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PRESIDENT: Yuri Fedorov
TREASURER:
Victoria Szerko
BOARD OF
DIRECTORS:
Vladimir Bukovsky
Alexander Ginsburg
(1936 - 2002)
Eduard Kuznetsov
Yuri Yarim-Agaev
Address:
GRATITUDE FUND Yuri Fedorov,
535 W 110th Street,
#6E, New York, NY 10025
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The events that swept
Russia in 1988-91, once again
shook the world. Quite unexpectedly for the world - and even for those who
took interest in the Russian history and its destiny - Soviet power
collapsed and the idea of communism came tumbling
down. As unexpected as it may seem, none of it would have happened if not
been for too many people who waged a war against Soviet power and
sacrificed their personal freedom and their lives for democracy. Of these,
the world remembers only but a few names.
Hundreds
of former political prisoners and dissidents who brought about the
collapse of the communist rule and paved the way to democracy in
Russia are unjustly forgotten.
They are living a poverty-stricken existence in the economic chaos of the
post-communist Russia. These fighters
for democracy paid a dear price for the world to become more stable and
less threatening with the end of cold war. They paid with their freedom
and often with their very lives. Now those who are still alive
are forsaken by the world and by the very country they had liberated. As
we all enjoy the fruits of their selfless struggle, it behooves us to
acknowledge their invaluable contribution. This is a moral issue that not
only Russian society but the world democratic community must
face.
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