European Contexts Seminar Series
With Sergey Parkhomenko (publisher, journalist, civic activist), Ilya Yashin (politician), Galina Timchenko (journalist), Angelina Davydova (environmental and climate journalist)
When: 16 January 2024, 9:30-11:30 CET
Where: In-person, in Presseclub Concordia, Bankgasse 8, 1010 Vienna AND online via ZOOM
There are two ways to follow this seminar:
- Presseclub Concordia attendance - Registration!
- Zoom participation - Registration!
Background
It is almost three years since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and some estimates indicated that that since 2022 almost one million Russians left the country. Emigration from Russia (and the Soviet Union) is an old phenomenon: Russian-speaking diaspora surpasses 20 million people. The latest emigration wave includes journalists and activists who opposed the war, draft dodgers, political opponents, IT specialists, economic migrants and others.
Journalists, politicians and activists have continued their work abroad, addressing those who stayed in Russia and those who left.
What can they do in exile and from exile? What are their objectives? Can they reach people in Russia? What will be their role when the war ends? Are there future-oriented initiatives?
Top journalists, politicians and activists will share their views.
Speakers
Sergey Parkhomenko, publisher, journalist, civic activist and political commentator. He co-founded Dissernet, a volunteer community network working to clean Russian science of plagiarism, as well as the project Last Address, a large-scale public memorial project designed to commemorate the memory of innocent people who died because of political repression in the Soviet Union. Currently, Sergey leads the Redkollegia project, the most prestigious professional award in Russia, established in 2016 to support independent journalism. He lives in Paris.
Ilya Yashin, is a Russian opposition politician and public figure. Former head of the Krasnoselsky District Council in Moscow and a key leader of the Russian opposition. He was one of 16 prisoners freed by Russia in a historic exchange with the West on Aug. 1. He had been serving an 8.5-year sentence for denouncing the invasion of Ukraine. Yashin lives in Berlin.
Ivan Kolpakov is editor-in-chief and co-founder of Meduza, a Russian media outlet based in Riga, Latvia. He started working as a journalist in 2001 in Perm where he contributed to local political and business newspapers. In 2010, he launched his own project; Salt, a political and satirical magazine, also based in Perm. It closed down less than two years later because of problems with investors and officials. In 2012, Ivan moved to Moscow and became the head of the special reporters department at Lenta.ru, at that time Russia’s most popular online publication. He left Lenta.ru with the rest of the team following the firing of its editor-in-chief Galina Timchenko. Together with Timchenko he founded Meduza, which has been called Russia’s free press in exile. The project was an instant success. In the eyes of many Russian readers, Meduza has become one of the most popular and reliable media outlets available in Russian.
Angelina Davydova is an environmental and climate journalist, writing for the Russian and international media, NGOs and think-tanks. She is a co-host of the English-language podcast The Eurasian Climate Brief. She lives in Berlin.
Format
Short presentations followed by Q&A
Target Groups
Austrian and international journalists, thinktank analysts, and academics.
Number of participants in Presseclub Concordia
Maximum: 70
Number on online participants
Maximum: 100