‘It wasn’t my decision’ Former Navalny aide Ivan Zhdanov on breaking with the Anti-Corruption Foundation and the Russian opposition’s future
The Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), the investigative organization founded by the late Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, has a new director. The departure of Ivan Zhdanov, who had led the group since 2018, was announced on September 1. His successor, Vladislav Romantsov, first joined the FBK in 2013 as a volunteer and has served as its IT director since 2020. The shakeup confirms months of media speculation about Zhdanov’s impending dismissal, and comes amid an extended identity crisis for the organization following Navalny’s death in early 2024. Meduza spoke to Ivan Zhdanov about his ouster, his relationship with his comrades in the anti-Putin opposition, and what comes next.
The following excerpts are from Meduza’s interview with Ivan Zhdanov. You can read the full Q&A in Russia here.
On why he’s leaving the FBK
It wasn’t my decision. There are only three people who can call for the director to resign: me, Leonid Volkov, and Maria Pevchikh — the board of directors. They’re the ones who appoint the director, the CEO of the organization. The decision to dismiss me was made by Leonid Volkov and Maria Pevchikh. I wasn’t part of it. They never gave me any specific reason. They offered for me to stay on the team, but I decided that was no longer possible for me.
The FBK is a fairly closed organization, and there can be tensions between people. I had some tensions with Volkov and Pevchikh — political and stylistic differences that made it impossible for me to remain on the team.
For example, I spoke about the idea of creating a political party; I said we need to focus first and foremost on caring for people (whether they live in Russia or in exile) and finding ways to bring them together. I also said that we absolutely need to engage with people who are currently fighting in the war — to do everything we can to stop them from going to the front or help them come back from the war.
On disagreements with his FBK colleagues
It’s not that the current FBK leadership holds radically different views. The disagreements were about what we should be doing right now. And I never held back from criticizing [the FBK] internally — speaking honestly about what was happening. That probably played a key role in why I’m leaving the FBK.
I’d rather not go into detail or give examples, because that wouldn’t be right. Let me put it this way: I’m certain that the team staying at the FBK are all opposed to Putin, opposed to the war, and opposed to what’s happening in Russia right now. In that sense, the FBK absolutely remains a major ally. But stylistic differences had been building for a long time. I think everyone inside the FBK felt that — especially in the political leadership, which consisted of four people: Volkov, Pevchikh, Zhdanov, and Yulia Navalnaya.
When Alexey Navalny was around, the FBK was a completely different force. The foundation was orders of magnitude stronger because it had Alexey’s personality and charisma at the top — plus he was in Russia, enduring unbelievable torture from Putin’s regime.
Now, without Alexey, it’s obviously harder for the FBK to survive. It’s one thing when the FBK, even in exile, still has a leader sitting in a Russian prison. It’s another thing entirely when the whole opposition is abroad. We need new ideas, new ways to reach people in Russia. That’s extremely difficult.
Alexey was a brilliant generator of ideas, a source of constant innovation. Even under the harshest conditions, he responded to what people needed, gave them what really mattered, and led them forward. Today, very few people can come up with anything truly exciting. If we knew how to defeat dictatorships, we’d already be doing it. But unfortunately, there’s no clear answer to that.
On rumors that Leonid Volkov has ‘taken over’ the FBK
Volkov still holds very strong positions within the FBK. Whether there’s a takeover of the FBK now largely depends on the new director, Vlad. So I wish him luck.
On whether Zhdanov thinks the FBK is in a crisis
I don’t just think it — I know it. Yes, the FBK is going through tough times. It’s both a crisis of ideas and an organizational crisis. For the past six months, if not longer, I’ve had to significantly cut the staff just to keep the organization running.
It seemed to me that we weren’t discussing the crisis of ideas and what was happening in the organization enough — that we should have been coming up with a lot more. I hope the projects I worked on with the team with continue. And not just those. There are young, ambitious people at the foundation who are ready to put everything into their work. I hope they succeed.
On the FBK’s relationship with Russians abroad
I can only speak for myself. In its first years in emigration, the FBK tried to do the same work we were doing in Moscow. And in Moscow, of course, we weren’t used to dealing with emigration issues.
When we were still inside the country, it seemed to us that emigrants and emigre organizations were somewhat detached from reality. So, once we were abroad, we tried not to lose touch with what was happening in Russia — for example, through opinion polling. That’s why in the early years of the invasion, the FBK paid less attention to Russians in emigration. And I think that was a mistake.
Over the past year, the FBK has started paying more attention: people are no longer divided into those inside Russia and those outside. You need to work politically with everyone, to bring them together. And I don’t think this has been done well so far.
One organization — or even a few — can’t do everything. Resources and energy are very limited. The FBK is often seen as some kind of all-powerful organization, but that’s not true! The FBK office has 60–70 people, but most are operators, editors, and SMM staff — that is, a large team keeping the media running. There are very few specialists in political work. And of course, there aren’t enough people to cover every area, especially during a financial crisis. So yes, it’s a big problem. Will it work? I hope it will.
On his own plans for the future
First, I’ll definitely continue running my YouTube channel, “The Most Important,” which we created over a year ago with a small team within the FBK. I’ll continue running it myself, putting together my own small team. Right now, the YouTube channel is the most important thing for me — the main way to continue my work.
I also plan to write a book. We’ve been through a lot, and details get forgotten or fade away. Even for myself, it’s very important to record everything and preserve it.
In the future, like everyone else, I’ll be looking for work. I need to make a living. I have a family. But I will continue doing political work, while also looking for new projects and jobs to support my family.
I can’t just forget the last 12 years. Ukraine is a second home for me — I lived there for a long time — and it’s personally painful for me when Odesa and other places I care about are bombed. What Alexey Navalny and I went through, his murder, the death of my colleague Oksana Baulina in Ukraine, these things can’t simply be erased. They’re already part of my life.
On the FBK’s future
I’d like for the FBK to be strong, united, and to preserve the memory of Alexey Navalny. The entire Russian opposition is going through tough times right now, but that doesn’t mean everything should be abandoned. On the contrary, we need to work even harder and come up with initiatives that bring us closer to defeating Putin and ending this war. I hope someone succeeds. If it’s the FBK, then great — I wish them only the best.
Any organization in a difficult situation can find the strength to generate new ideas, become more open, and change its language and the ways it engages with supporters. Or it can go the other way — and the whole organization ends up fighting internally. Problems like that are already happening. I really hope the FBK chooses the right path.
