Major donor to Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation plans to cut back on contributions in wake of Berlin opposition forum

Boris Zimin, one of the key donors to Alexey Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, says he is about to reduce the amount of his regular contributions to the organization.

According to Zimin himself, he gave ACF $1 million annually in recent years. In his interview to the independent journalist Yelizaveta Osetinskaya, Zimin suggested that ACF needs to make more of an effort in driving their own crowdfunding.

In the past, Osetinskaya reminded in the interview, Zimin made clear that if he no longer approved of the foundation’s work, he would cut back on contributions.

As it turns out, Zimin has reservations about the letters “in defense of the oligarchs” signed by ACF’s now ex-chairman Leonid Volkov. The two letters to the European Commission argued for lifting the personal sanctions imposed on Mikhail Fridman, Petr Aven, and other ultra-rich Russians in connection with the Ukraine war.

Another area of disagreement surfaced after the recent convention of the Russian opposition in Berlin. Zimin is among the signatories of the joint declaration of political goals, signed by a coalition of “Russia’s Democratic Forces.” Navalny’s associates from ACF conspicuously withheld their signatures, without giving the reason.