Ksenia Vakhrusheva, Ph.D. in regional economics, is currently a project manager at the Bellona Foundation - an independent international nonprofit environmental organization that aims to meet and fight the climate challenges, by identifying and implementing sustainable environmental solutions (headquarters in Oslo, Norway). She is leading research on the environmental impact of economic development in the Russian Arctic. Regularly contributes to the Bellona’s magazine “Environment and Rights” (ecopravo.org).
For 28 years (1994-2022) Bellona maintained two offices in Russia, in Murmansk and St.Petersburg, where Ksenia worked since 2011. She was implementing projects promoting renewable energy, capacity building for environmental movement, and free access to environmental information. In 2014 Ksenia left Russia for political reasons but continued to facilitate projects connecting the environmental civil society in Russia and the EU. Residing in Bulgaria she joined BlueLink - a foundation, registered in public interest in Bulgaria with the mission to uphold civil society, democracy, shared European values, and environmental sustainability - leading environmental projects and contributing to its e-magazine Evromegdan.bg.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 impelled Bellona to cease its operations in Russia, shutting down both its offices and relocating its personnel and expertise to a new office in Vilnius that opened in 2023. Since then, Ksenia has been supervising policy work of the Vilnius office and is managing its Arctic project. Her previous experience includes research of the energy sector and real estate market, academic teaching, civic education, financial management, and fundraising.