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Kara-Murza over the Russian flag

Freedom and Dissent in Contemporary Russia: A Conversation with Vladimir Kara-Murza

February 9, 2022 |  12:15 - 1:30 pm  |  Bass Lecture Hall, LBJ School

On February 9, The University of Texas at Austin’s Intelligence Studies Project, Strauss Center for International Security and Law, Clements Center for National Security, Global (Dis)Information Lab, and the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies hosted Vladimir Kara-Murza, Russian politician, author, and historian, for a public talk on freedom and dissent in contemporary Russia. The talk was moderated by Dr. Kiril Avramov, Director of the Global (Dis)Information Lab, Assistant Professor at UT’s Department of Slavic & Eurasian Studies, and ISP Fellow.

With Vladimir Putin already having spent more than two decades in power, Kara-Murza detailed the societal changes his country has experienced under the current regime. The modest liberalization achieved during the 90s quickly dissipated under Putin. Now, Russia suffers from economic stagnation, not having any significant growth since 2008. According to Kara-Murza, the Russian people feel fatigued. This has fed the regime’s feeling of paranoia when taking into consideration the rise in popularity of political dissidents such as Alexei Navalny, the potential for a color revolution, and the expansion of NATO. These existential threats are the reason the Kremlin’s apparatus continuously tries to eliminate or control the opposition. Kara-Murza mentioned many of the regime’s tactics, such as assassinations, election interference, and the spread of misinformation through state media outlets.

Kara-Murza emphasized that these measures are only forestalling the inevitable, saying the following, “the Romanov Empire and the Soviet Union both fell in three days.” The desires of the new generations are clear, and those are freedom, democracy, and for Russia to return to its historical position as a “normal European country.” It is necessary to lay the groundwork for change, so when the time comes, this transition can occur peacefully.

Biography

Vladimir Kara-Murza is a Russian politician, author, and historian. A longtime colleague of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, he was a candidate for the Russian Parliament and served as deputy leader of the People’s Freedom Party. Leading diplomatic efforts on behalf of the opposition, Kara-Murza played a key role in the adoption of targeted Magnitsky sanctions on Russian human rights violators in the United States, European Union, Canada, and Great Britain. U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) called him “one of the most passionate and effective advocates for passage of the Magnitsky Act”; U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) described him as “a courageous advocate for the democratic process and fundamental universal human rights.” Twice, in 2015 and 2017, Kara-Murza was poisoned and left in a coma; a subsequent media investigation by Bellingcat and The Insider has identified officers of Russia’s Federal Security Service who were behind the poisonings.

He is a contributing writer at the Washington Post and hosts a weekly show on Echo of Moscow radio, and has previously worked for the BBC, RTVi, Kommersant, and other media outlets. He has directed three documentary films, They Chose FreedomNemtsov, and My Duty to Not Stay Silent; is the author of Reform or Revolution: The Quest for Responsible Government in the First Russian State Duma; and is a contributor to several volumes, including Russian Liberalism: Ideas and People, Europe Whole and Free: Vision and Reality and Boris Nemtsov and Russian Politics: Power and Resistance.

Kara-Murza led successful international efforts to commemorate Nemtsov, including with street designations in Washington and Vilnius. He was the founding chairman of the Nemtsov Foundation and served as vice president at Open Russia and the Free Russia Foundation; both organizations were designated as “undesirable” by Vladimir Putin’s government. Kara-Murza is a senior advisor at Human Rights First and a senior fellow at the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights; and has been a visiting fellow at the University of Chicago, leading a seminar course on contemporary Russia. He has been profiled on CBS 60 Minutes and NBC Nightly News, and has appeared on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and BBC Newsnight. Kara-Murza is a recipient of several awards, including the Sakharov Prize for Journalism as an Act of Conscience, the Magnitsky Human Rights Award, and the Geneva Summit Courage Award. He holds an M.A. (Cantab.) in History from Cambridge. 

For questions about this event, please email Kim Nguyen at [email protected].

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