Politician, historian, author, and human rights advocate who serves as Vice President of the Free Russia Foundation, Senior Advisor at Human Rights First, and Senior Fellow at the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights.
A longtime opposition leader and close colleague of Boris Nemtsov, he served as deputy leader of the People’s Freedom Party and was a parliamentary candidate. He spearheaded international diplomatic campaigns for the adoption of targeted Magnitsky sanctions across Western jurisdictions. In April 2022, he was arrested for publicly condemning the invasion of Ukraine and served over two years of a 25-year sentence in solitary confinement before his release in the August 2024 East-West prisoner exchange.
A contributing writer for The Washington Post, he was awarded the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for his columns written from prison. His broader work includes founding the Boris Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom, directing three documentary films, and publishing extensively on history and political reform. He holds a Master of Arts in History from Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and is a recipient of the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize.