Join the Wilson Center for a roundtable discussion on what the destruction of Memorial will mean for the future of Russia. 

Against the background of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the destruction of Memorial now appears in a new light, the last in a series of moves by Putin to subjugate Russian civil society before commencement of war. Since its founding over 30 years ago as an NGO dedicated to documenting and society preserving the memory of Soviet political repressions, Memorial has evolved into a foundational center of civic life in Russia. Memorial was the first civic organization in Russia to speak of the Kremlin’s true intentions vis-à-vis Ukraine in 2014 and to call these actions in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine an aggression. In this roundtable, we will discuss what the destruction of Memorial will mean for the future of Russia. 

Speakers

Elena Zhemkova, Executive Director, "Memorial" Historical, Educational and Human Rights Society

Daniil Beilinson, Co-founder, OVD-Info

Grigory Vaypan, Former Galina Starovoitova Fellow on Human Rights and Conflict Resolution; Independent Scholar

Kathleen Smith, Former Title VIII Scholar; Professor of Teaching, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University

Sergey Parkhomenko, Senior Advisor; Journalist, "Echo of Moscow" Radio; Former Editor-in-Chief, Itogi, Vokrug Sveta

Izabella Tabarovsky, Senior Program Associate, Wilson Center