Cold War 2.0 | Red Square, White House: Russians Reflect on Post-Election America

“Trump is the first candidate in memory who ran not for president but for autocrat and won.”

— Masha Gessen, Russian-American writer, journalist, and PEN America Trustee.

The U.S.-Russian relationship is once again stirring unease, and the denigration of journalists, disinformation campaigns, and the malleability of truth that characterize repressive regimes now threaten Americas democratic values. At this singular moment in the U.S. experience, what can we learn from Russians who press forward to exercise their free expression under the regime of President Vladimir Putin? Join us as three Russian intellectuals directly engaged in this struggle consider the U.S. elections, the rise of authoritarian leaders worldwide, and what has been learned about how to survive an autocracy. Participating will be:

Galina Timchenko, a journalist and the founder of Meduza, a Latvia-based online platform for independent news coverage in Russian. She led the widely popular Russian news website Lenta.ru for more than a decade until her firing in 2014, a move seen as clearing the way for Kremlin control that prompted nearly half her staff to quit in protest.

Sergey Parkhomenko, a journalist, publisher, and civic campaigner. He was the first editor-in-chief of Russia’s current affairs weekly Itogi, head of several publishing houses, and presenter of a weekly public affairs program on Ekho Moskvy radio. He has also led initiatives to fight vote rigging and better memorialize victims of political repression.

Tikhon Dzyadko, a journalist and activist. Now with Russian Television International RTVi in New York, he has been a broadcaster with Ekho Moskvy radio and TV Dozhd. He also was a researcher for Reporters without Borders, and an organizer for the political opposition in Moscow.

Moderating the conversation will be Julia Ioffe of The Atlantic who covered the 2016 U.S. election for Politico Magazine. She also has been a writer on Russia and foreign affairs for Huffington Post, Foreign Policy, The New Republic, and The New Yorker.

RSVP here.

**The event will be in English and Russian.