On February 9, the Institute of Modern Russia (IMR) and The Harriman Institute (Columbia University) will present a panel entitled “Russian Opposition and the Presidential Elections.” Prominent experts on Russian politics will discuss the implications of the unprecedented social upheaval in Russia and the opposition movement’s plans if Vladimir Putin is re-elected to the office for a third term in March 2012.
Mass protests took place in Russia after the 2011 parliamentary elections, which many said were rigged. At least 50 thousand people showed up to the Moscow Bolotnaya Square for the first rally on December 10, and almost twice as many attended the second rally on Sakharov Avenue two weeks later. In a short period of time now known as the "Russian Spring,” the opposition movement finally came out of the shadows, presenting a major challenge to the Putin’s regime.
Still, the Russian opposition movement will have to deal with its internal problems, such as a lack of strategy for short- and long-term struggles against the regime, the necessity for a corresponding political agenda, and need to conceive of ways to continue the fight during Putin’s possible third term as President.
This and many other crucial issues will be discussed by a panel of distinguished experts at an event organized by the Institute of Modern Russia and The Harriman Institute on February 9 (more details below). Among the participants are Andrey Piontkovsky, an advisor to the IMR, a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Systems Analysis at the Russian Academy of Sciences, and a Visiting Fellow at the Hudson Institute, Vladimir Kara-Murza, Washington bureau chief of the RTVi television network, Maria Gaidar, a Russian political activist and founder of the youth movement DA!, and Timothy Frye, Director of The Harriman Institute. The panel will be moderated by Dr. Lincoln Mitchell of Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs.
This free and public event will take place on Thursday, February 9, from 6:00-8:00 pm at the Columbia University Kraft Center, located at 606 West 115th between Broadway and Riverside Drive, across the street from Shapiro.
