Gennady Burbulis

Gennady Burbulis is a philosopher, politician and statesman, a close associate of Boris Yeltsin. He held several high positions in the first Russian government, including Secretary of State and First Deputy Prime Minister of RSFSR/Russian Federation, led the development of the strategy and practical implementation of democratic and market reforms for the new Russian state. He coordinated the development of the document that led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and established the Commonwealth of Independent States; was one of the drafters and signers of the Belavezha Accords on behalf of the Russian Federation together with President Boris Yeltsin (December 1991). During 15 years he served as Member of the Parliament of Russia (Russian Duma).Currently, Gennady Burbulis is a public figure, President of the Humanitarian and Political Center "Strategy", founder of the scientific concept Politosofiya (Political Philosophy), Head of the School of Political Science "Dignity", President of the Baltic-Black Sea Forum established in December of 2016 and one of the Members of Supervisory Council of the International Center for the Black Sea –Baltic Sea studies and consensus practices together with 14 other presidents and leaders of the region. The goal of the Center is to promote peace, stability and dialogue based on the unique experience of peace building and consensus of former presidents from the region who mapped its history for the last 25 years.

John Tefft
John Tefft
Ambassador to Ukraine (2009-2013), 15th YES Annual Meeting, 2018
«Russia still has to become a modern nation. It still hasn’t made the fundamental decisions to determine whether it’s going to be a part of the international community or whether it’s going to try to be an imperial power and attack its neighbors, and take their land.»