Dmitry Muratov is coming to MSU

The MSU Leadership Institute will bring Dmitry Muratov, a 2021 Nobel Peace Prize Winner and editor-in-chief of the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, to speak at the SUB Ballrooms on Feb. 22, 2023 at 7:30 p.m..

Muratov is the latest world-renowned speaker the Leadership Institute has hosted: past speakers include Captain Scott Kelly, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Ph.D.; Dr. Maya Angelou, Tom Brokaw, Jane Goodall and Condoleezza Rice, to name a few.

The Leadership Institute, which was founded in 1997 by ASMSU, strives to “increase student connections, provide transferable skills via trainings, conferences, film series, panel discussions, creative events and bring quality keynote speakers, like Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov, to campus,” said Senior Associate Vanessa Zamora Moreno. “Our mission is to empower students to become catalysts for positive change.”

Dmitry Muratov was born in Soviet Russia in 1961. He attended Samara State University in Samara, Russia, where he discovered his love of journalism. After rising through the ranks to news editor at his local newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda in 1993, Muratov and a number of his colleagues started their own publication called Novaya Gazeta. Today, Muratov is editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta.

Novaya Gazeta is known for reporting on sensitive topics that other publications in Russia may not be able to or may not want to report on. These topics include corrupt politicians and oligarchs, anti-LGBT violence, extrajudicial killings in Chechnya and The Panama Papers, a collection of over 10 million documents, exposed entities around the globe that were hiding their wealth in offshore bank accounts.

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Novaya Gazeta began publishing in both Russian and Ukrainian in an effort to protect freedom of speech and expression. Muratov stated that “we do not recognize Ukraine as an enemy, and the Ukrainian language as the language of the enemy. And we will never admit it.” according to The Independent.

Novaya Gazeta has since been censored by Russia’s Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media.

Muratov won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 for his work with Novaya Gazeta, advocating for freedom of expression and democracy. Soon after, in 2022, Muratov sold his medal at auction to benefit UNICEF’s efforts to aid Ukrainian refugees. The medal sold for $103.5 million.

“Hearing his perspective, as a journalist and Russian, on the Russia/Ukraine war – current events in real-time, and of vital importance to how international affairs may play out in the next several decades,” Zamora Morena said. “This is an opportunity to hear the story of a man that has stood up and fought for his values and freedom—a story of perseverance and leadership like no other. It can be a call to pursue a dream and feel inspired to fight for what we see right, and for many of us, it will be a window to issues around the globe that sometimes we are not aware of.”

The Leadership Institute takes suggestions from students, faculty and community members alike to choose their speakers. “It can sometimes take a few years for the speaker to be available or even interested in coming to MSU. And if we get lucky, we have an alignment with the speaker with sponsorships, dates and a campus location,” Zamora Moreno said. Getting high-profile speakers like Muratov to come to Bozeman takes more than just an invitation, and with all the hard work the Leadership Institute has put in, they expect the event to be a great success.

Tickets are available for Dmitry Muratov’s talk at tinyurl.com/DmitryMuratovTickets