Please join the Russia and Eurasia Program for a roundtable discussion with Natalia Arno, President of the Free Russia Foundation, and Olga Shorina, Executive Director of the Boris Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom. They will talk about “Putin’s Exodus: What Pro-Democracy Russians can do in Exile.” Lunch will be provided. Attendance is by registration only on Eventbrite.

Natalia Arno is President and Founder of the Free Russia Foundation (FRF), a nonprofit, nonpartisan, nongovernment U.S.-based organization with 501(c)3 status that informs U.S. policymakers on events in Russia in real time and supports formulation of an effective and sustainable Russia policy in the U.S.; advances democratic development in Russia; and serves as a bridge between the U.S and Russia’s pro-democracy forces by facilitating the flow of information between Russia’s democratic leaders, civil society and independent media and U.S. decision makers, officials, opinion leaders, experts, journalists and NGOs. Established in 2014 by a team of like-minded people who were forced to leave Russia in recent years, FRF seeks to be a voice for those who can’t speak under the repression of the current Russian leadership. In 2004, Natalia joined the International Republican Institute, a U.S. nonprofit nonpartisan organization advancing democracy worldwide. Natalia worked for IRI for ten years including six years of being IRI Russia Country Director. In 2009 Natalia represented Russia in the World Summit of Women Leaders in Geneva, Switzerland.

Olga Tikhomirova (Shorina) worked with Russian politician Boris Nemtsov, first as Press Secretary of the Solidarnost movement (2009-2012) and then as Executive Director of the PARNAS party (2012-2015). She took part in preparing Nemtsov’s independent research report on corruption in Russia, the Sochi Olympics, and the last one “Putin’s War,” which was finished by his colleagues after his death. She took part in organizing mass protest rallies in 2011-2012 and afterwards protests for supporting political prisoners and persons prosecuted for political reasons. In 2015, she was forced to leave Russia. Since 2016, she has been living in Germany and serving as Director of the Boris Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom, which was established in 2015 by the eldest daughter of Boris Nemtsov, Zhanna. Annually the Foundation awards the Boris Nemtsov Prise for Courage to those who bravely defend democracy and human rights. The Foundation also holds the Boris Nemtsov Forum each year to support people-to-people dialogue between Russia and the West. This year the Foundation has launched, in cooperation with Charles University Faculty of Arts, the Boris Nemtsov Academic Center for the Study of Russia in Prague.