On Thursday, June 3, at 3 PM ET, NSI released a fireside chat featuring Jamie Fly, President of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty to discuss Russia’s aggressive actions to prevent RFE/RL from operating freely and what steps RFE/RL took in response to make sure that unbiased news can still reach their Russian audience.

Russian officials recently informed Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) about the launch of enforcement proceedings against the company for unpaid fines related to Russia’s crackdown on independent journalists.  A free and vibrant press is vital to expose corruption, hold the powerful to account, and inform the populace.  Thanks for joining us for a conversation about the current state of journalism in Russia.

 

 

Lester Munson is an NSI Senior Fellow and former Staff Director for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.  He is Vice President, International at BGR Group, a leading government relations firm in Washington, DC, where he consults with foreign governments, corporations, and advocacy groups.  He also serves as adjunct faculty at Johns Hopkins University and as a principal on the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network. He speaks regularly on the foreign policy role of Congress and on U.S. foreign assistance issues.

 

 

Jamie Fly is the President and CEO of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.  Prior to his time at RFE/RL, Jamie was a Senior Fellow and Senior Advisor to the President at the German Marshall Fund, working out of the Berlin, where he researched and spoke about transatlantic relations, U.S. foreign policy, great power competition with Russia and China, and democracy and human rights.  He also previously served as a senior fellow, co-director of the Alliance for Security Democracy, and director of the Future of Geopolitics and Asia programs at The German Marshall Fund of the United States. He served as counselor for Foreign and National Security Affairs to Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) from 2013-17, serving as his foreign policy advisor during his presidential campaign. Prior to joining Senator Rubio’s staff in February 2013, he served as the executive director of the Foreign Policy Initiative (FPI) from its founding in early 2009.