensure the flow of information and communication between Russia’s democratic opposition and U.S. and European lawmakers, opinion leaders and NGOs

Offer educational and cultural programs for American, European and Russian audiences

WHO WE ARE

We are a community of concerned Russians located both outside and inside Russia. Furthermore, we are passionate about the destiny of our country and seek positive changes in its political, economic and social development.

We are known within activists networks, by political analysts and to the general public as a new generation of civil society, political leaders and entrepreneurs.

We are successful professionals who have a progressive vision for the future of our motherland.

We are global citizens, with a global perspective. We are also equally familiar with life in the U.S., Europe and Russia.

OUR VISION

We are working to improve Russia, as a modern democratic country with transparent public institutions and a strong civil society.

The Russia we want should:

Be based upon the rule of law and respect human rights

Be based upon the principle of separation of powers and the transition to parliamentary democracy

Introduce freedom of entrepreneurship and demonopolization of the economy

Develop the middle class as a political force

Be governed by smaller, stronger and more stable political institutions. These institutions will continue to function regardless of electoral cycles and changes in leadership

Be federalized, with most power devolved to local government

Seek global cooperation and integration with the EU and the U.S.

Carry out a policy of in-depth lustration of the current regime

BOARD

David J. Kramer
Board Chairman

Paige Alexander
Board Vice Chair

Ellen Bork
Board Member

Ralf Fücks
Board Member

Toomas Ilves
Board Member

Ian Kelly
Board Member

Sergey Aleksashenko
Board Treasurer

Alina Polyakova
Board Member

Daniel Treisman
Board Member

Andrew Wood
Board Member

Tom Firestone
Board Member

Sarah Mendelson
Board Member

Natalia Arno
Board Member (ex officio)

OUR TEAM

Natalia Arno

President of Free Russia Foundation

Prior to founding Free Russia Foundation, Natalia worked for the International Republican Institute for ten years including six years of being IRI Russia Country Director. In December 2009 Natalia represented Russia in the World Summit of Women Leaders in Geneva, Switzerland.

Natalya Lunde

Vice President, Global Operations

Prior to joining Free Russia, she had worked at three prominent D.C. think-tanks: as Vice President for Development and Communications at the Potomac Foundation working on the transatlantic security issues, with an emphasis on the Baltic region and Ukraine (2015-2017); as Director of Public Affairs at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, where she led outreach efforts to the Pentagon, the U.S. Congress, the media and the defense industry (2006-2015); and as Assistant Director for Congress and U.S. Foreign Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations (2005-2006).

Grigory Frolov

Vice President,
Programs and Development

Grigory worked for a variety of leading Russian nonprofits including The Civic Assistance Committee, Greenpeace Russia and Golos Association for Fair Elections, where he was responsible for development and external relations. He holds MPA degree from the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies. Grigory was awarded with both a Fulbright Scholarship and Muskie Scholarship.

Michael Weiss

Director for Special Investigations

Michael Weiss is editor-at-large at The Daily Beast. He is coauthor of the New York Times bestseller ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror and of The Menace of Unreality: How the Kremlin Weaponizes Information, Culture and Money. He is currently overseeing The Lubyanka Files project, which consists of translating and curating KGB training manuals still used in modern Russia for the purposes of educating Vladimir Putin’s spies.

Anton Shekhovtsov

Senior Fellow

Anton Shekhovtsov is a Lecturer at the University of Vienna, an expert at the European Platform for Democratic Elections, and General Editor of the “Explorations of the Far Right” book series at ibidem-Verlag. His main area of expertise is the European Far Right, relations between Russia and radical right-wing parties in the West, and illiberal tendencies in Central and Eastern Europe. He is the author of books New Radical Right-Wing Parties in European Democracies (2011) and Russia and the Western Far Right ( 2017); and co-editor of The Post-War Anglo-American Far Right (2014). 

Egor Kuroptev

Director, South Caucasus

Media manager and political expert from Russia based in Tbilisi, Georgia since 2012. He started his career at the Echo of Moscow. He is a recently appointed representative for Deutsche Welle on South Caucasus, as well as director for media project: “Information in Russian VS Soft Power of the Kremlin” project. For two years he has been producing a famous talk-show “Border Zone,” where he discusses regional conflicts, foreign policy of Russia as well as NATO and EU politics on the post-Soviet space.

Dmitry Valuev

Community Development and Outreach Coordinator

Dmitry has been among organizers of numerous street rallies in New York and Washington, D.C. against Putin’s government, its actions in Ukraine and Syria, and in support of political prisoners in Russia. With other activists in the U.S., Dmitry has advocated for greater accountability for human rights abusers in Russia. In 2018, Dmitry became a coordinator at Free Russia Foundation.

Head Office, Washington DC

1015 15 Street NW, Suite 600
Washington DС 20005

Free Russia House in Kyiv

vul. Kyrylivska, 26/2
Kyiv, Ukraine
04071