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Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Atlantic Council. I am pollock. I am on the committee of the Atlantic Council board. I really want to thank the Eurasia Center for todays program which is entitled the state of human rights in putins russia. As you know, the Atlantic Council has been a vigorous voice on subjects from disinformation to ukraine, the scale and scope of aggression in ukraine into the illegal annexation of crimea. Todays form is particularly timely. Russia has we have three keynote speakers who will be up first. All of whom are making a difference in their own way, they are strong outspoken advocates for freedom and basic human rights in russia. I am going to introduce the first three, and then we will be having a panel afterwards which will be moderated by dr. Alina polyakova from the Atlantic Council. We are going to be hearing im going to introduce all three. Were going to be hearing first from marylands senior senator ben cardin, Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign relations committee, who, just this week, condemned the arrest of hundreds of peaceful demonstrators in moscow. He is the cosponsor of the Global Human Rights accountability act, which empowers the United States to deny human rights abusers and also those corrupt officials entry into the United States and access to our financial institutions. Following him, we will be hearing from floridas senator, marco rubio, also a member of the Senate Foreign relations committee. Who earlier this year, on february 27, the day that the former deputy Prime Minister of russia, force them solve Boris Nemtsov, was gunned down right in front of the kremlin. Senator rubio introduced legislation that would designate the street in front of the Russian Embassy Boris Nemtsov plaza, in honor of the former deputy Prime Minister. The senators said the creation of the Boris Nemtsov plaza would remind putins regime and the russian people that their dissident views live on and the defenders of liberty will not be silenced. And then we will hear from Vladimir Karamurza whose life , has been twice threatened. He was in russia recently. He was there, traveling to several russian cities, to present a documentary on Boris Nemtsov. He abruptly became ill, was hospitalized. His friends, families, those of us in the room, feared he was targeted with poison. And i have to say, for all of us who know him and have worked with him, he is a man of courage. He is a person who has strength of convictions deep convictions and a very fervent desire to see a democratic russia. Re fundamental freedoms are protected. Is vice chair of open Russia Movement and chairman of the Boris Nemtsov foundation for freedom. And we are very honored that he is able to be here with us. I also want to recognize his evgenia, who is also here, who is also truly a person of courage as well in this fight. Please join me in a vigorous applause for these very three distinguished speakers. Senator cardin. [applause] distinguished speakers. Madam ambassador, thank you very much for that very generous and kind introduction. Its a pleasure to be back to the Atlantic Council, probably to be here with my colleague and friend senator rubio. One of the real great leaders in the United States senate on so many issues but today on human rights, theres not a greater champion. I serve with him on the Senate Foreign relations committee, and i must tell you i am so proud to serve on a committee with him. He raises at the to everyone who comes before us the critical questions on support for basic human rights. So senator rubio, its a pleasure to be with you as always, and thank you for your championship on these issues. But to my friend vladimir, two of us, senator rubio and i we speak out but we know that were safe. You have the courage that is incredible on behalf of the russian people and the world community. And we thank you, we thank your wife what you do is an inspiration to all of us and it keeps us gives us the energy to pursue these causes here in the United States. So thank you for being the person that you are and insurancevision operation. I see officer congressman slaughterry its nice to see that youre in the audience and its good to be with so many friends. When the history of americas written about this period of time, i believe it will speak very strongly about americas greatness. And it wont be americas greatness for its military power, it will be americas greatness in promoting universal goals. The goals of Good Governance ar anticorruption, the goals of supporting human rights, of speaking out on behalf of Democratic Institutions, and it was americas strength that brought down the grip of the soviet union and libber rated central and eastern europe. Thats whats going to be, i think, the key to how we are perceiv perceived historically as to what we did during this per particular time. And we saw the power of those ideas. We saw the power of those ideas this past weekend when the russians took to the streets to protest against their corrupt government. They were doing what my dear friend john lewis said. We came to the congress at the same time and ease an inspiration to me a Living Legend on his fight for six rights. He said sometimes people just have to speak out, they have to raise their voices, theyve got to move their feet. And we saw that happen in russia this past weekend where thousands turned out to say, no, we want a government that reflects the people of russia, not a corrupt government. And that action will bring about a change in russia. Russia will return to its greatness of a country that respects the rights of its citizens. And vladimirs actions is helping bringing that day a little bit sooner than it otherwise would be. Human rights are not a western imposition but a russian demand and thats what we are trying to promote. This is not about the russian people, its about mr. Putin and his corrupt system that we are fighting. This is not a new idea. 1975 the European Community along with the United States came together with the 1975 health sink i can final accords. Ive been active with the health sinky Mitigation Commission since my election to Congress Many years ago. It was a concept that pointed out that we have a right to expect the countrys will adhere not only to military security and economic security, but to basic human rights. And thats not just an internal matter. All the signators to the health sinky have the right to challenge the commitments being adhered to by any member state including their commitment to basic human rights. Russia is violating those commitments every single day in so many different ways. If youre a journalist in russia, you know that you cannot operate with safety. You know that your lives are at risk. If youre in opposition, you know that you better watch your back as weve seen assassination after assassination, intimidation after intimidation if the 23 youre an ngo, you know youre going to be labeled an undesieshl Foreign Organization even though you are there to promote global issues. You know that corruption in the judicial system, corruption is called the lubricant of the putin regime. It has enabled mr. Putin ton carry out his autocratic procedures and the way that he operates. The election system itself is fraud, guaranteeing that the results willing what mr. Putin wants. Minorities are not safe whether they are lgbt community, whether theyre ethnic minorities, whether migrants, all are in jeopardy in today putins russia. Why should he be concerned . Theres several reasons. First, this type of human rights violations, this type of corruption lead to instability in regimes and will make our world less safe. And secondly, weve seen that mr. Putins ready to attack america. He did attack america, thats not even being disputed anymore. I even think by the president. But mr. Mr. Putin inattacked us, attacked our free election system. Purchase putins active in europe, hes active now in germany and in france trying to influence those elections. Hes trying to bring down our way of government to create more space so he can expand his influence, his type of leadership in europe and around the world. We cannot allow that type of gap to exist. We need to protect Democratic Institutions. So what should congress do . What should we do in order to stop that . Well, one thing weve already done is pass the sergey ma knits sky law which makes it clear that those that are participating in this type of conduct were not going to award them by participating in our countrys assets and bachking system. Today there are 44 individuals that are currently listed under this law, and i want to thank tom mall linnous sky for hinz credible leadership on this issue and so many other issues both in government and out of government in helping us get this achieved. But theres more that we can do. And i along with 19 of my colleagues have filed the countering russias hostilities act. I want to thank senator rubio, one of the leaders on this legislation. And it deals with the current challenges that russia is is presenting to us. Russia, yes, is violating basic human rights of its citizens. Its also attacking us as they did in our free elections. They also are interfering with the sovereignty of other countries. We all know what they did in ukraine with crimea and eastern ukraine, moldova, georgia, theyre threatening a lot of the European Countries that have russian speaking populations. We need to make it clear to russia that that is not acceptable. Sanctions are affecting russia, so we can strengthen the sanction regime against russia and the legislation that we have filed will do that. And it goes into many areas that we can strengthen by going into the energy sector, going into howthy finance their sovereign debt, how they deal with privatization. We can strengthen the resolve against russia and our european allies understand the importance of this, we need to work with europe. But theres a second part of this bill thats as equally important if not more important. It defines an effort with our european allies to fieght the russia propaganda so we can use all of our countries together for strategies to counter the lies that russias doing in order to cause instability in so many countries around the world. And it develops in a Democracy Initiative similar to a Security Initiative that we have under nato to protect the Democratic Institutions of europe. Theyre under attack. We should share information. I met with the baltic leaders this week and they said thats great, we should do that. We have a plan but we havent coordinated with europe. We should coordinate it with the United States and europe a plan to protect or democratic leadership from russia. Its not just taking cyber information and using it to compromise elections, its also false news and using false news as weve never seen before. We need to Work Together and we also need to pass legislation. Senator rubios been very active live enganled with me on and that is the syrian war crimes. Purchase putin is committing war crimes in syria. He is using humanitarian targets as a way of advancing his support for assad. And that type of conduct needs to be held accountable. Let me just conclude by quoting a person who i have a great deal of respect for, and thats vladimir. Vladimir testified before our committee in 2015 and he said then that he did not ask that the United States come to the support of russia, he wasnt asking for that. He wasnt asking for our economic or military support. What he was asking us to do is not to make it easier for mr. Putin to carry out his ideals. Dont give him krlkt. Dont acknowledge what hes doing is right. Just the opposite. Stand strong on a u. S. Global principles because thats what the russian people need. They need america to be clear, strong about the values that are universal that have made us the great nation that we are. I want you to know vladimir, that you have our commitment that were going to do just that. That were going to stand up for the values of america, were going to stand up for why this nation is the great nation it is, were going to stand up to our alsinky hitt commitments and were going to stand strong with the people of russia. Thank you. [ applause ] thank you. I want to thank senator cardin for his kind words and for his introduction here today to you. He has, indeed, been a partner in many of these issues, so much so that in the hallways of the senate when im approached by the press and they ask me you can comment on the bill youre doing with senator cardin, i start getting which one . Weve worked on so many of these issues that are so critically important it truly is an honor to work with him on these. And at the outset ive excused myself i think senator cardin has the same issue, in addition to a 10 00 vote in the senate we have two important hearings going on at the same time on two committees im a member of. The general topic of americas engagement in the world, and then the Senate Intelligence committee has a public hearings today on a topic that, well, i think you know what its on. And so well need to get there on time, but i also want to thank the Atlantic Council for hosting this event. The state of human rights in putins russia. I dont quarrel with the title, i understand the point, but its not putins russia, its russians russia. Vladimir putin happens to have control of the government today but russian is not Vladimir Putin. Russia is an ancient proud penl. Vladimir putin happens to be a tie rant that be controlsz its government. But i thank you for inviting me to participate in this event and im incredibly proud to be here with Vladimir Karamurza who you know and im going to have the honor to introduce him shortly. When we talk about people around the world who risked their lives in the name of freedom, vladimir is an example of just how true this is and his brave fight for democracy and freedom in his country is truly an inspiration. We have an award in america called the profiles in courage and its largely given to someone who took Political Risk because you might have lost an election or took on some nasty criticism in the press for doing something. And i understand relatively speaking that is courage in the american political system. Real courage is incredible level of courage is knowing that your position on politics could have you killed, compiled, exisland. The state of human rights under Vladimir Putin in russia has long been on a decline. It has only accelerated in recent years as they have cracked on you on society, media. Anyone critical of russia. This is what happens there an abysmal human rights situation that becomes even worse. We have seen over the last number of years Vladimir Putins critics mysteriously poised on, many occasions on multiple occasions thrown out of windows, murdered, all this just this year along and were only in march. Vladimir survived his second poisoning attempt. The government has implemented draconian laws. We watched this week predominantly Young Russians took to the streets to protest corruption within the putin government to make clear that the people of russia what they want is a transparent ghoofrmt respects their voice iz in shaping their future. What was the response of the putin government . They arrest and detained hundreds of people. This is only the latest incident that reminds us how critical it is that the United States stands with the russian people in their fight against a beautal, corrupt and repressives va jet stream. This behavior by the putin ra yeem is nothing new in the in tweft russian authorities began implement a 2012 law that places any Advocacy Group that accepts foreign funding on a list as Foreign Agents, many nongovernmental organizations either spent resources defending themselves against these attacks and labels of being a Foreign Agent or, they simply closed. Each year he tightens his grip on the country as he tries to mask the abuses against his own people with aggression outside of russia. Globally putin has made clear his intention on the world stage. He wants to establish sfeerz of influence in europe and middle east. And what that has meant with his aligning with the brutal tie rants and regimes in the world to undermine not just americas but the peaceful nations of the world interests and in the process to perpetuate war crimes. Hes actively working to drive a wealth wean western allies and within western institutions such as nato and the European Union. He directly interferes in nations looking to further align themselves with Democratic Values and with the United States. We should be under no false illusions. Putins dreams of restoring what he sees as the days of the russian empire are what drives him in his goals and its an important thing to remind us that russia, as i said, is a nation and a people that should be very, very proud of its history, should be very optimistic about its future given the chance and has so much to contribute to the world. It does not need a tie rant in order to achieve these things. We all have read and heard and will attorney to hear in the weeks and months to come about the meddling of his allies in europe just hes attempted to influence our own election in the United States last year. In the middle east hes engaged in a bloody military campaign in syria partnering with iran and with assad regime. He claims to be fighting isis but its clear that their efforts have dlitly targeted sa civilians. Theyve blocked food and medicine by the United Nations to end of the suffering of the syrian people. Hes worked with assad and inflicted thousands of civilian deaths and injuries and contributed to the refugee crisis. All this will chaos morkz of it course easier for the world to overlook the on going abuses of the putin regime against his own people. But we cannot allow that. And thats why its important for to us have gathered here today to renew our commitment to the cause of human rights in russia and to remind people like vladimir and others and other braef democracy activists that we truly do stand with them, that we will use every tool at our disposal to hold putin accountable and we will not allow the brave acts to be in pain. The most brutal reality of the human right situation in russia is that the critics of the putin regime end up being targeted or they die. Last month was the twoyear anniversary of the assassination of mr. People stof he was murdered on a bridge that moss cow in plain sight of the kremlin. No ones been meld to account. We must call for justice and honor these brave individuals who stand up to putin and his cronies. Thats why on the anniversary of his assassination i introduced a bill follow rename the street in front of the embassy. We have taken the liberty to actually show what you its going to look like on the day that we achieve that. Some may ask what impact is that going to have in well, as vladimir eloquently put it in the Washington Post recently it will remind the regime that they are on the wrong side of the history and i believe it will stand as an example that these voices live on and the defenders of libltd will not be silenced. As vladimir told me a few moments ago, the current regime in russia will be angry about the naming of that street, but hopefully a future democrat being government russia will be proud that the street in front of their embassy bears his name. As the new administration now continues to shape its Foreign Policy and its National Security strategy, i truly believe its kril critical for them to include human rights as core elements with any country in the world. Russias a perfect example of why this is true. Im proud to have joined senator cardin in introducing comprehensive sanctions or putin that will target his regime cyber attacks, aggression, destabilizing activities in the United States and against our allies. Additionally the rule of law accountability act is one valuable and critical tool that the United States has to address human rights abuse business Vladimir Putin. We also need to continue adding individuals to this list and holding those complicit in human rights abuses directly accountable. We should also consider new measures that target the statesanked corruption at the top of the putin government, the core tlaupgs brought thousands out into the streets this past weekend. Thee Young Russians realize that their country has a huge opportunity to join the rest of the world, to embrace Democratic Values and the respect for the rule of law and to protect the human rights of all their citizens. Sadly russias current leader has chosen the path of aggression and instalkt. His actions in the region, in his own country pose a National Security threat to the United States and undermine our interests and the interests of all freedom loving people abroad. As long hes continues to choose to go down this path, we must choose to strengthen the relationship with our allies in the region and with the russian people and to support them as they confront these aggressions. Our country, the United States of america, must stand with the russian people in their fight for freedom. Now it is truly my honor to introduce Vladimir Karamurza who is here with us today after surviving an apparent attempt to poison him last month, the second time a said earlier in vent years that this has happened. He has made his future in the cause of promoting Civil Society in rush at work of his life. And despite being a target, he continues that work undeterred and as passionate as ever. Vladimir, you are an inspiring example to all of us here in the United States and i believe to the russian people, the people wherever and its my honor to introduce to you those who are present here today and those who may be watching from home. Ladies and gentlemen, Vladimir Karamurza. [ applause ] thank you. Thank you. Thank you so very much and i want to thank first of all the Atlantic Council for hosting and organizing this very important discussion and for the opportunity to participate in it. And im especially honored and very, very humbled to be speaking after two such distinguished leaders on global democracy and human rights in the United States senate. From two different sides of the aisle, as it should be. And i want to take this opportunity to thank senator marco rubio and senator ben cardin for their work and for their commitment to the principles that are so often forgotten and overlooked in this age of real politics but are still important to so many people. Thank you. It seems there should be little new to say about the state of human rights in russia. After 17 years of Vladimir Putins rule, and yet there always is and theres never a shortage of news or discussions on the subject. It has not been that long, 17 years since that famous question was asked of the World Economic forum, who is mr. Putin . And in fact to those who were paying attention and noticing the early signs, mr. Putin provided the answer very early on, actually before it was even asked in dallas, before he became president of russia. I often think back to one particular day, december the 20th, 1999. Mr. Putin was still Prime Minister, it was the last couple of weeks of boris yell tons presidency and december 20 of course is the day of the cha keeft, the day of the annual comemmer operation of the founding of the secret police in 1917, still officially marked in russia. And on that day, mr. Putin did two things. In the morning he unveiled the memorial plaque to his mentor. The long time soviet kgb chairman best known for establishing a special director in the kgb aimed at targeting and stopping dissent. And also for punitive psychology when day dents were declared psychologically insane. He went to a meeting and he addressed them and he told them publicly this in front of tv cameras with a smile on his face, he said, i can report to you that the group of fsb officers sent to work undercover in the government of the russian frags is fulfilling its mission, and there was still some at the time who thought this was a joke. Of course every single thing mr. Putin and his regime has done since then has been fully in line with that promise and that mission. The suppression and sile lengs lensing of independent media, consistent and continue russ rigtion of elections, the crack downs on the freedom of assembly, the blacklisting of ngos, the revival the politically motivated imprisonment. We now have 100 Political Prisoners in our nation. And by the way, just to compare, in 1975 when the noeb know bell peace prize acceptance speech, he listed by name 126 Political Prisoners. That wasnt an exhaustive list, that was just the ones he knew of but probably this one is not exhaustive either. These Political Prisoners of today include activists and their family members, they include regular citizens jailed for participating in peaceful demonstrations. They have the filmmaker, as well as the last remaining hos hostage of the uk cuss case that saw russias Largest Oil Company dismantled and effectively seized by the government and his crowe imprisoned for more than a decade for having the tenacity to oppose the political groups. We live in the information age, after all, the age of new technologies and growing importance of International Public opinion and Political Prisoners can actually sometimes turn the tables and use proceedings against them to expose the regime. And public statements and courts by continuing their struggles from behind bars as so many people have both in the soviet times and today. By continuing to take a stand even while being imprisoned, i can tell you theres not much of a stand you can take when youre lying on the floor struggling to take a breath unable to move, feeling your heart racing away and your whole body just giving up one organ after another and then spend weeks in a coma hooked up to tubes and life support. Ive had to do this twice now in the last two years. Both times in moscow, both times as unundefined medical toxin. And both times the doctors said my chance of survival was about 5 so i really mean this when i say im very happy to be here with you today and also very grateful and also very, very fortunate. Many of our colleagues and friends have not been that fortunate. They have not had 5 . Boris didnt have 1 when they put five bullets in his back on that bridge 200 yards from the kremlin. The leader of the russian opposition, former deputy Prime Minister, the most prominent opponent of Vladimir Putin and two years on total impunity for those who reasonable doubt odd and carried out the killing, not identified, not apprehend. If you can kilt leader of the opposition in front of the kremlin and get away with it, i think it becomes pretty meaningless to talk about the state of human rights or any other kind of human rights abuse. But i want to talk also today about the other side of the story, about what is happening despite the crack downs and the threats. Last sunday, tens of thousands of people went out to the streets across russia to say no to the pervasive government corruption, to the impunity for this corruption, to the authoritarian rule, to the lack of accountability and frankly against the arrogance of the same small group of people whose held power in our country now for 17 years. Most of those rallies were, quote unquote, unauthorized, in violation of the russian constitution, of course, cl guarantees the freedom of assembly in article 21, but they went to Great Lengths to say that these rallies are unsanctioned, unauthorized, illegal. And indeed in many places, including in moscow protesters were met by riot police and by the National Guard which by the way was set i a kooum couple years ago by putin with the direct purpose of putting down the opposition riots. And yet the people still came out across the country. And what was most striking about these demonstrations was the scale and the conversation. This was the most widespread opposition action i think since the early 1990s, since the breakup of the soviet union, bigger than the winter protest we had five years ago following the rigged parliamentary elections in 2011. This time it was 82 towns and cities across russia, large and small across 11 time zones, east to west. And it was of course striking about because of who participated in the protests. The vast majority of those who came out to the streets of russia last sunday were young people. University students, High School Kids in many cases. People in their 20s, early 30s, many in their teens. This is the putin generation. These are the people some raised in many cases born under Vladimir Putins regime. The people that have never known any other political reality, who dont know what its like to have free elections, independent television. For home in the 1990s is something out of a history textbook. Who have watched the same face on Television Screens for their entire lives. And, in fact, who have long stopped looking at those Television Screens. This is the generation that trusts twitter and youtube much more than it twufts any kremlin controlled National Television channel. And it is this generation that is increasingly growing to realize that the putin regime is robbing them, not just literally in terms of the corruption this was the immediate reason for the protest, but also is robbing them the young generations of russians of their prospects and of their future. And theres really not much mr. Putin can do about that, apart from for now the National Guard and riot police. The day after these proftests took place i have to admit i was surprised about the scale, about just how widespread and geographically diverse this was. But i was not surprised by the participation, because ive seen these people. Over the last three years since we have relaunchched open russia first as a open democracy ngo, i have traveled across the country, across the regions. I have to be honest i havent made it as far as and weve been Holding Events across the country, Public Events to try to maintain and keep that space for public discussion in our country thats been increasingly shrunk and sweezed and attacked. You know, public lectures, seminars, round tables, debates, Film Screenings and such. And every time, by the way, or almost every time the authorities try to sabba tajh and prevent and stop our events from take place by bogus bomb threats or the Police Arrives and orders an manner to evacuation. They switch off electricity on the entire block so on and so forth but the people refuse to leave. Weve never cancelled an event. Weve had events in caves, in the streets. One of my favorite was a couple years ago we had an convenient in st. Petersburg with a prom nate russian political analyst, many of you know him. And of after i think 11 or 12 locations rejected, you know, us trying to rent or lease a hall or room, we just said, fine, well do it outside on the street. This was st. Peteringburg in the spring so it was cold, but that was fine. There were hundreds of people, and we took we just took a sound system, a loud speak her and we were standing there and he began reading out poetry. He decided to have a poetry scene in the capital of russia. I remember this was definitely one of the best events we had. Everybody loved him holding the loudspeaker reading poems. And about 100 yards from him there was a squad dron of police and a police guard in uniform holding a loudspeaker and pointed at us and while he was reciting poetry the policeman was reciting articles of the criminal code that where he were supposedly breaking by taking part in this demonstration. Could i ask for a bottle of water . Excuse me. And so every time we held our events and the people didnt leave and they came and they participated. And ive seen them and ive seen how their growing selfawareness as citizens and their interests in civic participation became stronger than their sense of fear. And that was really hopeful. And in fact most of our work at open russia is directed at this new generation, the new generation of democratic activists in russia. These are the faces of a future post putin russia. The russia that we want to see based on rule of law, based on Democratic Institutions, based on respect for human rights. And its the russia that we will continue to work for. Mr. Putin and his regime would like the whole world certainly the west, certainly the United States to think that russia is just about him and his regime. In fact, one of his closest aides was recently on record saying there is no russia if theres no putin, thats a direct quote. And apart from being deeply offensive, in my view, this is also patently not true and i think we all saw that on display last sunday across the country. Because russia is so much more diverse, so much bigger, so much different and frankly so much better than that face that weve all been looking at for the past 17 years. Thank you very much. Its a pleasure to be here. [ applause ] thank you so much for those inspiring remarks. Id like to ask the rest of our pannestists, including your set of to just join us here on stage for a discussion. All the way down. Vladimir, thats right. Thank you. So i also want to thank senators cardin and senator rubio and ambassador doke brian no, sir sky for their remarks. Im the director of research for the Atlantic Council and its an honor and pleasure to host this distinguished panel who are here with us today for this very important timely event. We certainly were planning this particular event, i did not anticipate the protest that took place across russia this past weekend, but of course that makes it so much more timely. And im absolutely thrilled and very happy to see vladimir with us today for many reasons. I wont introduce him again, i think both senators and the ambassador have done a wonderful job, but i think i speak for all of us here at the Atlantic Council when i say that we admire you a great deal for your courage and your incredible perseverance and persistence in the fight for the freedom of your people. So thank you so much for being with us. And then to my left i have mr. Carl gershman whos the president of the National Endowment for democracy. That has been the primary vehicle for supporting prodemocratic society in flejing democracies of the former soviet union and elsewhere in the world and we are grateful for your work as well. Thank you for joining us. And then last but certainly not least, i have mr. Tom mall innous sky, hes the human rights and laborest u. S. Department of state. He also served as the washington director for Human Rights Watch and various posts at the state department including policy planning staff before that and tom has been the leading voice on human rights particularly in russia, rest of the central and eastern up and we really appreciate the hard work that youve done for us in the service of this country, so thank you. And i want to start off the conversation with some of the points that you already brought up, vladimir. You talked about the demonstrations and who was there and the belief you have in the future of russia because of how widespread and how highly par tis paer to these demonstrations were. And you made the interesting point that id like to ask you a bit more about. The people who were on the streets in almost 100 russian cities from west to east were very young. They were basically you could say raised by putin himself. And so in your view from what you know about who was there, what were their desires and demands . I know that the demonstrations went on but what do they tell us about the stability of the regime and where russia stands today . Thank you for the question and its good to be here again. And the immediate reason for the protest of course was the anticorruption drive and the film that was released a couple of weeks ago by the Anticorruption Foundation alleging the mass wealth of current Prime Minister and former caretaker president. Theres a billion dollars worth of palaces, vineyards, yachts, and not just in russia by the way, again, this goes to this point that senator cardin raised in his introductory speech, in the west and some of his holdings are in tus kany. Ive beenly it can vouch its a nice place but that was all documented in the film. That film was seen by as of last night about 13 Million People on youtube. If you watched direction state tv you wouldnt know that any of of this existed. And there was no common no official reaction, nothing from the government to any of this. The only reaction was that banned him on his instagram page, that was the only response to the film. I think that was the immediate trigger for the protest. Which in a way makes it similar to what happened five years ago after the rigged so im going to be here for awhile now. But if you watch these rallies and speeches and the slogans and the placards, somewhere about corruption, sure. But people also translate russia without putin. And the main thing that people translate is russia will be free. Back to the earlier protests. Which didnt include as many young people. I think that was the interesting thing to see that these slogans, russia will be freed. Resonating across generations. I think that is a really important point for all of us to remember that even in places where it seems to be so strong and so totalitarian, theres always space for protest. When people dont feel satisfied with the social contract theyve been forced to by the regime. Absolutely. And they werent born when that social trt was in. Carl i want to bring you into the conversation as well. National endowment has worked for many decades to promote Democratic Values and principals. And, you know, were talking about russia now, but i think in many ways russia is also particularly putin the leader of the country has become a symbol for many leaders. As well. And there does seem to be a growing trend, spreading from east to west where other political leaders have even found themselves as liberal states, quote, unquote. Do see see theres a trend happening across these new democracies we thought were iebl and moving towards liberal democratic societies and is there a backlash . Is putin really what these people are look to . When you have a country that is able to expand the geopolitical influence that has political consequences, then you also have russia very deliberately using the information that exists here as well. But to undermine the morale and divide the country in the west. And then you have on top of that problems of plutocracy. Not just spilling from the people but using the proceeds of that feeling to increase their influence both at home and abroad. And to do it with the help of the western Financial System. I think we and people in europe just have to know what were dealing with. And i dont think we fully realize what were dealing with. When vladimir before was talking about the events on december the 20th, i mean, they were events that took place before then which in a sense are even more eye opening than what we described on december the 20th. Of course im talking about what happened in september with the apartment bombings. In my view theres no question as to what happened there. You know, when the behind the attempted bombing after the first four bombings and they were using the same materials. And 293 russians were killed there. Nobody who knew putin was before that. How do you get somebody going from 2 popularity and nobody knowing who he was and the representing the foc becoming known by everybody. Thats what it was. And he became, you know the war the second war in chechnya started the day after the bombing was discovered. So people didnt paengs to it then they eliminated all of the people trying to write about it we have to protect ourselves more. We have serious internal problems which then the regime like putin using the information space, using the resources, you know, the stolen resources can exploit not just a matter of showing solidarity and i have to say every time i hear him speak, i realize that hes got a rare voice. Really a rare voice. We have to protect ourselves. I think were learning that. But we have a long way to go. And i think one of the things were pointing to is that while there is some appeal in the strong leadership authoritarian that is spreading, i think across some countries in Central Eastern europe, we have to do our part to expose and undermine the rottenness of that regime and the disturbance that it does to the people who have to live in that kind of regime. My sense is this is maybe my typical wishful thinking. Its beginning to peak. And democracy has to revive itself from within. If it were to be able to become real allies of people like vladimir. That was the message i thought, by the way bb last month rubio. It really was a call to us to recover our will and our awareness. Of leadership. Thank you, carl. You brought the information space. I want to bring you into the conversation, tom. Vladimir, you also mentioned the state sponsored media. I think this is important to remember. People have access information. At the same time i think the regime and not just the russian regime but other regimes are there to their stability. As a result we see many western organizations being forced and expelled out of russia. Who have tried to support independent media in Civil Society. So tom, you were assistant secretary in the last administration until very recently. Given the political climate, the organizations which supported independent media in russia are no longer able to operate there. What else what can the u. S. Actually do to try to support these kinds of democratic movements . Independent media, in places like russia and other authoritarian countries . Well, i think theres still a great deal that we can do. And we, you know, when russia made it when russian government made it difficult, its not impossible for the United States to directly support independent Civil Society inside russia. I think we added a number of effective efforts which contributed to defense and security. I think the increase over the last several years is a sign of the insecurity of the regime. An interesting point we should always remember even as we look at the strong facade that putin projects. That underneath the facade must be a tremendous amount of insecurity. So, you know, we were not able to continue to do a lot of the work inside of russia that we were doing. But that doesnt mean that we cant work from the outside, maintain connections to solidarity with and direct support for russian activists for independent media working from outside the country. It doesnt mean that we cannot work with russianspeaking populations in neighboring countries in ukraine and the Baltic States and so forth. In terms of more broadly how we can share the response to whats happening, though, i think we do have to be brutally honest not only about the Political Developments of russia over the last years. When bad things happen in other countries, our instinctual response in america is to appeal to our government and particularly to our president. To Say Something. When i was in the Obama Administration many of you guys came to us for any number. We were urged to take a tougher stand. You were right to do so. Im a democrat when we had a Bush Administration i didnt much like the Bush Administration. But i absolutely believed the president thought that the United States should be a force for good and the world. And i was routinely at the state department in the National Security council urging those folks including paula still in the room to take a stand on this for the other. I dont feel that way about the current occupant of the white house. I think we have to be open about this and think about what it means. There were a number of people this week who called for the release for not condemning these protests. I dont want President Trump to be calling for the release of anticorruption protesters in russia. Its a critical thing to do. In any standpoint, he in many ways represent the things young people in russia were protesting against. He has told us he doesnt really believe the United States can be or should be a force for good in other countries. We have an american first Foreign Policy today. And when confronted with evidence of abuses against his people, his instincts have consistently been to repeat russian propaganda about the lack of moral authority of the United States to condemn anybody else. Basically talking down american democracy by saying that our system is rigged. Our system is corrupt. Exactly what russia today exactly what Russian Diplomats would say to me when i was a secretary whenever i tried to push an agenda. I think what this means for the rest of us is that the traditional model of petitioning the white house for help in these situations has to be replaced by model in which we all take sensibility. Whether the institutions that we represent ourselves as citizens or other parts of the u. S. Government, other branches including the congress, i think the most important thing for example is the congress should do and the senators alluded to this would be to respond to what russian activists have been asking us to do for years. Thats to make sure the United States and countries cannot be a safe haven for dirty money coming out of russia. There have been numerous efforts in the u. S. Congress, for example, to close the loopholes that allow russian oligarchs and many other bad guys around the world to set up Shell Companies in the United States which amazingly is as about easy in america to do as it is in the Cayman Islands and all these other places. That has to stop. We should continue Financial Support to organizations working on human rights in russia and around the world. We cant do that if the state budget is cut by 37 . If you care about this, youve got to care about that. And our members of congress have got to ensure not only that that budget request to the administration is projected, but that we have an increase for the programs that are even in greater demand today when Civil Societys under attack in so many countries. My former bureau, the Human Rights Bureau of the state department will do its job. They will with whatever resources they are given do everything it possibly can to support these brave people in russia and around the world. Our duty is to make sure they get those resources despite very, very clear intentions of the president to deny them. Thank you, tom. I will say it seems that congress has taken a much stronger and assertive role in pushing the administration in the right direction. So i think giving it some time, we will see what happens. The fact that we had a democratic senator and a republican senator here with us today i think is a strong signal that there is bipartisan support for democracy values and principals and pronosing those values and principles abroad. I would like to see more of that as well. I know you have been very active in tying to nudge congress in the right direction. So thank you for doing that as well. I think tom, youre certainly right about that. But at the same time my sense is and correct me if im wrong about this. But despite everything, i think a very optimistic picture of the future that things will change in places like russia. Will decline. That these are temporary movements that will not last in the longterm. But at the same time, i think tom kind of put in a little note of maybe cynicism of pessimism into this picture. That if we dont have civic engagement, we are not going to see these take place. My question to you is how did democracy get its exposure back. How do you get people who are becoming disenchanted with these ideas to reengage . Well, im actually not that pessimistic. I was trying to honestly point to a very deep problem that we have to confront. But i also think that this is a clarifying moment for a lot of people. There was a lot of complacency in this country and western europe and many parts of the world about the inevitability of Democratic Institutions lasting forever. A lot of complacency about the strength and vitality of our democracy here in the United States. And also about the threat to our democracy posed in countries like russia. Even in the state department i have to say we were deeply, deeply concerned. Extremely nervous about the impacts that things like fake news and dirty money might have on democracy in moldova. And now we know. And it may well be that in every generation or two, there needs to be a shock to the system to scare people straight and to show us that, a, we have to work our asses off to protect democracy in our own country because its a neverending struggle. And b, that if america is not a force for good in the world, if we are not using our moral influence and strength to stand with those who share our values, really, really bad things happen. Our grandparents generation had that shock in world war ii. Which was the events that defeats in the first in this country. It was not an el quantity argument made. It was pearl harbor. We now have a political crisis in this country and the western world which i think is scaring a lot of people straight. You know, i saw a lot of young progressives at the rallies after the Trump Administration waving signs about putin. And funny plays on his name and clever slogans and all kinds of things. You know, you wouldnt have seen that level of interest four or five years ago about what is happening. Folks get now the connection between that and what is happening closer to home. Our job is to show that awareness and translate it into a policy agenda that over the next several years will win out in this country. I think we can do that. So i want to get your reflections to what tom just laid out. Will we at a turning point . For russia where were seeing young people engaged in politics . What is your take on that . I do believe we are in a crisis. Whether its a turning point, i dont know yet. It does present an opportunity. I think people are realizing we have a problem and we have to address that problem. Im not sure i agree arguments are important. You need just the attack on pearl harbor and 9 11 to sort of make people really wake up. I think its important now to care about freedom and democracy to come together and to begin a campaign to argue for these values, to reaffirm the First Principles of democracy which are being not only ignored but also demeaned. And exploited. In other words, the putin is actually using the openness of our society to undermine the very principlipaliples of openn. Has not been done by any political leaders. Its not just this administration. There are no Democratic Political leaders who are really strongly affirming the values and the principles of democracy. And i think its going to have to start with intellectuals with simple society. I think it can be helped with people like vladimir and people in the struggle by the problems they have. As evolving video about middata and the corruption was this nineminute video that came out. One of the students in this high school. Had been trying to rally students to participate in the protests last sunday. And he was picked up by the police. She said what do you want. And one of the students said we want and what do you mean by justice. He said justice is when the authorities care about their people. This is a High School Student in a small town, you know, 350 miles from moscow. Where they care about their people and not just about themselves. When they care about ordinary citizens and not about their millions of dollars. Many people want to live in a free state and country. This coming from a High School Student. Now, when you have voices like that, that speak up or prepared to take risk, go into the street when you know what the risks are. And you have articulate voices in high school. I think they can help rally people here. We have to find ways, new ways of connecting people. The internet can be very, very helpful watching the videos can be very helpful. We have to think about ways of doing that. Then people who think about these issues, people who shape opinions. They have to begin to formulate arguments as to how to respond to the propaganda coming out of moscow. To reaffirm the First Principles and that unite us across the political division. We have a new struggle we have a battle of ideas we have to wage. And we have to do it with effectiveness. We have to do it with courage and intelligence and dedication. So ideas still matter. Ideas matter fundamentally. The whole idea of freedom and everything that is related to the idea, thats what hes giving his life for. I just want to add that i urge everyone to watch and read that exchange. Being translated into english and posted on many websites. Because i mean, its really these are kids in a small town in the south of russia. And they are going back and all over the place. Not just schools but universities. After these protests last sunday, in many cases across the country. Especially universities. Gathering and in some cases the whole, you know, whole course or class of University Went to these protests. How much were you paid from washington . Theyre saying this. Were not making these things up. People asking with a serious face how much youre paid. Putin spokesmen said they were bribed. Thats his job to say these things. I dont know if he believes it. Those people looked like they did. Thats whats amazing. Its really the clash of generations. This is what theyre saying. Your question, i think, yes, this is a turning point. Primarily its a turning point because of the demographic. Because of the age. This is the tomorrow of russia, these people. These are the faces of tomorrow. When you have lets say they have general protests. You can scare other people off. In the first few days i was really scared. I remember those first few days. Got one connection to another. A few days after that happened. And just a year and a half, i think, before that or a year before that, mr. Medvedev was saying we would not restore elections in russia in hundred years. His words. They also allowed the opposition parti parties. Police just beat up Peaceful Protesters and arrested dozens. Some people are still in prison for taking that. So you can do that. You can scare or pressure somebody else. When its a whole generation ta stood up with you, theres not much you can do. We just had our own put up a post online. In preparation for the next wave of protests. Doesnt have sophisticated message. And just one word. These are the people who live their whole life with him. Does not see anything except him. That exchange referred to. That principle saying why youre unhappy. Why you want this. Why dont you like putin. And one of the questions, wonder if she thought about it. But she said, well, who was better. What government that you lived under was better. They never lived under another government, they wont know. All they know is him. The people who come to vote next march in the Russian Election will have been born under putin. The people who turn 18 become voters. They will be born under him. Thats how long hes been in power. So a whole new generation that are simply fed up with seeing one face on the tv screen every single day. So yes this is a turning point. Second of all, goes back to the point i think this is an insecure regime. Theyre stable until their not. And i think that is the point we have to remember were thinking about and also the National Security allies in europe. I want to leave a bit of time for questions in the audience, im sure are eager to ask questions. Before we do that, i have to ask you, are you planning on going back after all of this . Yes, i do want to go back. Next time im going to be a little more differential to what the doctors are saying. I went back soon after the first poisoning. I want to go back this time and will go back. But this time im going to take some time to get completely restored. I look better than i feel. Theres still a way to go for recovery. The doctor said in moscow because ive had this poisoning, if i have a third time that would be the last one. Trying to get as much of my health back before guy back. So i think ill take their advice this time be a little bit more obedient. Yes i want to go back and will go back. Because i think its i think its important. I think what we do is important. Judging from the reaction, i think they also think what we do is important. And i dont think we have a moral right, frankly. Even because of people who went out to protest last sunday. We have responsibility before those people. To continue. Not to hide. Not to run away. Not to give up. Theres nothing more than they want like to give up. Those are powerful words. Like i said, i think all of us here we admire you for your courage. And the courage of your family as well. Im going to take three questions all at the same time. We dont have that much time left. Mik mikes will be going around. Thank you all very much for being here. The biggest action that the west has taken United States led have been economic sanctions to try to pressure russia. Then weve had the oil price drop. I noticed just recently with litt ruble devaluation, its fallen below is this a viable strategy as the main tool to try to bring about change along the liends that wed all like to see. Thank you. Im going to take two more questions. From the victims of communism. My question is whether or not theres any value in coordination between the human rights activist movements in russia and in china, in cuba, and countries around the world. And trying to have the world rights movement. We know that several groups are persecuted. They call nontraditional religious minorities. One of them is jehovahs witnesses. Going to file a claim to ban this group. Thank you. Being the right policy to bring about change. Then religious freedom. Who wants to take them. Ill take the first two. Might want to Say Something about the third. There are a lot of things that we can do. I think the sanctions we now have are minimal. We have to protect ourselves and protect the information space. Not allowing these planes to be bombing in syria and ukraine. You know, but probably the most effective thing we could do is to really cut off access to our investment system. Reorganized crime and corruption reporting project. Which just came out with a report that the guardian reported on. 20 billion of stolen money. Could be as high as 80 billion. The video that they did about medvedev had 1 million. But its much, much more than that. These are enormous sums of money. No matter how much we defend human rights, our system is also underwriting these authoritarian systems by taking the money, protecting it. There are all sorts of enablers. This is well documented. And if our congress and political system along with europe can really require that if anybody wants to invest money, they cannot do it anonymously with anonymous companies. Shell banks and so forth. To really tighten it up and have transparency and know whos investing. And not to accept stolen money. I think that would do more than anything else to affect this the power and influence of these autocratic countries. Regarding coordination, a lot of coordination does take place already. There is something that we for democracy told the World Movement for democracy but also can be coordination at the human rights level. At the end of may, vladimir will be at the meeting at the Oslo Freedom Forum for human rights activists and has an annual human rights meeting which does Something Like that. I strongly support that and i think we now have a tool with the internet and social media to try to strengthen that coordination and make it regular. That should also involve common action coordinated action to try to free. In terms of legislation, and the policy question, a great deal more could be done beyond relatively weak sanctions. Its an emerging issue, i think. I think theres a readiness now to really take this issue seriously. I call attention to the initiative. Another think tank in washington with the work of davidson. Ill Say Something of the sanctions point. I think it is extremely important that the sanction be sustained. I think theres a little complacency about that right now. I think we all assume the scrutiny into the allegations of the Trump Campaign and russia will be hard for the administration to do a grand bargain. But that said, sanctions to be maintained to remain effective dont just need to remain on the books. They are to enforced vig yously. We have to watch to ensure the treasury and state department actually do the work to continually renew the sanctions that are supposed to be a maintenance package. That the treasurely department under normal circumstances would do in july that would add names and entities. Our European Partners during some of the countries that are more under business influence. But right now like hungary to those for the renewal of the sanctions when they come up for review. Also in july. All that said, though, lets remember the sanctions are not these sanctions were not meant as a response to inside russia. They were not intended to try to change russia. They are response to the see sure of crimea. And were those issues to be resolved somehow, concerned that these issues again on the broader set measures that our congress has within its power to put in place. My hope is that as the investigation to the administration continues that there will be a legislative agenda that goes along with that as members ask how can we better protect ourselves against that kind of interference in the future. Whether it comes to russia or china or any other country. And i think if they ask that question, the natural answer will be i think all of us said to tighten the rules against the anonymous laundering of money in our financial political system. We know. Religious freedom embracing we believe in what the russian constitution says. And i guarantee the freedom of religion of our citizens as well as the International Obligations weve undertaken. On the cooperation between different human rights. Going on but i think its the cooperation with countries that have experienced very similar situations to what we have. And also the countries that are closer to us. And of course ukraine is the main one here. I think and ive said it many times that i think the primary motivation against ukraine that began in 2014 was not the geopolitics. That was frankly too uncomfortable and too close to call. Hundreds of thousands of people were standing on the streets. A corrupt authoritarian forced out of power in ukraine, a country so similar. In terms of religion, heritage, language. There are very close lengths between. That is an important question. Thank you for it. First of all, the biggest question under the most hidden sanctions of people were introduced by Vladimir Putin in the summer of 2014. When he posed a blanket ban on food imports from the European Union and other countries. Especially affect iing to the border. Surrounded by it. And now we have to fly from turkey and from china and you imagine how that contributes to the prices. After the sanctions were introduced. If you just go inside the court yard, youll have these up. These are the tougher sanctions. By the way, the propaganda to show them. As far as western sanctions go, i would like to offer the russian perspective. The opposition russian perspective. Were against sanctions in russia. This is an important point for us. I had the opportunity to testify in the senate yesterday. Appropriations subcommittee hearing. About the situation in russia and possible ways of the sanctions act that was introduced. And i said to him that its important to be careful about the language. Its essential that the u. S. Is not seen as seeking to punish the russian people for the actions of a regime that cannot hold to account who independent media. To the same point. Not equating russia and the putin regime. And i think the most effective sanctions and frankly the most principled sanctions are the individual ones. The targeted sanctions. More than four years ago. It was november 16th, 2012, the third anniversary of the death in prison. We were sitting there as members of congress were voting massive majority in both houses. And boris called it the most prorussian law in the history. And it really is. Because it targets those people who abuse the rights of russian citizens and who blunder the money stolen from the russian people. Thats now 44 people sanctioned under the act. And bunch of names came in midjanuary where the former administration was in place just in time. And i have to say that this was an important day when that came. Had many conversations about this in the last few years. Was a guy called the head of of it. This was a person who was basically tailor made. He was in charge. But this is supposedly the top official in charge of all the politically motivated. He was in charge. He actually admitted it. Its not some allegedly. He said it. He said sorry afterwards, as well, but i think thats not enough. He was put on that list. And he is the most high ranking. And we really hope despite everything this law continues to be implemented and its very heartening to see other countries beginning to follow the example. It was the first European Union country that had the tenacity to say no. Were going to put a block to the human rights. And now the United Kingdom is in it. That would be a potential game changer. Engaging human rights abuse. Engaged in corruption. And yet to have used for years western countries and western Financial System as haven. Especially to buy properties, real estate, and they should stop. I think these are the types of sanctions that are both the princip principle. While we were watching with boris, once we have the rule of law and the democratic system again in russia, i will be the first one. Unfortunately that day here and its important to carry on. Of course it wont be boris. But i think some of us hopefully live to that day and will be coming here. But again that day is not yet. We now have a global link. The legacy of this brave russian lawyer who sacrificed his life for this cause. Now a law that enables us. And i think we have to unfortunately wrap up. But the young people will carry on. Thank you again for being with us today. Thank you, tom. Thank you, carl. And thank you to our audience. Please thank me join me in than panelists. [ applause ] the head of Strategic Command will testify. He is expected to answer and northfrom russia korea. Watch starting at 9 30 a. M. Eastern on cspan. Later on in the day, aflcio president will discuss trade, infrastructure, and workers rights. That is live from the national eastern. B at 1 00 p. M. Announcer cspan, where history unfolds daily. By1979, cspan was created americas Cable Television companies as a Public Service and is brought you today by your cable or Satellite Television provider. Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee Urged democrats to

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