Open Estonia Foundation and the Lennart Meri Conference discussion “Voices of Freedom: Garry Kasparov in Conversation with Jill Dougherty” on May 16

Open Estonia Foundation and the Lennart Meri Conference will co-organize a discussion titled “Voices of Freedom: Garry Kasparov in Conversation with Jill Dougherty” on May 16.

Outside the Kremlin walls, heavily fortified with authoritarianism and imperialism, another Russia exists—made up of activists, journalists, civic leaders, and ordinary citizens who resist, often at great personal risk and often in exile. Who represents the real Russia today? Who has the right to speak in its name? And most crucially, who should we listen to? The Russia challenge calls not for appeasement, managed coexistence, or negotiated accommodation, but a fundamental reckoning with the brutal nature of the regime. Getting there demands ending the three decades of wishful thinking. What does the Kremlin truly want? Why does the west misread Moscow? And what would a new Russia strategy built on clarity look like?

Speakers:  Co-founder of the Free Russia Forum, Garry Kasparov, and Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University and CNN on-air Contributor, Jill Dougherty.

Garry Kasparov is the Co-Founder of the Free Russia Forum, launched in 2026 to unite fellow exiles to plan and demand change, and the Russian Anti-War Committee (2022).   Born in Baku, Azerbaijan, in the USSR in 1963, Garry Kasparov became the youngest world chess champion in history in 1985. Speaking out against the Soviet Communist regime accustomed him at an early age to being in political hot water. In 2005, still ranked No 1, he retired to form the Russian pro-democracy opposition against the rising dictatorship of Vladimir Putin. Facing imminent arrest during Putin’s crackdown, Mr Kasparov moved from Moscow to New York City in 2013. In 2017, he founded the Renew Democracy Initiative (RDI) in New York, dedicated to promoting the principles of the free world at home and fighting authoritarianism abroad. Mr Kasparov later co-founded the World Liberty Congress, which unites dissidents to fight against authoritarian regimes. The Kasparov Chess Foundation sponsors chess education and many of the world’s top young talents.

Jill Dougherty has been an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University’s Center for Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies since 2020, a global fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars since 2018, and a CNN on-air contributor, commenting on Russia-related issues. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the World Affairs Council. Ms Dougherty is the author of My Russia: What I Saw from the Kremlin. Previously, she served as CNN’s Moscow Bureau Chief (1997-2005), White House Correspondent, Foreign Affairs Correspondent (2009-14) covering the US State Department, US affairs editor, and Managing Editor of CNN International, Asia-Pacific, based in Hong Kong.

The event will be held in English without simultaneous translation and is by invitation only.

Additional information: jete@oef.org.ee