Columbia University in the City of New York

Paul Klebnikov Civil Society Fellowship

The Paul Klebnikov Civil Society Fellowship helps bring to the Harriman Institute highly qualified Russian journalists and civil society professionals who are known for their independence, integrity, and objectivity. The Institute arranges an extensive visit with experts, policymakers, and professionals in New York to benefit the fellows and their work in Russia.

The Fellowship is made possible by a generous gift from Mrs. Paul Klebnikov and the Paul Klebnikov Fund. The program honors the memory of Paul Klebnikov, the American journalist and editor of Forbes Russia who was assassinated in Moscow in 2004.

Current Klebnikov Fellow

Headshot of Andrei Zakharov.

Andrei Zakharov

Andrei Zakharov, a digital and investigative journalist, has been selected as the Harriman Institute’s Klebnikov Civil Society Fellow for 2024. Mr. Zakharov worked at Fontanka.ru in St. Petersburg as a news reporter and economy section editor before joining RosBusinessConsulting (RBC) Magazine as an investigative reporter in 2016. He moved from RBC Magazine to the BBC Russian Service in 2018 and has contributed investigative journalism pieces for Proekt Media (2020 and 2023). More recently, Mr. Zakharov has focused on his own media projects (a Telegram channel, a podcast, and live streams) and has participated in joint investigative projects with different media organizations. Mr. Zakharov is the author of the book “Crypto. How Cypherpunks, Programmers and Rogues Bound Russia With Blockchain” (2023).

Past Klebnikov Fellows

Nikita Grigorov

Nikita Grigorov

Maria Zholobova

Maria Zholobova

Elena Kostyuchenko

Elena Kostyuchenko

Irina Malkova

Irina Malkova

Pavel Kanygin

Pavel Kanygin

Maria Turchenkova

Maria Turchenkova

Olesya Gerasimenko

Olesya Gerasimenko

Svetlana Reiter

Svetlana Reiter

Oleg Kashin

Oleg Kashin

Ekaterina Kronhaus

Ekaterina Kronhaus

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