“If we change nothing, nothing will change.”

Grigory Amnuel, filmmaker, producer, politician. He is the author of more than 30 documentaries, and a laureate and award winner at international film festivals. Grigory Amnuel has worked in the Moscow City Duma and in the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation. He was a co-founder of the State Duma’s “European Club” interparty group, and has served as executive secretary of parliamentary groups for cooperation with African and Benelux countries. Amnuel is deputy director-general of the American-Soviet Kino Initiative (ASK), director of Euro ASK, founder and director of the “International Dialog” Open Club and of “Schools of Social Management and Civic Initiatives” educational programs for young Russians in Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. He is a regular participant in radio and television political talk shows in Russia, the United States, Latvia, Poland, Germany, and other countries. He was the author and producer of the first-ever statue of a Pope (John Paul II) in the history of Russian statehood that was unveiled in the atrium of the Library for Foreign Literature in Moscow on October 14, 2011. Grigory Amnuel is a recipient of the Order of the Three Stars (Latvia), the John Paul II Medal for Merit for his services to the Archdiocese of Krakow (Poland), and the medal “Defender of a Free Russia” (Russia, 1991).

“History should explain–not judge. History is not a judge but an attorney.”

Benedetto Croce

Igor Kuznetsov is a Russian attorney. In 2004, he received a law degree from Moscow Academy of Economics and Law. From 2007 to 2014 he represented the interests of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, former CEO of the Yukos oil company. As an attorney, he specializes in criminal and administrative law. His expertize also includes legal questions relating to the daily activities of individuals.

“History teaches even those who do not learn. It teaches them lessons for their ignorance and disrespect”.

Vasily Klyuchevsky, Russian historian

Pavel Ivlev, Russian attorney and political refugee. He graduated from Law Faculty at Moscow State University in 1993, studied law at Columbia University, New York, and at Queen Mary University of London. From 1994, he provided legal advice to the Yukos oil company and its CEO, Mikhail Khodorkovsky. In 1997, Pavel Ivlev became a partner in the ALM Feldmans law firm that was later destroyed by Russian law-enforcement authorities in the context of the Yukos case. In 2004, as a result of wrongful persecution, Ivlev was forced to leave Russia for New York City, where in 2009 he founded the Committee for Russian Economic Freedom to campaign for free market and civic freedoms in Russia.

“History is the best teacher who has the worst students.”

Indira Gandhi

Jolanta Runce is a Latvian educator and diplomat. She studied at Saint Petersburg State University of Culture and Arts and  at the Latvian Academy of Culture. She has worked at the Department of Cultural Affairs at Riga City Hall, and from 2001 to 2010 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia. Jolanta Runce has served as a culture, education and science attaché at the Latvian embassies in France and Russia. She has organized the “Amazing Latvia” cultural festival in France, and the song and dance festival of the Latvian diaspora in Bashkortostan. She teaches Russian language and literature.