Bio
Russian democracy and civil rights activist. Director of Vision of Tomorrow. Member of Federal Board of Solidarnost (“Solidarity”) united democratic movement. Director of the Anti-Corruption Policy Lab’s Discussion Club at the Higher School of Economics (Moscow).
I was born on May 8, 1984 in Moscow. I graduated from the Department of Computational Mathematics and Cybernetics at the Moscow State University in 2006. In 2008, I received M.A. in Political Science from the Higher School of Economics. I am currently working on my Ph.D. in Political Science; its topic dedicated to non-violent political conflicts like “velvet” or “coloured” revolutions.
I joined Amnesty International in 2000 and soon was elected Spokesman of its Moscow Group.
From 2001 to 2007, I participated in the Union of Right Forces (SPS) political party and held various positions there including the Co-Chairman of SPS Moscow Youth and a Member of the party’s Moscow Board. I also represented SPS in one of the Moscow’s disctrict electoral commissions. I resigned and left SPS in April 2007 in protest against the party’s leadership taking too conciliatory a tone with the Kremlin.
In July 2004, I founded and became a Co-Chairman (and later, Chairman) of the Moscow Association of the Committee 2008 Supporters a.k.a. “Moscow: Free Choice.”
I organized a public action in support of the Orange Revolution in Moscow in November 2004. This was one of the first actions that brought together all democratic forces.
In March 2005, I was one of the co-founders of Oborona (“Defense”) youth movement and was elected as its Coordinator in June. Oborona’s goal is to establish a civilized, democratic political system in Russia. It declares that the current government’s policy of establishing a corrupted authoritarian rule is extremely dangerous for the future of the Russian people. Oborona uses non-violent civil resistance as its main weapon. In October 2010, I stepped down as a Coordinator to give way to younger activists.
In March 2006, I participated in the “Jeans Revolution” in Minsk—a protest against rigged presidential elections in Belarus. I was arrested during the crackdown on the opposition’s tent camp, spent 15 days in jail on Okrestina Street and was included in the list of “people, who pose threat to the national security of Republic of Belarus.”
I was one of organizers of the Dissenters’ Marches, the largest opposition rally in Russia. I have been arrested more than 20 times, in most cases illegally, for organizing and participating in these and other peaceful protest rallies. These arrests included two short-term detentions in November 2007 and May 2008 on “disobedience” charges. My most recent detention in May 2008, when I held a hunger strike and was declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, ended in the court clearing me of all charges and ordering the government to pay compensation.
I participated in the Political Council of the Other Russia opposition coalition since November 2006 and joined the coalition’s Executive Committee in the summer of 2007.
In December 2007, I was drafted illegally into the army with the assistance of FSB. The purpose of that was (as one officer put it in a private conversation) to “isolate” me for the duration of 2008 presidential elections. A civil campaign in my support ultimately led to my release on March 4, 2008—two days after the elections.
The appartment that I was renting and Oborona was using for its meetings and storing literature was stormed by the police in March 2008. About a dozen activists including myself were beaten and arrested, and appartment’s owners were forced by the police to break the rent contract.
In spring 2008, I participated in founding of the National Assembly of the Russian Federation—a “proto-parliament” that united virtually every non-system political and civic organization. I was elected in absentia (I was in jail at the time) a member of Council of the National Assembly at its founding congress on May 17.
I participated in the Organizing Committee of the united congress of democratic forces, where in December 2008 Solidarnost (Solidarity) united democratic movement was founded. I was elected the movement’s Federal Board’s member.
In 2010, I was a Draper Hills Summer Fellow on Democracy and Development at Stanford University and an Ion Ratiu Scholar at Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
I have implemented projects that include iWeekend 2010 (New Technolgoies for Civil Society Conference), Posobniki.ru (database of people involved in political repression), and OtMenta (Web portal dedicated to police brutality and lawlessness) as well as a single-serving site Nachalos.rf.
I received the Human Rights Award from Human Rights First in 2008 and Ion Ratiu Democracy Award from Woodrow Wilson Center and the Ratiu Foundation in 2010. The Daily Beast listed me among 17 “World’s Bravest Bloggers” in 2011.
My articles in Russian and in English have been published by The Washington Post, RobertAmsterdam.com, Huffington Post, Ezhednevny Journal, NaZlobu.ru etc.
I maintain an English and a Russian blogs about democracy and human rights in Russia and tweet in English and in Russian.
I am married and have a daughter.
