| The regional public organization “Open Russia” was established in 2001 with funds from shareholders of the Yukos Oil Company and proceeds from a number of private investors. From the very first days, the public organization announced the implementation of projects in the field of modernization of education, culture and charity as its sphere of activity, thus taking over the baton from the Soros Foundation. It was then that a well-known foreign philanthropist announced the curtailment of a number of charitable programs in Russia, limited grants for scientific research and began to sponsor programs to build civil society in Russia. By the way, according to Irina Yasina, project director of the Open Russia Public Organization, even the name of the Yukos Foundation was chosen by analogy with the Open Society Institute of George Soros.
One of the most famous projects of Open Russia was the Federation of Internet Education, which trained more than 75 thousand teachers in 40 centers built and equipped with computer skills. Initially, the Federation worked under the direct control of the Yukos Oil Company, but was then transferred to the structure of a specialized public organization. "Open Russia" also began computerizing rural libraries and supporting regional media, supporting the youth movement "New Civilization" and the Institute of Applied International Studies. Since 2002, Open Russia has financed the domestic Booker Prize. During the first year of the organization's activities, $6.7 million was spent on various purposes, including $2.5 million on cultural and educational projects. Over time, Open Russia followed its Soros prototype even further and took on the problems of civil society. The list of priority areas included “promoting the civic education of teenagers and teaching them the basics of democracy”, “promoting the dissemination of objective and truthful information about the activities of Russian state and public institutions”, “continuous monitoring and public examination of Russian legislation”. More than $2 million was allocated for such projects.
It seems that today, when the YUKOS company has felt the full power of the Russian administrative resource, the development of civil society will become the priority direction in the activities of Open Russia. Kirill VASILENKO
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