 of the Human Rights Initiative, which is a program that we launched in June of this year. I rejoined CSIS after having been at USAID in the Obama administration for four years, leading work on democracy, human rights, and governance with our good friends from IRI and the NED and other organizations. First, let me introduce the head of IRI who's going to make the introduction of our very, very special guest, Ruslana. Michael Green. Mark Green became president in January 2014. And last night hosted a fabulous event with Senator McCain and others to celebrate all the good work that IRI does around the world. Why don't you take it over? Great. Well, thanks. I am very pleased to be able to welcome Ruslana, because as Sarah mentioned, last night IRI was the Daniels Freedom Center. We handed out two of our very high awards, a freedom award. One was to President George H. W. Bush. And the second one was to the men and women for the Maidan movement. So why? Why would we celebrate the Maidan movement? Why would we have it as our highest awardee? Well, as someone who visited the Maidan twice in recent months, my brief experience there was one of the most moving things that I have ever seen. To walk through the Maidan, to go to those lampposts that were filled with bullet holes where democracy activists tried in vain to hide from the bullets of the thugs who fired from rooftops. To take a look at what the democracy activists were using to try to protect themselves, to stand up for democracy and liberty in human rights in the face of the forces led by or inspired by Vladimir Putin was astounding and moving in so many ways. But you didn't have to visit the Maidan to be inspired, of course. We all sat glued to our televisions during those days and weeks and months. And we saw people coming together from all walks of life, from all backgrounds, simply standing up for the cause of liberty and asking for the right to choose their own future. And that's why I or I believed that the men and women of the Maidan were deserving of our very highest honor. As we were pointing towards last night, we tried to think of who might best give voice to those courageous activists. Well, one person quickly came to mind, Ruslana, the courageous woman who is with us here today, who is seen by so many as the very face of the Euro Maidan movement. For more than 100 days and nights, she stood, performed, and motivated crowds on the Maidan. One reason that she commands so much respect in her country is that she is not a newcomer to the cause. She was an active participant in the 2004 Orange Revolution. She served as an MP for the Our Ukraine Party in 2006 and 2007. Even to this day, she remains true to the spirit of the Maidan by leading civic efforts to support refugees from Crimea and the Donbas. She also performs routinely for Ukrainian troops in Eastern Ukraine. She has been there standing up for the rights of the oppressed. She has been there standing up for free speech and democracy from the earliest days through the present. She has earned international acclaim for her work. Earlier this year, she received the International Woman of Courage Award and the Atlantic Council's Distinguished Humanitarian Leadership Award. Last year, Forbes magazine recognized her as one of the world's 10 most influential women. So, ladies and gentlemen, please let's give a welcome to Ruslana. Very translator. OK. OK. I would like to speak now in Ukrainian, and the important reason for that is that in order to be heard in Ukraine as well, because I felt how important or how dangerous is Putin's propaganda in my country. And I want to speak Ukrainian so that Putin will have no chance to change my words. And this is why I will be speaking my native language today. What are my conclusions of the recent event and the analysis of Putin's propaganda? Everything that is hard to believe, it's true. And I ask you to learn to identify Putin's propaganda because it is everywhere. It is everywhere in the world. And the most important message, my message today, is my independent position. We need to preserve peace. Perhaps I'm the first singer who have released or helped in liberation of 40 military. And not only I was taking risk at my done while under the bullets. I went to Donetsk three times. And I released 40 Ukrainian military who were captured by Russians or rebels. You see the person who started and held a peacekeeper's mission in Ukraine. After my trip to Donetsk, I returned to Kyiv and I said, stop fire, cease fire. And we tried to do the humanitarian corridor of help. And we brought humanitarian aid, medical supplies, and food to Donetsk. Today, my peacekeeper's mission is to cease Putin's fire. After my trip to Donetsk, I would like to say that Kyiv and Donetsk do not want to fight. This is why we insist that Russian army up to the single soldier should leave Ukraine and territory. And now we need help and assistance for the destroyed regions. We started the communication and dialogue. We started trusting each other. And we want to be together, all territories of Ukraine. I'm certain that things that I'm saying now not taken favorably by only one person. I came today to US because this is a democratic country. And I can say everything freely. And I will not be afraid. I'm not afraid that my words will be twisted by Putin. I came here to gather all independent people of the world, independent of Putin, who are capable to give him a real resistance, people who are independent of Putin, who are capable to stop him. Because on my own example and my own experience, I know now that only independent people can stop Putin. How does Putin's propaganda work? A small masterclass for you from a person who became a victim to Putin's propaganda. Putin was creating and imposing on you the image of Ukraine as a country of chaos. But he is a person who created chaos in Ukraine. Putin's propaganda is creating images of enemies inside the Ukraine. During Maidan, he created the image of fascism. And he used this image of fascism to scare Donetsk. And we are certain that the words of groups of Russia were providing those images for Russia today from Eastern Ukraine. Terrorists and separatists and mercenaries in Donetsk. Putin did everything to make us believe that when we come to East of Ukraine, there will be enemy. The result of this Putin's propaganda is more than 220,000 of refugees. It's a destroyed region now. And this is a war for Putin. What is his next plan today? Because you heard that he is moving the Russian army away from the border. Never trust Putin. He needs this freeze on conflict to change his plan. He may be taking away those troops from everybody. When we stop trusting each other. And when we even do not trust ourselves. And this is why I return to my thesis that everything that is hard to believe is truth. And next, I would like to thank Putin for his support. This is the depression. And I once said here in Washington in April that we will see the face of the Third World War sooner or later. I was saying earlier here in Washington in April that sooner or later we will see the face of Putin's war. Please do not help Putin's propaganda to say that this is a problem of Ukraine. If Russian rockets take down international airplanes, even if this happens over Ukrainian territory, this is an international problem. I appeal to you here in the U.S. as to say that this is an international problem. I appeal to you here in the U.S. as to freely thinking people. Do not believe in gossip. Check information. Check sources. Perhaps the source was from Putin. How do we know which journalist made those news? Perhaps we are already speaking in the way that Putin wants us to speak. Perhaps we are already thinking in the way that Putin wants us to think. Perhaps we are already acting in the way that Putin wants us to act. And this is my peacekeeper's mission. Stop fire, cease fire. Cease fire of Putin. Because this is his fire. This isn't fire of Ukraine. My country doesn't want war. And I don't want Putin to impose on Ukraine this notion that Ukraine wants war. We want to preserve Ukraine. We preserve Ukraine and defend Ukraine. And that is the only thing that we need. And now will be a very important message. I appeal to U.S. and Europe to help in creating a period of peace in Ukraine. I appeal to U.S. and Europe to help making Ukraine strong. I appeal to U.S. and Europe to help making Ukraine strong. If Ukraine will be strong, this will make the dictator weaker. If Ukraine will be strong, this will make the dictator weaker. We must become independent economically. We must become independent economically. We must become independent in energy. We must be able to defend our borders and territories. And this is my key message. I cannot say anything more important for my country at this point. I cannot say anything more important for my country at this point. The only one more thing I would like to say is that Putin is not as scary as he may appear. After I came to Donetsk and saw the truth, I can say, what is Putin afraid of? He is afraid of people seeing the truth. He is afraid that one day people will see the truth. He is afraid that one day people will see the truth. He is afraid that one day people will see the truth. He is afraid that one day people will see the truth. He is afraid that one day people will be meeting and they will see that all of this was the lies of Putin. Peace and tranquility for Ukraine and around the world. Thank you. Thank you so much. Your leadership, your bravery, your example, I think are really admired by so many in the room and so many around the world. I wondered if we could just have a conversation for a few minutes. I want to recognize Carl Gershman and Ambassador Mlodskic. And maybe at some point they would like to share some observations. You good? Yeah, absolutely. We're really interested in the strength of civil society in Ukraine. I think you're absolutely right that not only Mr. Putin but I think all sorts of dictators around the world are frightened by the kind of people power that we saw that you were a part of. What's going on with civil society in Ukraine today? And I ask that in part because I think there's so much focus. Is it not working? I understand. There's so much focus on the East and we understand that Mr. Putin. But the rest of Ukraine is so important to have a conversation about. What's the mood? What's the feeling and how hopeful are your colleagues in civil society? Can you translate it further? I can speak Ukrainian to inform my country to kill Putin's propaganda. And sometimes I need to explain you more than my English. Sorry. Are you ready? There's something wrong with the equipment. You just wait to prepare it. Okay. What is the peace plan that I believe is important for Ukraine now? And this is very important because when the new president, when Poroshenko became a president, he started this peace plan. We need political stability in Ukraine. We need a unity of all democratic forces in Ukraine. And we need to have a majority of people in order to join and unite in order to support the democratic process in Ukraine. And this is why elections in Ukraine are very important now. And I am asking you, appealing to you to make everything in order to prevent Putin from obstructing those elections. And I know that if I will not tell you what I'm going to tell you now, my husband will not let me back home. Because both me and my husband at the moment are actively involved in the information campaign of energy independence of Ukraine. And we are using all our networking, all our sources, all our connections in order to help Ukraine become energy independent. Europe to this. I ask Europe to be energy independent. And I also ask America, let's help us to be energy independent. It's very important for us. I know that hearings have already started in American Congress to help them monopolize the sector and region. To monopolize the energy region. To monopolize the energy region. Okay. Everybody understands my body language. I heard myself here, I was at these hearings with Robert McConnell and Ukraine U.S. Foundation. And here is Markian Belynsky, I am present. At the hearings in Congress, when Mr. Royce, I heard these hearings for the possibility of investigation so that America can investigate the help of being energetic and independent in our region. I was at the hearings in Congress with Robert McConnell and at some other meetings where it was discussed that U.S. possibly may be helping the region of Ukraine or the Ukraine as a region of the world to become energy independent. This was a hearing in Congress, in U.S. Congress. And I would also like to have more art projects and the art cultural exchange programs. Because this would help and it is very important for us that you would understand us and who we are. And the cultural exchange programs will help. And in this way you will be able to understand us and do not listen to Putin. Economic support is necessary. We need investments in reforms and please keep those as your priority. As soon as we identify our key goals, Putin immediately starts using his propaganda to target them and to distract our attention from them. All people in Kiev or Donetsk want a peaceful, calm life. There's some of us who have been thinking that energy independence has a very interesting relationship with enhanced work on democracy and human rights around the world. But we haven't really had a detailed conversation with our colleagues who work in the energy sector or who are working in the green sector who might be actually more interested in this. I think your idea of a campaign is a really important one to the degree that you meet colleagues in Europe and elsewhere in the United States that are interested in this. You should get their names and sort of start making your movement not only in your amide on but elsewhere and share the names with us. I think there's a lot of work to be done in this. It hasn't been a natural coalition but it's a very intriguing idea. I want to add something. I would like to focus your attention on a very important fact. They were made public facts that proven the connection or involvement of Russian armed forces to the airplane... Malaysia. ...Malaysian airplane being taken down. Okay. This is an international problem and international tragedy. What is a tragedy? If those facts are on records and if there are records of those facts taken by American technology, we would like to have access to them because there already has been made statements that this is a lie. This is a lie that Russian armed forces were involved in any way with this accident. We should take all the facts that prove the connection of Russian weapons to the Malaysian airplane and together with Holland, together with Holland, together with Ukraine, we should start a process in the Gag court of investigation. We have enough evidence to present to the court in Gag. Because Putin by now killed so many people who were involved in the killings of so many people that he belongs to the court in Gag. He needs not to wear the crown but to become a convict. I found information that Putin wants to become a tsar or an emperor and have a crown. And I am fearing for Russia. And I am fearing for Russia to have such a tsar. We must do everything for Russia to learn the truth, especially Russia. Because Putin's propaganda will kill Russia. Soon there will be no more freely thinking people in Russia. But I hope very much that inside Russia there is still some resistance to Putin. Because right now we do not know, there is too much division with Russia right now and we do not know what is going on inside Russia. We had the privilege of doing a lot of survey work in Russia previously, over a dozen surveys. I think that work is impossible today. I do think survey work in Ukraine is important and understanding how Ukrainians are thinking about a variety of issues so that we really have a very good feel. We have a lot of friends who are leaving Russia because they feel that there is no future for them there. And it is about as sad an indictment I can think of when we think of where we all were 25 years ago. I wonder if Carl or Ambassador Moetsik you would like to offer any words or questions. I think you may need a mic for the translator. Hi, I am Carl Gershman and I am the president of the National Endowment for Democracy. Nadezhda Yuk is with us today who has helped oversee our programs in Ukraine since before 1991, well before 1991. Any event, you have a lot of friends I want you to know that and as I told you last night at the IRI dinner I would like to see my country do much much more to help your struggle. I believe your struggle is absolutely essential to American security and to the future of freedom and democracy in the world. It is your struggle but it also has a much much larger significance and I believe our country should be doing much more to help you. I want to, the question I want to ask follows up on something that Sarah just said which is Ukrainian attitudes. One of the main points of Putin's propaganda is that Ukraine is a divided country that not everybody feels like they are Ukrainian, especially in the east where he says they feel less Ukrainian than they feel Russian. Could you speak to us a little bit about the Ukrainian people and whether a strong sense of Ukrainian national identity is emerging as a result of this struggle for independence and democracy. Thank you for this question. I like this microphone more. Can you hear me? Because it's louder. It's louder. She's going to break in this song. I will, I will. She need to take off the other microphone. I see our tech person in dismay. She's okay? Okay, good. You're good. Please do not hesitate even for a moment that Ukraine is a democratic state. I will tell you even more after my trip to Donetsk. I think I believe that even in Donetsk people are understanding this. Because I do not look like a fascist. And we must say this to everybody to come on people and they should be able to have this information from us. And that's all that is needed. And thanks to Putin's propaganda, democracy becomes stronger in Ukraine. And we need to learn how to use Putin's propaganda to our own benefit. And I know how to do it. Because his lies create such a resistance that there is a will to say truth twice louder and twice stronger than his propaganda. And he right now is helping half the world to raise because people will never agree with lies. For example, I do not understand how to save Ukraine from the influence of Russian mass media. I do not understand how to save Ukraine from such a number of people who are in Ukraine and are doing diversions on all levels. Do you solve the issue of so many people in Ukraine who are making subversions on so many different levels? Information sabotage, political sabotage, economic sabotage, on all levels there is a sabotage. This is why we need to make Ukraine stronger. And we remain the same Maidan and you see Maidan in front of you, I'm sitting here. And if Putin will be telling you something about us, and then if Putin will be saying something about us, do not listen to Russia today or any other of his sources, just come to Ukraine and listen to us. Take advisors, come to Ukraine, start programs in Ukraine. And please allow to independent voices like myself to speak up more in independent free countries. There's no question that having more people go to Ukraine, travel around Ukraine, I think is incredibly important to counter the images that we're seeing. I've written that I think colleagues should not be going on Russia today. I think it really feeds into a propaganda machine. I wonder if the ambassador would like to say a word. Thank you very much, first of all, I would like to express my gratitude to organizers of this event and to invite in Ruslan. Ruslan is really a phenomenon in Ukraine. She, I can say that Maidan without her would be maybe much more different Maidan, not that Maidan that we have, the revolution of dignity. And now she continues her activity to help Ukraine, to help Ukraine go through this very difficult period. And as ambassador of Ukraine, and she is ambassador at large, she represents Ukraine, not all the United States, but throughout the world. So as ambassador of Ukraine, I would just like to wish her to be today, tomorrow and for the future such active as she is with a big heart, with a feeling about her own country and about the future of Ukraine. You know, it's very important that activists like you, it's very important that activists like you take care of yourself, right? That you don't get so exhausted. And I know you were giving back energy all the time to people in Maidan Square, but I think you must take care of yourself. You have to eat healthy and get sleep. Eat sometimes. Eat sometimes. Eat helps. But I mean, clearly the power of your songs, the power of your voice both spoken but singing was extremely important. And it's not, it's something that played a role in our civil rights movement. It's not something that we focus on a lot, but my last name is Mendelssohn, so you know, I think music is extremely powerful. My mother was a singer. It's something that we don't recognize enough often times. So I appreciate your comment about the focus on culture and art. I wonder if you wanted to respond. I think you know the most important melody in the world, which is from Ukraine. Ta-da-da-dum, ta-da-da-dum, ta-da-da-dum, ta-da-da-dum, ta-da-da-dum, ta-da-da-dum, ta-da-da-dum, ta-da-da-dum. This melody from Ukraine. So we got her just saying. There you go. My trip to Donetsk shown to you that eastern and western Ukraine are separate. They are separated only by Putin and nothing else. I know I have so much information that it's hard to comprehend how much information I have. And I would like to repeat once more that everything that is hard to believe is truth. I would like to say that my heart is in great pain today. Because the Russian media, after my trip to Donetsk, said that Roslana was in Donetsk and did not see the Russian aggression. This is a lie. This is a lie because I did not see the Russian aggression in Donetsk during my trip there. There is Russian aggression everywhere in Ukraine today. Their army is hiding in the bushes. They are always hiding and disguising themselves. They are always hiding in the bushes. They are always hiding in the bushes. They are always hiding in the bushes. They are always hiding and disguising themselves. Sometimes they are green men. Sometimes they are disguised as heroes or some sort of other men. We are fed up with this bloody performance prepared by Putin. We are fed up with this bloody performance prepared by Putin. That is why I am in pain today. Because Putin tried to lie about the voice of Maidan, about Roslana in Ukraine. And my heart is in pain because Putin tried to lie about the voice of Maidan, about Roslana. But he is not a wise man. He made me stronger by this lie. Because the strength is always where the truth lies. We just need to seek it, find it, see it and speak about it. We just need to seek it, find it and speak about it. No one could have guessed that after such amount of armed conflict, Roslana would not be afraid to go to Donetsk. No one invited me there. I made my own decision and I was compelled to go there and help them capture Ukraine and military and see everything for myself. We are coming to the end of our time. There are several things that I think we need to take away from this and to work on. Number one, this issue of energy independence. And having that conversation includes some of us who work on the democracy and human rights piece. Certainly this issue of media and mass media. I hear your message very loud and clear and I've heard it from many other colleagues and I've seen it myself. When I was in Nipropetrovsk watching Ukrainian television and Russian television and it was like a twilight zone. We have an imperative to go to Ukraine to have more people going to Ukraine and going and coming back and talking about what we're seeing. Certainly attitudes of Ukrainians. The cultural piece. And we need to keep talking about what else is going on in Ukraine. Not just the violence but the bravery and the legacy of Euromaidan. Well we're pulling for you. And of course there's the very important additional aspect of what not only the United States but European partners can be doing together with Ukrainians. So please join me in thanking Ruslana. No, it's not the end. Can I add something? The last one. The last one. Can you show me how many people support Ukraine? You're my brother and sister. Welcome to Ukraine. You killed the Putin's propaganda right now. Out of time. So I want to thank you for joining us. I will join you. Thank you so much. Thank you so much.