Speaker Bio

Dmitry Gudkov is a Russian opposition politician and public figure. He was an independent member of the State Duma from 2011 to 2016 and spoke out against several significant Kremlin decisions, such as the annexation of Crimea and the “Anti-Magnitsky Law,” which banned the adoption of Russian orphans by American citizens. He served on two parliamentary commissions on relations with the United States and the European Union.
In 2012, he was elected as a member of the Coordinating Council of the Russian opposition.
Gudkov was one of the leaders of the protest movement that swept the country after the rigged 2011 Duma elections. He was on the front lines of the protests on Bolotnaya Square from 2011 to 2013 and participated in the Peace March for Ukraine in Moscow.
He authored several bills aimed at promoting democratic values and protecting civil rights. Gudkov advocates for a European path of development for Russia and the restoration of Russian relations with Western countries.
In 2021, amid increasing pressure from Russian authorities on opposition leaders, he was forced to leave Russia.
Currently, he is a co-founder and member of the Russian Anti-War Committee, established in 2022 by a group of Russian political émigrés to resist Vladimir Putin’s regime and its aggressive war against Ukraine.