Free Russia Foundation supports a protest letter to CFR over a tainted donation from a Kremlin-connected oligarch Len Blavatnik
On 8 October NY Post and Motherjones revealed that the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is under heavy criticism over its acceptance of $12 million donation from Len Blavatnik, an oligarch with deep ties with the Kremlin and Russian security services whose wealth accumulation overlapped with multiple corruption scandals around the world.
56 distinguished foreign policy professionals and anti-corruption activists signed a letter to CFR President Richard Haass and its Board of Directors, urging the elite think tank to reverse its decision. The signatories include five CFR members, dozens of former top State Department officials and renowned dissidents and academics. It also includes David Kramer, Chairman of the Board of Free Russia Foundation, and Natalia Arno, Founder and President of the Foundation. The letter was organized by Ilya Zaslavskiy, Head of Research at Free Russia, with the help of Sarah Chayes, author and anti-corruption researcher, and other activists.
Free Russia Foundation stands against reputation laundering and normalization of acceptance of money connected to the corrupt Putin’s regime and advocates higher due diligence standards by all policy-making centers in the West. If you share our concern over oligarchic donations tainted by cooperation with the Kremlin, please co-sign the letter to CFR in the comments to the published letter or simply email your name and title to [email protected].
Photo by Roman Synkevych on Unsplash