Tag Archives: Event

On Thursday, May 21, 2020, at 16:00 (Kyiv time) / 9:00 AM (Washington, DC) an international online forum will be held with the participation of human rights activists and scholars from Kyiv, Simferopol, Paris, Berlin, Moscow, and Washington DC.

Forum participants will talk about the Kremlin’s implementation of hybrid deportation of Crimean Tatars and public activists on the peninsula, for which a whole system of political repression has been launched. The issue of defining the criteria for the status of a “political prisoner” will be raised and lists will be formed. The participants of the online forum will also announce the work on the introduction of new international sanctions against Russian officials who are directly involved in the organization of political persecution. Human rights activists will spread the awareness of the global petition to the UN, the Council of Europe, the European Union, and the OSCE to save the lives of thousands of illegally detained in Russia, the Russian-occupied Crimea, and part of the Donbas from the threat of COVID-19 infection in prisons. The petition can be signed by following the link.

Speakers:

Oleksandra Matviychuk, Chairwoman of the Center for Civil Liberties NGO (Kyiv);
Sergey Davidis, Head of the Political Prisoners Support Program, Member of the Council at the Memorial Human Rights Center (Moscow);
Natalia Arno, President and Founder of the Free Russia Foundation (Washington);
Ilya Nuzov, Head of the Eastern Europe-Central Asia Desk at the International Federation for Human Rights (Paris);
Lilia Hemedzhy, a lawyer of the Crimean Solidarity initiative (Simferopol);
Wilfried Jilge, a historian of Eastern-Central Europe and Ukraine (Berlin);
Simon Papuashvili, Programme Director of the International Partnership for Human Rights (Brussels).

Event languages: Ukrainian and Russian.

The international online forum will be held on the second anniversary of the arrest of Server Mustafayev, coordinators of the Crimean Solidarity, which has united the relatives of political prisoners and activists in the occupied Crimea. According to his colleagues, he was the engine that drove the association. Since May 2018, Server has been held behind bars.
The event is organized by the global campaign #PrisonersVoise (formerly #SaveOlegSentsov) as part of the Week of Solidarity with the Crimean Tatars “Common Pain. Common History.” Informational support was provided by the PR agency KRASNI.

Live broadcast is available at the link.

WEDNESDAY APRIL 29, 2020

11:00 – 12:00 EST / 17:00 – 18:00 CET

LIVE WEBCAST – AMERICA: PUTIN’S OLIGARCHS’ PLAYGROUND

Register for free to receive the webcast url

America has become a safe harbor for incredibly wealthy men who made billions from their post-Soviet homelands. For some, the U.S. offered a fresh start to those seeking to leave behind bad reputations, political risks or legal problems in their home countries. For others, it was a society that allowed them to safely park their assets all while continuing to indulge the leaders they sought to escape.

Enter the twenty-first century and the posse of Putin’s oligarchs: Deripaska, Malofeev, Blavatnik, Vekselberg, Yakunin, and Prigozhin with their sacks of money, their blandishments, and, when necessary, their legal threats.

These are men used to making their own rules – including rule No. 1: Don’t call them oligarchs. They come from their own closed societies to bask in the freedom offered in the U.S. But, in their own ways, they insist on tweaks to our society to suit their needs and habits. If their dark pasts or motives are challenged by journalists, threats to investigators and reporters often follow. To launder their reputations, they have been buying up experts and think-tanks, and even bribing politicians. This is a story of powerful men using seemingly unlimited resources to purchase their own version of the American dream – with a distinctly Soviet-style twist.

Please join Free Russia Foundation at 11:00 EST / 17:00 CET on April 29, 2020 for the report launch “Kill the Messenger: How Russian and Post-Soviet Oligarchs Undermine the First Amendment” and a discussion of how Putin’s oligarchs are working to reshape American society by corrupting its values and institutions, and what can be done to curtail their brutish ways

With
The report’s author
Casey Michel
Investigative Reporter

Moderated by
Michael Weiss
Director for Special Investigations
Free Russia Foundation

Followed by
Q&A with the audience

Register for free to receive the webcast url

WEDNESDAY APRIL 15

10:00 AM WASHINGTON, DC / 16:00 BRUSSELS

ONLINE PRESENTATION OF RESEARCH PAPER “CONCEPTUALIZING MALIGN INFLUENCE OF PUTIN’S RUSSIA IN EUROPE”

 

The link for the presentation will be available upon registration. Please REGISTER HERE

Today’s expert literature on the Kremlin’s subversive activities in Europe is often confusing in terms of the concepts and definitions used by authors in their reports and analyses. The paper aims to remedy this shortcoming by providing a comprehensive theoretical framework for analyzing the malign influence of Putin’s Russia in Europe in the most efficient way.

The paper highlights major areas in which actors of Putin’s Russia exercise malign influence, identify main categories of Russian operators and their European facilitators that conduct or help conduct the Kremlin’s political warfare against the West, and, finally, describes vulnerabilities of European states to malign influence of Putin’s Russia.

Speakers:

– Anton Shekhovtsov, FRF Senior Fellow

– Melissa Hooper, Director of Europe and Eurasia Policy at Human Rights First

– Maria Snegovaya, Adjunct Fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis

Moderator:

– Grigory Frolov, FRF Vice President, Programs and Development

NIEUWSPOORT INTERNATIONAL PRESS CENTRE

10 LANGE POTEN 2511 CL THE HAGUE

WEDNESDAY 11 DECEMBER

 09:00 – 14:00

Free admission but please register here

Enquiries: [email protected]

This summer, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe voted by 118 to 62 to restore the full rights of the Russian Federation in Europe’s oldest pan-continental body dedicated to upholding human rights. They key argument from proponents was that membership in the Council serves the interests of Russian citizens, keeping them under the protection of the Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and under the continued jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights. “Russia belongs in the Council of Europe – with all the rights and obligations that entails,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, the driving-force behind Russia’s return, told journalists as the decision was taken.

Now that the rights have been restored, it is time to talk about the obligations. Across the spectrum of freedoms guaranteed by the Convention, the Russian government is falling far short of the standards expected of a Council of Europe member state. Elections on both national and local level lack genuine competition, as witnessed most recently in this year’s legislative polls in Moscow that saw the removal of major opposition candidates. Peaceful demonstrations are violently dispersed by police, with protesters beaten and arrested. The judicial system is used by the government to punish political opponents and members of undesirable religious groups: the Memorial Human Rights Centre counts at least 304 people who correspond to the Council of Europe’s criteria of political prisoners. Increasingly, murder is used as a tool of silencing dissent. Nearly five years after the assassination of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, the organizers and masterminds remain unidentified and unindicted, with the Russian government refusing all cooperation with international oversight procedures – including in the Council of Europe itself.

On 11th December, political leaders and human rights advocates from the Netherlands and Russia will meet at the Nieuwspoort International Press Centre in The Hague to discuss the risks and benefits of Russia’s return to the Council of Europe, and mechanisms that are available to keep the Russian government to account over the violations of its international commitments.

Agenda:

09:00  Registration and coffee

10:00  Panel One: Human rights, rule of law, democracy: is Russia meeting Council of Europe standards?

Vladimir Kara-Murza, Russian Opposition Politician, Chairman of the Boris Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom

Sergei Davidis, Head of the Political Prisoner Support Programme, Memorial Human Rights Centre, Russia

Vadim Prokhorov, Lawyer for the Family of Boris Nemtsov, Former Member of the Russian Central Electoral Commission

Natalia Arno, Russian Democracy Activist, President of the Free Russia Foundation

11:00  Panel Two: Russia’s return to the Council of Europe: what benefits and risks?

Lize Glas, Assistant Professor of International and European Law, Radboud University, The Netherlands

Scott Martin, International Human Rights Lawyer, Global Rights Compliance, The Hague

12:00  Lunch break

13:00  How can Western governments and civil society respond?

Jan Marinus Wiersma, Senior Visiting Fellow, Clingendael Institute, Member of the European Parliament, 1994–2009

Harry Hummel, Senior Policy Advisor, Netherlands Helsinki Committee

Jelger Groeneveld, Secretary of the Department of International Cooperation, D66 Party, The Netherlands

14:00  Event concludes

COALITION OF PRO-DEMOCRACY RUSSIANS

Activatica * Free Russia Foundation * Free Russia House Kyiv * Forum Russischsprachiger Europäer e.V. * Solidarus * Stowarzyszenie “Za Wolną Rosję”* Russie-Libertes * Herzen Foundation

invite you to a conference

PUTIN’S NORD STREAM 2 PIPELINE AND ITS REAL COSTS TO EUROPE

learn more at RethinkTheDeal.eu

OCTOBER 10, 2019

9:00 AM to 15:30 PM

THE WESTIN GRAND BERLIN

FRIEDRICHSTRASSE 158-164
10117 BERLIN

REGISTER HERE

The Nord Stream 2 project – that delivers no new gas to Europe, exploits political and strategic vulnerabilities, increases supply risks, destroys nature and drives members of the EU apart – is quickly advancing toward its completion.

Yet no public discussion of this important decision has been held where the German people can evaluate the basics of the Nord Stream 2 on its merits.

You’ve heard from the gas lobbyists, the gas companies and the Kremlin (the same Kremlin that has carried out yet another assassination on the EU soil). What you won’t hear from them are the environmental, security and financial risks of completing the pipeline. There is another side.

Please join us for this open forum where prominent European energy experts, environmental scientists, strategists and human rights defenders examine the true objectives and costs of the Nord Stream 2.

Free Admission. Registration is required.

With questions, email: [email protected]

AGENDA:

08:30 – 09:00 Registration and Breakfast

09:00 – 09:15 Opening Remarks

09:15 – 10:30 Panel I: Examining the Nord Stream 2 Deal on Its Merits

10:30 – 10:45 Coffee Break

10:45 – 12:00 Panel II: Environmental Impact of NS2

12:00 – 12:30 Buffet Lunch

12:30 – 13:45 Panel III: Economic Implications of NS2 for Germany and the EU

13:45 – 14:00 Coffee Break

14:00 – 15:15 Panel IV: NS2 as Politics by Other Means

15:15 – 15:30 Closing Remarks

15:30 Adjournment

Confirmed Speakers:

  • Natalia Arno, President, Free Russia Foundation
  • Ralf Fuecks, Managing Director, Zentrum Liberale Moderne
  • Rebecca Harms, former Member of the European Parliament
  • Gustav Gressel, Senior Policy Fellow, ECFR
  • Ilya Zaslavskiy, Head of Research, Free Russia Foundation
  • Evgeniya Chirikova, Environmental activist, Activatica
  • Mikhail Korchemkin, East European Gas Analysis
  • Margarita Assenova, Associate Scholar, Center for European Policy Analysis; Director of Programs for the Balkans, the Caucasus and Central Asia, the Jamestown Foundation
  • Alan Riley, Senior Fellow, the Institute for Statecraft in London
  • Julian Röpcke, BILD
  • Marko Mihkelson, Deputy Chairman of Foreign Affairs Committee of Estonian Parliament
  • Svitlana Zalishchuk, former MP of Ukrainian Parliament
  • Olena Pavlenko, President of DiXi Group
  • Sijbren de Jong, SHAPE NATO
  • Boris Reitschuster, Journalist
  • Jens Høvsgaard, Danish author

COALITION OF PRO-DEMOCRACY RUSSIANS
Activatica * Free Russia Foundation * Free Russia House Kyiv * Forum Russischsprachiger Europäer e.V. * Solidarus * Stowarzyszenie Za Wolną Rosję* Herzen Foundation * Russie-Libertés

invite you to a conference

PUTIN’S NORD STREAM 2 PIPELINE AND ITS REAL COSTS TO EUROPE

learn more at RethinkTheDeal.eu

September 26, 2019

9:00 am to 3:30 pm

Hilton the Hague hotel

Zeestraat 35, 2518

The Hague, the Netherlands

REGISTER HERE

The Nord Stream 2 project – that delivers no new gas to Europe, exploits political and strategic vulnerabilities, increases supply risks, destroys nature and drives members of the EU apart – is quickly advancing toward its completion.

Yet no public discussion of this important decision has been held where the Dutch people can evaluate the basics of the Nord Stream 2 on its merits.

You’ve heard from the gas lobbyists, the gas companies and the Kremlin (the same Kremlin that still won’t tell the truth about MH 17). What you won’t hear from them are the environmental, security and financial risks of completing the pipeline. There is another side.

Please join us for this open forum where prominent European energy experts, environmental scientists, strategists and human rights defenders examine the true objectives and costs of the Nord Stream 2.

Free Admission. Registration is required. REGISTER HERE

With questions, email: [email protected]

AGENDA:

09:00 – 09:15 Opening remarks:

  • Natalia Arno, President of Free Russia Foundation
  • Richard Hoogland, D66 Board Member Department International Cooperation

09:15 – 10:30 Examining the Nord Stream 2 Deal on Its Merits

Moderator: Ilya Zaslavskiy, Head of Research, FRF

Speakers:

  • Sjoerd Sjoerdsma, D66 MP
  • Bram van Ojik, politician and diplomat of the GreenLeft party
  • Mikhail Krutikhin, Partner, RusEnergy consulting agency
  • Jan Frederik Braun, Strategic Energy Analyst, the Hague Center for Strategic Studies
  • Can Ögütcü, Lead analyst for energy security, NATO SHAPE

10:30 – 10:45 Coffee Break

10:45 – 12:00 Environmental Impact of NS2

Moderator: Jan Frederik Braun, Strategic Energy Analyst, the Hague Center for Strategic Studies

Speakers:

  • Evgeniya Chirikova, Environmental activist, Activatica
  • Scott Martin, Global Rights Compliance
  • Dmitry Berezhkov, former Vice President, Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North
  • Stephan Singer, Senior Advisor Global Energy Policies, Climate Action Network International

12:00 – 12:30 Lunch

12:30 – 13:45 Economic implications of NS2 for the Netherlands and the EU

Moderator: Roman Nitsovych, Research Director, DiXi Group

Speakers:

  • Mikhail Korchemkin, East European Gas Analysis
  • Prof. Alan Riley, Senior Fellow, the Institute for Statecraft in London
  • Borbála Takácsné Tóth, Senior Research Associate, Regional Centre for Energy Policy Research

13:45 – 14:00 Coffee break

14:00 – 15:15 NS2 as Kremlin Politics by Other Means

Moderator: Tony van der Togt, Associate Senior Research Fellow Clingendael

Speakers:

  • Rem Korteweg, Senior Research Fellow, Clingendael Institute
  • Svitlana Zalishchuk, former MP of Ukrainian Parliament
  • Jan Šír, Assistant Professor, Department of Russian and East European Studies, Charles University in Prague
  • Ilya Zaslavskiy, Head of Research, FRF

15:15 – 15:30 Closing remarks:

  • Natalia Arno, President of Free Russia Foundation

Tuesday, September 17
10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. EDT
(Light refreshments served at 10:00 a.m.)

National Endowment for Democracy
1025 F Street NW, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20004

REGISTER HERE

Welcome and Opening Remarks:

Daniel O’Maley, Deputy Editor and Digital Policy Specialist, Center for International Media Assistance

Speakers:

Natalia Arno, President, Free Russia Foundation
Ron Deibert, Director, The Citizen Lab
David Kaye, U.N. Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression
Valentin Weber, University of Oxford and OTF Information Controls Fellow

Moderator:

Laura Cunningham, Principal Director, Open Technology Fund

The rapid proliferation of censorship and surveillance technology around the world is threatening human rights. These technologies are no longer limited to countries who have the resources and technical capabilities to build them from scratch. Authoritarian governments across the globe are acquiring state of the art repression technology at an alarming rate. These technologies are then used to target journalists and human rights defenders, stifle free speech, and undermine democracy.

Authored by OTF Information Controls Fellow Valentin Weber, a new research report to be released at the event tracks the export of Chinese and Russian censorship and surveillance technology around the world, providing fresh insight into the importance of telecommunications infrastructure to modern authoritarianism.

This report adds to a growing body of research that demonstrates how widespread this technology has become and that the sources range from Western companies to those closely affiliated with the Chinese and Russian governments. The panel will explore the alarming rate with which this sophisticated technology has been employed to silence dissent, the widespread harms this proliferation has caused, and what can be done to counter it.

Speaker Bios:

Natalia Arno is the president and founder of Free Russia Foundation, a nonprofit and nonpartisan US-based nongovernmental organization that informs US policy makers on events in Russia in real time and supports the formulation of an effective and sustainable US policy on Russia. In 2004, Natalia joined the International Republican Institute, a US nonprofit nonpartisan organization advancing democracy worldwide. She worked there for ten years, six of which were as Russia Country Director. In December 2009, Natalia represented Russia in the World Summit of World Leaders in Geneva, Switzerland. Forced to leave Russia as a result of her pro-democracy work, Natalia founded the Free Russia Foundation with a number of other pro-democracy exiled activists in 2014. The organization serves as a voice for those who cannot speak under the repression of the current Russian leadership.

Ron Deibert is professor of political science and director of the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy. He was a co-founder and a principal investigator of the OpenNet Initiative (2003-2014) and Information Warfare Monitor (2003-2012) projects. Mr. Deibert was one of the founders and (former) VP of global policy and outreach for Psiphon, one of the world’s leading digital censorship circumvention services. He has published numerous articles, chapters, and books on issues related technology, media, and world politics. He was one of the authors of the landmark Tracking Ghostnet (2009) and the Shadows in the Cloud (2010) reports, which documented two separate major global cyber espionage networks, and the Great Cannon report, which documented a new offensive “cyber weapon” co-located with China’s Great Firewall. He is the author of Black Code: Inside the Battle for Cyberspace (2013).

David Kaye is a clinical professor of law at the University of California, Irvine, and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression. His 2019 book, Speech Police: The Global Struggle to Govern the Internet (Columbia Global Reports), explores the ways in which companies, governments and activists struggle to define the rules for online expression. Mr. Kaye’s most recent report to the UN Human Rights Council addressed the challenge of regulating the private surveillance industry.

Valentin Weber is a DPhil Candidate in Cyber Security at the Centre for Doctoral Training in Cyber Security, University of Oxford. Mr. Weber is interested in how the cyber domain is changing conflicts and state strategies. His current research focuses on the integration of cyber and grand strategy, as well as on the role of information controls in state strategies. He previously worked for the International Security Department at Chatham House.

IS PROPAGANDA PROTECTED SPEECH?

FINDING PRACTICAL AND PRINCIPLED APPROACHES TO COUNTERING RUSSIAN INFLUENCE CAMPAIGNS WHILE UPHOLDING THE SANCTIFY OF FREE SPEECH

Hosted by Free Russia Foundation

FRIDAY, JUNE 28, 2019

THE HILTON HOTEL

Zeestraat 35, 2518

The Hague, Netherlands

9:00 to 14:30

 

Is state-sponsored disinformation a protected form of free speech? How do we define its limits and what is the available recourse when it harms people and institutions? On June 28, 2019, at The Hague, Free Russia Foundation hosts an important discussion on the dichotomy between speech rights and state-sponsored disinformation campaigns.

As part of this event, we will unveil the new report by the U.S. Library of Congress “Limits on Freedom of Expression”, examining the scope of protection extended to freedom of speech in thirteen selected countries: Argentina • Brazil • Canada • China • France• Germany • Israel • Japan • Netherlands• New Zealand • Sweden • Ukraine • United Kingdom. The report focuses on the limits of protection that may apply to the right to interrupt or affect in any other way public speech. The report also addresses the availability of mechanisms to control foreign broadcasters working on behalf of foreign governments.

The conference will feature an exhibit of two prominent Russian photographers – Denis Bochkarev and Konstantin Rubakhin – taking a close look at the Russian society and youth.

The conference will be moderated by Michael Weiss, U.S. journalist and author.

AGENDA:

8:30 – 9:00 Registration and Breakfast Buffet

9:00 – 9:05 Opening Remarks

Natalia Arno, President, Free Russia Foundation

9:05-9:25 Keynote Remarks

David Kaye, UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Speech

Richard Hoogland, D66 Board member International Cooperation

9:25-10:25 Panel 1. The Role of the Media in Combating Propaganda

The Kremlin has sought to use a variety of disinformation campaigns to inject its narrative into the public discourse via legitimate media outlets around the world. Journalists and publishers have found themselves as unwitting transmitters of state-sponsored campaigns against the West or have had to spent countless hours discerning the truth from barefaced lies. This panel of distinguished journalists and media experts will discuss these growing challenges and ways in which they have changed the news media.

Moderator:

Leon Willems, Free Press Unlimited

Panelists:

Roman Dobrokhotov, the Insider

Vasily Gatov, USC Annenberg Center

Luke Hardingthe Guardian

Evgeny Kisilev, Russian/ Ukrainian political commentator

Thomas O. Melia, PEN America

Peter Pomerantsev, Arena Initiative, LSE

Olga Romanova, Russian journalist and human rights defender

10:25 – 10:35 Coffee break

10:35-11:35 Panel 2.  Targets of the Kremlin’s Disinformation Campaigns.

Disinformation levies a real cost: it undermines the integrity of democratic institutions, destabilizes societies, and seeks to outright harm the Kremlin’s critics.

This panel will feature individuals who have been targeted by Russian-state sponsored disinformation campaigns. The panelists will share their experiences including ways in which their lives have been impacted, and ways they have defended themselves. They will discuss the role the Kremlin has played in labeling those who disagree with its policies as traitors and how that has dehumanized them and put a target on their back.

Moderator:

Michael Weiss, U.S. journalist and author

Panelists:

Alena Balaba, Odessa Media Center

Tatiana Gerasimova, Гідність (Dignity), Ukraine

Vladimir Kara-Murza, Boris Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom

Martin Kragh, Swedish Institute of International Affairs

Marina Litvinenko, Justice for Litvinenko

Ilona Sokolova, International Public Tribunal

Liz Wahl, U.S. journalist

11:35 – 11:45 Coffee break

11:45 – 12:45 Panel 3. Digital and Civic Solutions.

How can the information space be protected from state sponsors of propaganda? What are some safety mechanisms guarding millions of social media exchanges each day?

Our panelists will consider the propaganda impact, such as populations of social media users unable to discern state-advanced narratives from bona-fide news produced by objective news organizations. This panel will take an in-depth look at the phenomena of state-sponsored disinformation campaigns, how they shape the contemporary information space, the use of social media platforms, the impact of false accounts and bots that have become prevalent and served as amplifiers for state-run media storylines. The panelists will share their experiences operating on this new digital-media battlefield and discuss the impact of inauthentic digital content.

Moderator:

Kristina Vaiciunaite, European Endowment for Democracy

Panelists:

Nighat Dad, Digital Rights Foundation

Jens-Henrik Jeppesen, Center for Democracy and Technology

Oleg Kozlovsky, Amnesty International

Jeremy Lamoreaux, Brigham Young University

Joanna Szymanska, Article 19

Nathalie Vogel, European Values Think Tank

Ilya Zaslavskiy, Free Russia Foundation

12:45-13:15 Lunch break

13:15 – 14:15 Panel 4.  Legal and Policy Mechanisms for Combating State Disinformation.

While the rights of protected speech are established, their limits are less so.  As part of the 2009 Treaty of Lisbon, all EU members have agreed to uphold the freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of association, of procession and, freedom of demonstration. However, there are great variations of speech protections within national constitutions, and for the most part, the limits of speech, or legal precedents that establish where the speech of one person infringes on the rights of another are not well-defined.

Our panel of legal and human rights experts will examine the clash of enumerated individual speech rights against the boundaries of collective rights of a state actors. The panel will then take stock of ways in which states and other governing bodies such as the U.N. and the E.U. have established limits on hate speech, defamation and libel, and articulated anti-obscenity laws and how they can be used to limit the harm rendered by state-sponsored propaganda.  Finally, the panelists will discuss legal recourse options available to those targeted by disinformation campaigns.

Moderator:

Dani Mitov, NDI

Panelists:

Ralf Fuecks, Zentrum Liberale Moderne

Jelger Groeneveld, D66

Padraig Hughes, Media Legal Defense Initiative

David Kaye, UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Speech

Miriam Lexmann, MEP Elect

Scott Martin, Global Rights Compliance

Marko Mihkelson, Estonian MP

14:15 – 14:30 Closing remarks

Ralf Fuecks, Zentrum Liberale Moderne

Thomas O. Melia, PEN America

Free Russia Foundation (www.4freerussia.org) is an international non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the vision of a free, democratic, prosperous and peaceful Russia. We have centers in Kyiv, Ukraine; Tbilisi, Georgia; Washington, DC; and San Jose, California. We are a non-partisan organization and are not affiliated with any other organizations or governments.

Strategies to Defend Democratic Institutions and the Rule of Law in the West

Hosted by Free Russia Foundation, Human Rights First and Henry Jackson Foundation

June 13, 2019

The U.S. Capitol Visitors Center, Room SVC 215

9:30 am to 2:00 pm

Please join us for a public discussion of the Kremlin’s attacks on legal institutions and processes in the West, and consideration of effective counter strategies that can be adopted by government agencies, social media platforms and the civil society. Featuring Sen. Whitehouse, Rep. Keating, Rep. Kinzinger, Rep. Rooney, Daniel Kimmage, Principal Deputy Coordinator, Global Engagement Center, Department of State, current and former military and intelligence officials, and social media companies’ representatives.

At the conference, Free Russia Foundation will release its groundbreaking report detailing Russian attempts to influence Western judicial outcomes and the Kremlin’s active measures campaigns against Western policymaking institutions. Report’s authors Ilya Zaslavskiy, Head of Research, Free Russia Foundation (Russia, US), Jakub Janda, Director, European Values Think Tank (the Czech Republic), Martin Vladimirov, Analyst, Center for the Study of Democracy (Bulgaria), John Lough, Associate Fellow, Chatham House (UK) and Neil Barnett, Founder, Istok Associates (UK) will discuss the results of their investigations in a Q&A session with the audience.

Space limited. RSVP required. Government-issued IDs/drivers license/passports required to enter the venue. With questions email [email protected].

Register here

AGENDA:

Moderated by Todd Rosenblum, National Security Outcomes

9:30 am – Welcome and Opening Remarks

9:40 – 10:15 am – Keynote Addresses

Senator Whitehouse

Rep. Keating

Rep. Kinzinger

Daniel Kimmage, Principal Deputy Coordinator, Global Engagement Center, Department of State

Rep. Rooney

10:15 – 11:15 am – Panel One: Attacks on Legal Institutions and Processes in the West

Melissa Hooper, HRF

Ilya Zaslavskiy, FRF

John Lough, Chatham House

Ed Lemon, Wilson Center and Daniel Morgan Graduate School

Neil Barnett, Istok Associates

11:15 – 11:25 am – Coffee Break

11:25 – 12:25 pm – Panel Two: Russian Active Measures and Manipulation of Western Policy

Jeremy Lamoreaux, Brigham Young University – Idaho

Martin Vladimirov, Center for the study of Democracy

Jakub Janda, European Values Think Tank

Clay Fuller, AEI

Anna Borshchevskaya, Senior Fellow, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy

12:25 – 12:35 pm – Coffee Break

12:35 – 1:35 pm – Panel Three: Effective Counter Strategies and Lessons Learned

Andrew Gully, Jigsaw, Head of R&D

Roman Pyatkov, Headquarters Air Force, Checkmate at the Pentagon

Krista Taubert, Head of World News and Current Affairs, Yle (Finland)

Bryan Bender, Defense Editor, Politico

Chris Marsh, Joint Special Operations University

1:35 pm – Closing Remarks

David Kramer, FRF Board Chair

Miriam Lanskoy, NED

About Free Russia Foundation

Free Russia Foundation is an independent nonprofit organization working to:

Advance the vision of a democratic, prosperous and peaceful Russia governed by the rule of law by educating the next generation of Russian leaders committed to these ideals;

Strengthen civil society in Russia and defend human rights activists persecuted by the Russian government; and

Support formulation of an effective and sustainable Russia policy in the United States and Europe by educating policy makers and informing public debate.

Read more at www.4freerussia.org

About Human Rights First

Human Rights First is an independent advocacy and action organization that challenges the United States to live up to its ideals.

Read more at www.humanrightsfirst.org

About The Henry M. Jackson Foundation

The Henry M. Jackson Foundation fosters effective leadership on key issues of national and global importance, particularly: Climate change, energy, and natural resources Human rights International affairs education Public service.

Read more at www.hmjackson.org