The Boris Nemtsov Forum is a platform for pro-democracy Russians and their European and American peers.
The inaugural Forum was held in Berlin in 2016, and since then it has become an important annual event
that brings together leading voices of democratic Russia and European and American politicians and public intellectuals.
Our guests have included Alexei Navalny, Sergey Guriev, Francis Fukuyama, Adam Michnik, Grigory Yudin, Maria Snegovaya, Dmitry Glukhovsky, Marianna Muravyeva, Valeria Korablyova, Mykhailo Samus, Polina Sinovets, Alexander Rodnyansky, Sam Greene, Damon Wilson, Michael Kofman, Mariana Katzarova and many others. The Freedom Speech opens the Forum.
- Initiated by the Boris Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom
- Held in early October in a European capital around the date of Boris Nemtsov’s birthday
- 150-200 guests and attendees
- Different session styles: podium discussions, working groups and cultural program
- Working languages are Russian and English
PREVIOUS FORUMS
2024 Berlin, Germany
The theme of the 2024 Forum: Overcoming the fear: Between appeasement and resistance.
More about the Boris Nemtsov Forum 2024.
The traditional “Speech on Freedom” took place in a Q&A format with recently released political prisoners Sasha Skochilenko, Vadim Ostanin, Kevin Lik, and Andrey Pivovarov, who were freed as a result of a prisoner exchange.
Key Speakers
Christoph Heusgen
Pavlo Klimkin
Jessica Berlin
Michael Kofman
Michael McFaul
Dmitry Navosha
Karl-Heinz Paqué
Irina Scherbakova
Lüba Zakharov
Alexander Bikbov
Monetochka (Elizaveta Gyrdymova)
Sasha Filipenko
Alexandra Arkhipova
Marius Ivaškevičius
Nina Khrushcheva
2023 Berlin, Germany
The forum was dedicated to the future of Eastern Europe and its relations with Russia, which is waging a full-scale war against Ukraine. Alexander Rodnyansky, a filmmaker and producer, delivered the traditional Freedom speech in Ukrainian.
Key Speakers
Valeria Korablyova
Kirsty Sutherland
Gleb Bogush
Sergey Golubok
Michael Kofman
Mykhailo Samus
Polina Sinovets
Damon Wilson
Sergey Guriev
Sam Greene
Mariana Katzarova
Marianna Muravyeva
Dmitry Glukhovsky
2019 Warsaw, Poland
The Forum took place against the backdrop of increased state-sponsored repression in Russia. The main topic was resilience tactics. The Forum’s participants discussed the ways to preserve basic freedoms in an oppressive political regime and resist propaganda.
Key Speakers
Sergey Guriev
Alexey Navalny
Adam Michnik
Zhanna Nemtsova
Vladimir Kara-Murza
Nikolai Petrov
Grigory Yudin
2018 Prague, Czech Republic
In March 2018, Vladimir Putin took the the presidential office for the third time. The future political scenarios for Russia was the key topic of discussion at the Boris Nemtsov Forum.
Video (FreedomTVEurope)
Film
Key Speakers
Guy Verhofstadt
Ilya Yashin
Sergey Aleksashenko
Grigory Yudin
John Bogaerts
2017 Berlin, Germany
Russia civil society and challenges it might face was the main topic of the Forum.
Key Speakers
Maria Snegovaya
Christopher Gohl
Peter Limburg
Dmitriy Vrubel
Elena Panfilova
Stefan Melle
Michael Savva
2016 Berlin, Germany
This Forum was dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the state of Russian-European relations.
Key Speakers
Elmar Brok
Jerzy Pomianowski
Mikhail Khodorkovsky
Lev Gudkov
Jens Boehlmann
Mikhail Shishkin