On Oct. 16, the Dickey Center for International Understanding hosted three Russian dissidents — Vladimir Kara-Murza, Evgenia Kara-Murza and Tikhon Dzyadko — for an event titled, “Dissidence and Democracy in Russia: A Work in Progress.” The event focused on the “fight for democracy” in Russia, according to the Dickey Center website.
The talk was the second this year in the Mary and Peter R. Dallman 1951 Great Issues Lectures — a collaboration between the Dickey Center and East European, Eurasian and Russian studies department. The lecture series aims to make the Dartmouth community aware of “pressing international issues,” according to its website.
The event, held in Cook Auditorium, drew approximately 150 attendees and featured a discussion followed by a Q&A.
The discussion opened with introductions of the panelists by Dickey Center director Victoria Holt. Panelist and Pulitzer Prize-winner Vladimir Kara-Murza was released from a prison in Omsk, Russia as a part of the Aug. 1 United States-Russia prisoner swap earlier this year. His wife Evgenia Kara-Murza is the advocacy director at the Free Russia Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to “empowering and coordinating global efforts for democracy in Russia,” according to its website. Tikhon Dzyadko, the editor-in-chief of TV Rain — the largest independent television station in Russia — has been “broadcast[ing] in exile” in the Netherlands since 2023.
The discussion then turned to Dzyadko, who described the removal of TV Rain from Russian cable shortly after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
“After the beginning of the full-scale invasion, everything has changed,” he said. “When you drop bombs at the civilians in a neighboring country, there is no need to pretend that you [Russia] are a good guy.”
Evgenia Kara-Murza described the significance of Memorial — a human rights organization founded in 1989 to document the “victims of the crimes committed in the Stalinist era.” Memorial was declared a foreign agent by Russia in 2016, and its offices were taken over by Russian authorities in March 2022, according to Evgenia Kara-Murza.
“That process of reckoning, that process of official condemnation, the punishment of those crimes, has to happen so that we get a chance at building a democracy in Russia,” Evgenia Kara-Murza said.
The event then turned to an audience Q&A. A student, who said she is from Ukraine, asked the panelists about Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine and expressed her support for an expansion of sanctions on Russia and its citizens.
“Needless to say, all occupied territories will be returned to Ukraine, absolutely,” Vladimir Kara-Murza said. “…I don’t see any other way. … Russia has to return to its internationally recognized legal borders of 1991.”
On the topic of sanctions, Vladimir Kara-Murza said “blanket bans” targeting Russians’ entry into other countries are “wrong” and “counterproductive.” He added that it would be “shortsighted” to sanction 140 million Russians and treat them all “as war criminals.” Dzyadko also advised caution regarding sanctions.
“Sanctions should be smart, because otherwise they [will] be counterproductive, and the people in Russia [will] be brainwashed by propaganda,” Dzyadko said.
Attendee Deven Carkner ’28 commended the role of international discussions at Dartmouth.
“Dartmouth has people from all over the world, all over the country, that have very different experiences and life experiences, and they come here to share that,” Carkner said.
Vladimir Kara-Murza noted the potential of individuals — especially the youth — in democratic countries to drive positive change.
“People in democratic societies can move mountains if they choose to,” Vladimir Kara-Murza said in an interview with The Dartmouth. “Every time I speak to young audiences, whether it is in Russia or in Western countries, I’m always filled with hope and optimism and confidence that the future of our world will be in a good place.”
Attendee Wai Yan Win Aung ’28, who is from Myanmar, said the subject matter of the discussion resonated with him due to the coup in his home country by the military in February 2021. Win Aung noted that authoritarianism is not “confined” to a single region.
“Countries like those of the West have to always be cognizant that their rights and liberties are sacred to them,” Win Aung said. “They should protect [rights and liberties] and not let it be taken away.”
Similarly, Dzaydko said in an interview with The Dartmouth that the freedom of political prisoners — such as those in Russia — will require people in every part of the world to understand that as a “common goal.”
“The main word … for the students from Myanmar or from Russia or from Ukraine or from the United States, is the word solidarity,” Dzyadko said. “Without solidarity, it is impossible to build … a world where we all could be free.”
In an interview with The Dartmouth, Evgenia Kara-Murza noted that the quality of an individual’s freedom is related to the freedom of others abroad.
“As long as there are people oppressed somewhere in this world, [as long as] there are people thrown in jails for their opinions, deprived of the right to decide for themselves how they want to live their lives — for as long as this situation persists, the quality of our freedom will be affected by that,” Evgenia Kara-Murza said in an interview after the event.
Dickey Center senior policy director Elizabeth Shackelford said in an interview that it is “important” for students to see speakers “fighting for democracy.”
“For these types of visitors in particular — the ones who are standing up and fighting for democracy, human rights, freedom all around the world — they represent the power of an individual who stands up and bravely fights for their values,” Shackelford said.
