Natalia Arno

President

Natalia Arno is the founder and President of Free Russia Foundation.

In 2004, Ms. Arno joined the International Republican Institute, leading its Russia programs in civic education, grassroots organizing, party building, women and youth leadership, civil society development, and local governance. For her pro-democracy work, in 2012, Ms. Arno was given an ultimatum by Putin’s security services— to leave her homeland in 48 hours or face 20 years in prison on bogus treason charges.

In exile, she realized that Putin’s regime has pushed out hundreds of thousands of other talented, educated, resourceful and politically active Russians. Not demoralized but galvanized by the loss of her homeland, Ms. Arno set out to build an organization that would unite and support all individuals and forces working toward a free, peaceful and prosperous Russia.

Today, Free Russia Foundation is a powerful global movement with centers in: Washington, DC; Brussels, Belgium; Kyiv, Ukraine; Tbilisi, Georgia; Berlin, Germany; Vilnius, Lithuania; Tallinn, Estonia; Warsaw, Poland; Paris, France; Budva, Montenegro; and Madrid, Spain.

Born in a Siberian Republic of Buryatia, Ms. Arno graduated from the Buryat State University with a master’s degree in Linguistics in 1998 (Diploma Cum Laude). Between 1998 -1999 she worked as Professor of English at Buryat State University. In 1999, Ms. Arno moved to Moscow to pursue postgraduate studies at the Institute of Russian Language of the Russian Academy of Science, and between 2000-2003 she worked at the Modern Humanitarian University in Moscow.