And at 3 00 p. M. Eastern, thomas do dolby, author of the speed of sound, breaking barriers in technology. Senators ben cardin and mar cue rubio spoke at an Atlantic Council discussion on human rights abuses by the administration of russian parking light Vladimir Putin. After their remarks, a Prominent Russian dissident swho survived two poison assassination attempts. [ indiscernible chatter ] one, two, three. One more. One, two, three. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Atlantic Council. Im paula dobriansky. Im on the executive committee of the Atlantic Council board, and i really want to commend the Councils Center for todays program, which is entitled the state of human rights in putins russi Russ Russ Russ russia. Todays forum is particularly timely. Russia has experienced the worst crackdown in human rights in decades, and we have three keynote speakers who will be up first and all of whom are making a difference in their own way. Theyre strong outspoken advocates for freedom and basic human rights in russia. Im going to introduce the first three. Then well be having a panel afterwards which will be moderated by dr. Polykova of the Atlantic Council. First, well be hearing im going to introduce all three. Were going to be hearing first from a maryland senior senator ben cardin, Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign relations committee, who just this week condemned the arrests of hundreds of peaceful demonstrators in moscow. He is a cosponsor of the Global Human Rights accountability act, which empowers the United States to deny human rights abusers and also those corrupt officials entry into the United States and access to our financial institutions. Following him, well be hearing from floridas senator marco rubio, also a member of the Senate Foreign relations committee, who earlier this year on february 27th, the day that the former deputy Prime Minister of russia, Boris Nemtsov, was gunned down right in front of the kremlin, senator rubio introduced legislation that would designate the street Boris Nemtsov plaza. The senator said, quote, the creation of Boris Nemtsov plaza would permanent remind putins regime and the russian people that their dissident views live on and the defenders of liberty will not be silenced. And then we will hear from Vladimir Karamurza, who is known to everyone in this room and out of this room, whose life has been twice threatened. He was in russia just again recently, and he was there traveling to several russian cities to present a documentary on Boris Nemtsov. He abruptly became ill, was hospitalized. His friends, families, those of us in this room fear that he was targeted with poison. And i have to say for all of us who know him and have worked with him, hes a man of courage. Hes a person who has strength of convictions, deep convictions, and a very fervent desire to see a democratic russia where fundamental freedoms are protected. Vladimir is vice chair of open russia moment and also chairman of the Boris Nemtsov foundation for freedom, and were very honored that he is able to be here with us today. I also want to recognize his wife, evgenia, who also is here, who also is truly a person of courage as well in this fight. So without further ado, please join me in a very vigorous applause for these very three distinguished speakers. Senator cardin . [ applause ] madame ambassador, first of all, thank you very much for that very jgenerous and kind introduction. It is a pleasure to be back to the Atlantic Council. Particularly to be here with my colleague and friend, senator rubio. One of the real great leaders in the United States senate on so many issues, but today on human rights theres not a greater champion. I serve with him on the Senate Foreign relations committee, and i must tell you i am so proud to serve on the committee with him. He raises to everyone who comes before us the critical questions on support for basic human rights, so senator rubio, its a pleasure to be with you as always, and thank you for your championship on these issues. But to my friend vladimir, two of us, senator rubio and i, we speak out, but we know were safe. You have courage that is incredible on behalf of the russian people and the world community. And we thank you. We thank your wife. What you do is an inspiration to all of us, and it gives us the energy to pursue these causes here in the United States, so thank you for being the person that you are, an inspiration to i see congressman slatry, nice to see you, that youre here in the audience. Its good to be with so many friends. When the history of america is written about this period of time, i believe it will speak very strongly about americas greatness, and it wont be americas greatness for its military power. It will be americas greatness in promoting universal goals, the goals of good governance, anticorruption, and the goals of supporting human rights, of speaking out on behalf of Democratic Institutions. And it was americas strength that brought down the grip of the soviet union and liberated central and Eastern Europe. Thats whats going to be, i think, the key to how we are perceived historically as to what we did during this particular time. And we saw the power of those ideas. We saw the power of those ideas this past weekend when the russians took to the streets to protest against their corrupt government. Theyre doing what my dear friend john lillis. Hes an inspiration to me, a living legend, as to his fight on civil rights. He said, sometimes people just have to speak out, and they have to raise their voices. Theyve got to move their feet. And we saw that happen in russia this past weekend where thousands turned out to say, no, we want a government that reflects the people of russia, not a corrupt government. And that action will bring about a change in russia. Russia will return to its greatness of a country that respects the rights of its citizens, and valladimirs actis are bringing that day to be sooner than it otherwise would be. Human rights are not a western imposition, but a russian demand. And thats what we are trying to promote. This is not about the russian people. It is about mr. Putin and his corrupt system that we are fighting. This is not a new idea. In 1975 the European Community along with the United States came together with the 1975 helsinki accords. Ive been active with the Helsinki Commission since my election to Congress Many years ago. It was a concept that pointed out that we have a right to expect that countries will adhere not only to military security and economic security, but to basic human rights. And thats not just an internal matter. All the cigna tors to the helsinki have a right to challenge the commitments being adhered to by my any member state. Russia is violating those commitments every single day in so many different ways. If youre a journalist in russia, you know you cannot operate with safety. You know that your lives are at risk. If youre in opposition, you know you better watch your back. If youre an ngo, you know youre going to be labeled an Undesirable Foreign Organization even though you are there to promote global issues. You know corruption in the judicial system, corruption is called the lubricant of the putin regime. Its enabled mr. Putin to carry out his autocratic procedures and the way that he operates. The election system itself is fraud guaranteeing that the results will be what mr. Putin wants. Minorities are not safe, whether they are lgbt community, whether theyre ethnic minorities, migrants, all are in jeopardy in todays, putins, russia. The question is why should we be concerned. Well, theres several reasons. First, this type of human rights violations, these type of corruption, lead to instability in regimes and will make our world less safe. And secondly, weve seen that mr. Putin is ready to attack america. He did attack america. Thats not even being disputed anymore, i think, even by the president. But mr. Putin attacked us, attacked our free election system. Mr. Putin is active in europe. He was active in montenegro and in germany and france. Hes trying to bring down our way of government to create more space to she che can expand his influence, his type of leadership around america and the world. We need to protect Democratic Institutions. So what should congress do . What should we do in order to stop that . Well, one thing we have already done is pass the sergei minski law. Today there are 44 individuals that are currently listed under the miniski law. But theres more that we can do. And i along with 19 of my colleagues have filed the countering russian hostilities act. It deals with the current challenges that russia is presenting to us. Russia, yes, is violating basic human rights of its citizens. Its also attacking us, as they did in our free elections. They also are interfering with the sovereignty of other countries. Obviously, we all know what they did in ukraine with crimea and eastern ukraine. Also muoldova, georgia. We need to make it clear to russia that that is not acceptable. Sanctions are affecting russia, so we can strengthen the sanction regime against russia. And the legislation that we have filed will do that, and it goes into many areas that we can strengthen by going into the energy sector, going into how they finance their sovereign debt, how they deal with privatization. We can strengthen the resolve against russia, and our european allies understand the importance of this. We need to work with europe, but theres a second part of this bill which is equally important, if not more important. It defines an effort with our european allies to fight the russian propaganda so we can use all our countries together to counter the lies that russia is doing to cause instability in so many countries around the world. And it develops a Democracy Initiative to counter attack. I met with the bulk of leaders this week. They said, thats great. We should coordinate it between the United States and europe, a plan to protect Democratic Institutions from the types of attacks were seeing from russia. Its not just taking cyber information and using it to compromise elections. Its also false news and using false news as weve never seen before. We need to work together, and we also need to pass legislation that senator rubio has been actively engaged with me on and that is the syrian war crimes. Mr. Putin is committing war crimes in syria. He is using humanitarian targets as a way of advancing his support for assad, and that type of conduct needs to be held accountable. Let me just conclude by quoting a person who i have a great deal respect for, and thats vladimir. Vladimir testified before our committee in 2015, and he said then that he did not ask that the United States come to the support of russia. He wasnt asking for that. He wasnt asking for our economic or military support. What he was asking us to do is not to make it easier for mr. Putin to carry out his ideals. Dont give him creditability. Dont acknowledge what hes doing is right. Just the opposite. Stand strong on u. S. Global principles because thats what the russian people need. They need america to be clear, strong about the values that are universal that have made us the great nation that we are. I want you to know, vladimir, that you have our commitment that were going to do just that, that were going to stand up for the values of america, were going to stand up for why this nation is the great nation it is, were going to stand up to our helsinki commitments, and were going to stand strong with the people of russia. Thank you. [ applause ] thank you. I want to thank senator cardin for his kind words and for his introduction here today to you. He has indeed been a partner in these issues that face us so much so that in the hallways when im approached by the press they say, can you comment on the bill youre doing with senator cardin, which one . It truly is an honor to work with him on these. I have already told vladimir i think senator cardin has the same issue. In addition to a vote at 10 00 in the senate, we have two important votes going on in the Foreign Relations committee, which senator cardin is the Ranking Member on, and then the Senate Intelligence committee has public hearings today on a topic that well, i think you know what its on. So we need to get there on time, but i also want to thank the Atlantic Council for hosting this event. The state of human rights in putins russia and i dont quarrel with the title. I understand the point, but its not putins russia. Its russians russia. Russia is not Vladimir Putin. Russia is an ancient proud culture and tradition embedded in its people. Vladimir putin just happens to be a tyrant that today controls its government, but i thank you for inviting me to participate in this event. And im incredibly proud to be here with Vladimir Karamurza. When we talk about people around the world who risk their lives in the name of freedom, vladimir is an example of just how true this is. And his brave fight for democracy and freedom in his country is truly an inspiration. We have an award in america called the profiles in courage, and it is large lly given to someone who took political risks because you might have lost an election or took nasty criticism in the press for doing so. A real incredible level of courage is knowing that your position on politics can yhave you killed or exiled or both. The state of human rights under Vladimir Putin and russia has long been on a severe decline. This deterioration has only accelerated in recent years as putin and his cronies have cracked down on Civil Society, anyone critical on the russian government. When times are tough in russia, as things are now, this is what happens here. An abysmal human rights situation that becomes even worse. We have seen over the last number of years Vladimir Putins critics mysterious poisoned, thrown out of windows, murdered, all of it this year alone and were only in march. Vladimir karamurza survived his second apparent poisoning attempt. The government has implemented draconian laws attempting to bar public consent. We watched this weekend as thousands of predominantly Young Russians took to the streets to protest the putin government to make clear that the people want a transparent government. So what was the response of the putin government . They arrested and detained hundreds of people. This is only the latest in any event incident that reminds us how critical it is that the United States stands with the russian people. This behavior by the putin regime is nothing new. In 2015, russian authorities began implementing a 2012 law that places any Advocacy Group that accepts foreign funding on a list as Foreign Agents. Many nongovernmental organizations spent resources defending themselves against these attacks or labels of being a Foreign Agent or they simply closed. Each year he tightens his grip on the country as he tries to mask the abuses against his own people with aggression outside of russia. Globally, putin has made his intention clear on the world stage. He wants to establish spheres of influence in europe and the middle east. What that has meant is him aligning with the most brutal tyrants and regimes in the world not to just undermine america, but people in the worlds interests in war crimes. He directly interferes in nations looking to further align themselves with Democratic Values and with the United States. We should be under no false illusions. Putins dreams of restoring what he sees as the days of the russian empire are what drive him in thiez goese goals. Russia is a nation and a people that should be very, very proud of its history, should be very optimistic about its future given the chance, and has so much to contribute to the world. It does not need a tyrant in order to achieve these things. We have all read and have heard about putins efforts to meddle in the elections of our democratic allies in europe just as he attempted to influence our own elexctions here in the unitd states last year. In the middle east, hes engaged in a bloody campaign in syria partnering with iran and the assad regime. He claims to be fighting isis, but its clear their efforts have clearly targeted civilians. Hes worked with assad and has inflicted thousands of civilian deaths and injuries and contributed to the refugee crisis as even more refugees flee the ever increasing instability. All this chaos makes it easy for the world to overlook the ongoing abuses of the putin regime against his own people, but we cannot allow that. Thats why it is important for us to have gathered here today to renew our commitment to the cause of human rights in russia and to remind people like vladimir and others and other brave democracy activists that we truly do stand with them, that we will use every tool at our disposal to hold