Born into Soviet Jewish intelligentsia, leading Russian opposition figure, Leonid Volkov, is now in exile in Lithuania.
From 12:00 noon UK Time
At Goldster Purpose, Passion, Grit
Born into Soviet Jewish intelligentsia, leading Russian opposition figure, Leonid Volkov, is now in exile in Lithuania. Through lawyers, he liaises with his jailed friend Alexei Navalny who is serving nine years in a maximum-security Russian prison. Both became Internet bloggers with massive followings, Leonid was Navalny’s chief-of-staff for his Moscow mayoral campaign in 2013 and his presidential campaign against Vladimir Putin in 2018.
From exile and prison, the two friends and others are preparing for Putin’s fall and the creation of a modern, more peaceful Russia. “I do strongly believe that one day Russia will become a free and democratic country, a part of European family, where it belongs by its whole culture and history,” he says. In a rare and very special Goldster Purpose, Passion and Grit, Leonid will tell Humphrey Hawksley about his childhood at a time when Russia was warming toward the West. His parents are in academia in western Russia.
Leonid will recount how he used the Internet to muster political support in the tens of millions, then how the iron fist of Russian state smashed down arresting Alexei Navalny and forcing him into exile. It is an incredible story, not yet ended, of how one man musters the purpose, passion, grit and courage to keep struggling for what he believes in. Join Humphrey at 12.00 on Tuesday December 13th to hear Leonid Volkov’s story in his own words and ask him how he thinks he can create a new Russia.
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