Founded 2008 (2008) Area served United States, Russia | Origins 32nd G8 summit Mission study abroad | |
Location New York City, United States
Moscow, Russia Key people Mark G. Promar (president) | ||
The U.S. Russia Foundation (USRF) is an American non-profit organization whose aim is to promote human rights in Russia. Its establishment was announced by president George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin in 2006, and it was registered in 2008-2009. Its focus was on exchanges between students and researched from universities in the United States and Russia. It was shut down by the Russian undesirable organizations law in 2015.
History
The establishment of the U.S Russia Foundation was announced by presidents George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin at the 32nd G8 summit in 2006. It was an outgrowth of the The U.S. Russia Investment Fund. It was registered in the United States in 2008 and in Russia in 2009. Its founding president was Dr Mark G. Promar, now a Visiting Research Fellow at the King's Russian Institute of King's College London. Ambassador John Beyrle served on its board of directors.
It ran the EURECA Program, a university program for US and Russian students. The pilot program was with students from the University of Maryland, College Park and Lobachevsky State University. With the Yegor Gaidar Foundation, it also ran the Gaidar Summer Leadership Program, whereby Russian students spent two weeks at Purdue University to learn about enterpreneurship and start-up companies, and the Improving Economics Instruction, where Russian economists spent two weeks in American universities. It also ran the Economics and Entrepreneurship Experts Forum Program, which encouraged scholarships between American and Russian researchers in economics and entrepreneurship, and the Legal Education Exchange Program, which aimed to share pedagogical methods among American and Russian university instructors.
By 2015, its CEO, Mark Pomar, was denied entry into Russia. Meanwhile, the organization was declared "undesirable" by the 2015 Russian undesirable organizations law. Indeed, the Office of the Prosecutor General of Russia, chaired by Yury Chaika, suggested it posed "a threat to the foundations of the constitutional system of the Russian Federation and the states security." The United States Department of State (USDS) responded by saying, "We reject the contention that the Foundation’s activities constitute a threat to Russia’s security. On the contrary, this designation is another deliberate step to further isolate the Russian people from the rest of the world.".