The museum has been saved!

On June 28-29, the V Congress of the All-Russian Civil Congress was held in the Leningrad region. The co-chairs of the congress were elected by secret ballot - they were the leader of the UCF Garry Kasparov, the co-chair of the Voice of Beslan organization Ella Kesaeva, the executive director of For Human Rights Lev Ponomarev, the executive secretary of the Human Rights Council of St. Petersburg Natalya Evdokimova and the director of the Sakharov Museum Yuri Samodurov. At the congress, it was decided to create thematic sections that would work between congresses. In addition, a statement was adopted demanding the release of Russian political prisoners. It states that "the existence of political prisoners in the country is a characteristic sign of the absence of democracy." The authors of the statement believe that the level of political repression has reached such a scale that we can talk about the approaching times of totalitarianism.
Within the framework of the congress, a meeting of the coordination group for the preparation of the congress of democratic forces was also held. On June 28, the leader of the political wing of the Liberal Charter, Andrei Illarionov, joined it. Previously, the group included SPS leader Nikita Belykh, UCF executive director Denis Bilunov, dissident Vladimir Bukovsky, Samara Yabloko leader Igor Ermolenko, UGF leader Garry Kasparov, economist Vladimir Milov, politician Boris Nemtsov, leader of the “For Human Rights” movement Lev Ponomarev, leader of the St. Petersburg "Yabloko" Maxim Reznik, member of the UCF bureau Alexander Ryklin, director of the Sakharov Museum Yuri Samodurov, co-chairman of the youth "Yabloko" Ilya Yashin.
Members of the coordination group discussed the draft program for unifying the political democratic movement, the full text of which will be published in a week. In addition, members of the group decided to finance the Sakharov Museum. The fact is that the museum was under threat of closure due to lack of funding. It became known that the organization needs about 300 thousand rubles per month to operate. A fundraiser was announced, and Boris Nemtsov and Garry Kasparov announced that they would contribute 25 thousand to the museum fund every month. Now, thanks to the members of the coordination group, the problem appears to have been resolved. It is worth noting that the coordination group for the preparation of the congress of democratic forces is not an official organization and does not have a legal entity, so we are talking about the personal funds of the meeting participants.