Over the last years, stories of nefarious Russian operations abroad, and of Norwegian espionage in Russia, have increasingly resonated in media. Recently, Aleksey Navalny, the opposition leader, was poisoned in an attack that European governments seem to attribute to the FSB, the federal security service.
From troll factories in Saint Petersburg, through mercenaries in Africa and Syria, to an attack on a Chechen blogger in Sweden in February – Russia seems to try to undermine democratic institutions (such as elections) abroad and persecute its critics in exile. What can Norway expect in the future, and how should we protect our own society and strengthen democracy in Russia?
Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan are probably Russia’s most recognized experts on Russia’s security state. In books like The New Nobility, The Red Web and the The Compatriots: The Brutal and Chaotic History of Russia’s Exiles, Émigrés, and Agents Abroad, Soldatov and Borogan demonstrate how the secret services are an unbroken spine from the Soviet Union to Putin’s Russia. The two prominent journalists will be interviewed by Aage Borchgrevink from the Norwegian Helsinki Committee.
This year’s Anna Politkovskaya seminar will deal with the Russia’s security state and its objectives abroad, including in Norway, and the methods it employs. The conversation will be in English, with opportunities to send in questions in Norwegian (or Russian).
Did you miss the event? Then you can watch it here:
Kontakt
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