Roman Dobrokhotov

Roman studied at school number 1525 (Lyceum "Vorobyovy Gory"). His father is a Russian philosopher Alexander Dobrokhotov. From 2000 to 2006 he studied at Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) at the Faculty of Political Science. In 2006—2007, in graduate school at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow. The topic of Dobrokhotov's PhD thesis was "Trust in World Politics".[4]

Since 2005 he is the organizer and leader of the movement "We", a member of the federal political council of the movement Solidarnost since the foundation of the movement in 2008, a member of the political council of the Moscow branch of Solidarnost since 2009.

From May 2006 to March 2009 he wrote articles for the newspaper Novye Izvestia, worked as a deputy editor of the department of economics.[5]

From 2006 to 2008 he worked as a freelance employee of the radio station Moscow speaking, where he hosted the weekly program "Face-to-face confrontation". In 2009 he collaborated with Radio Liberty.[6]

In July 2009, Roman Dobrokhotov announced his intention to run in elections to the Moscow City Duma[7] in a single-mandate constituency number 5. Roman's nomination was supported by the Solidarnost movement. The Moscow City Electoral Commission refused to register him, motivating the refusal with claims to the quality of the collected signatures.[8]

In January 2010, he began working as a researcher at the State Academic University for the Humanities (GAUGN), where he taught political science.[4]

In March 2010, Roman signed the online manifesto of the Russian opposition "Putin Must Go".[9]

Since April 2010 he worked as editor of the online newspaper Slon.ru.[10]

On May 26, 2011, in response to the "Appeal to the country's leadership with a request to change the cultural policy of Russia", he organized[11] a collection of signatures on his blog under the "Open letter to cultural figures".[12]

On June 7, 2011, a political debate between the Nashi and Solidarnost movements took place at the ArteFAQ club in Moscow. Maria Kislitsyna and Gleb Krainik spoke on behalf of Nashi, Roman Dobrokhotov, Kostantin Yankauskas and Anastasia Rybachenko on behalf of Solidarnost.[13] In June 2011 he took part in the forum of civil activists "Antiseliger".[14] In 2012, he accepted an offer to participate in the Seliger (forum) and gave a lecture there on corruption in the Kremlin,[15] in which he spoke about businessman Yury Kovalchuk, his son Boris Kovalchuk, Gennady Timchenko and about "Mikhail Ivanovich" (Vladimir Putin's pseudonym).[16]

Roman became one of the founders of the "Party of December 5" in the summer of 2012.[17] He was nominated together with Sergei Davidis, Anna Karetnikova, Pyotr Tsarkov, Maria Baronova and eight other candidates from the "Party of December 5"[18] in the elections to the Russian Opposition Coordination Council,[19] which took place in October 2012.

In January 2013, Roman became the author of the Come-Out Week project dedicated to the problems of the LGBT community.[20] In 2013, Roman resigned from Slon.ru along with part of the editorial board.[21] Andrei Goryanov, then editor-in-chief of Slon.ru, commenting on Roman's dismissal, said: "It was impossible to work with him further. He does not see himself as a journalist, but rather a politician."[22]

On December 12, 2008, Roman Dobrokhotov attracted media attention by interrupting a speech by then Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, when Medvedev proposed constitutional amendments extending the presidential term.[23]

Roman shouted: "The amendments are a disgrace”, adding that "there are no real elections."[23] Federal Guard Service escorted Dobrokhotov away and tried to shut his mouth.[24][25] The incident was cut from the broadcast of Medvedev's speech on federal TV channels, but was shown on the air of the St. Petersburg Channel Five.[24][25]

On the same day, Roman Dobrokhotov was fired from his job at the radio "Moscow speaking".[26][27]

On January 31, 2010, Roman was detained at the rally Strategy-31 in support of Article 31 of the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of assembly.[28] On September 28, 2010, he was detained at a rally against the former mayor of Moscow Yury Luzhkov.[29]

On February 20, 2011 Roman Dobrokhotov and the democratic movement "We" hung a banner from the Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge in front of the Kremlin with the inscription "Time to change!"[30] and images of Putin behind bars and an exiled Russian businessman Khodorkovsky.[31]

On December 4, 2011, he was detained at Triumfalnaya Square in Moscow.[32] He spoke from the stage of the rally "For Fair Elections" on Chistye Prudy in Moscow on December 5, 2011. Roman was inspired by the 1989 Baltic Way campaign and organized a bright flash mob Big White Ring. The action took place on February 26, 2012.[33]

On the birthday of Putin on October 7, 2012, he came with a rake to the rally "Let's take grandfather to retire" in Moscow; he was detained by the police.[34] A year earlier, he was detained at an action by the pro-government movement Nashi, dedicated to another birthday of Putin.[35]

On May 6, 2013, during the rally "Freedom to Prisoners on May 6" on Bolotnaya Square in Moscow, Orthodox activists attacked Dobrokhotov.[36]

In September 2020, he signed a letter in support of protest actions in Belarus.[37]

2019 European Press Prize Investigative Reporting Award with ‘Unmasking the Salisbury Poisoning Suspects: A Four-Part Investigation‘.[38]

• Roman Dobrokhotov All publications of the author. Slon.ru.
• Roman Dobrokhotov Blogs. Echo of Moscow.
• Roman Dobrokhotov article in Lentapedia. 2012.