The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) invites you to a roundtable discussion, New Russian Laws – Tightening the Noose on Free Speech?

During the summer of 2012, the Russian parliament passed and President Putin signed a series of laws that will raise fines on protesters, impose limits on the Internet, make slander a criminal offense, and require nongovernmental organizations that get funding from abroad to register as foreign agents.

How repressive are these new Russian laws? What will be the rules of engagement for minority voices, human rights and civil rights activists? To what extent do these laws put at risk the work of international organizations including USAID, WHO, Amnesty International and Transparency International?  What are the implications of these new political realities on U.S. relations with Russia? 

Join the discussion.

Date:  September 19, 2012

Time:  11:00 A.M.—12:00 P.M. (Please arrive by 10:45 AM to allow time for check-in.  Photo ID required.) 

Location:
Broadcasting Board of Governors Headquarters
VOA Briefing Room (#1528A)
330 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20237

Moderator: Jeffrey Trimble, Deputy Director, International Broadcasting Bureau

Panelists:

• Susan Corke, Director of Eurasia Programs, Freedom House
• Vladimir Kara-Murza, Russian journalist, historian and politician
• Miriam Lanskoy, Director for Russia and Eurasia, National Endowment for Democracy
• David Satter, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute and Foreign Policy Institute Fellow, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies 

Registration: While there is no cost to attend, registration is required.  For more information, please call the BBG's Office of Public Affairs at (202) 203-4400 or email pubaff@bbg.gov.

(Please use Independence Avenue Entrance)
2 blocks from Federal Center Southwest Metro (Blue & Orange lines)
3 blks. from L’Enfant Plaza Metro/Exit 7th St. and Maryland Ave., S.W.
(Yellow, Green, Blue, Orange lines)