On 23 November, a photo exhibition opens in Moscow, whose heroes have become people living with AIDS and tuberculosis. And on 27 November, a conference will take place in the Sakharov Center dedicated to the memory of Vasily Aleksanyan (a Project of the Institute of Modern Russia).

The “For human rights” information agency

On 23 November, an exhibition by New York photographer Mikhail Friedman dedicated to the life of people suffering from AIDS in Russia, Uzbekistan, and the Ukraine will open in Moscow’s “Fotosoyuz” gallery.* The exhibition is a continuation of the Institute of Modern Russia project “HIV/AIDS and TB: IMR Against Social Indifference”.

Today there are somewhere on the order of 665 thousand HIV-infected people registered in Russia, and the situation is getting worse with each passing year. The irresponsible attitude of the state to this category of citizens is one of the most horrible tragedies of Russian reality. AIDS and tuberculosis are diseases taken under state and public control in the entire civilized world and have long ago stopped being taboo or a stigma. However, on the territory of the countries of the former Soviet Union and in Russia, the authorities are not only concealing information about the quantity of patients, but are simply ignoring this problem.

Early this year, the Institute of Modern Russia launched the project “HIV/AIDS and TB: IMR Against Social Indifference”. The project is dedicated to the memory of Vasily Aleksanyan, a leading Russian lawyer, who was imprisoned in the “YUKOS” case and who passed away tragically in last autumn in Moscow after a lengthy battle with AIDS.

Former YUKOS vice president Vasily Aleksanyan (at right) was diagnosed with AIDS, tuberculosis, cancer of the liver, and lymphoma. In order to be released from jail, it was demanded of Aleksanyan that he give false testimony against Mikhail Khodorkovsky (at left); however, he refused. Later, Aleksanyan was let out on bail; he passed away three years after getting out of jail.

The aim of the IMR project: to bring the attention of the Russian and international public, political activists, human rights advocates, the mass information media, and everybody for whom the fate of people suffering from AIDS and tuberculosis in Russia is not a matter of indifference to these extremely acute social problems. The IMR has organized a series of exhibitions dedicated to the life and living conditions of people suffering from AIDS and tuberculosis within the framework of this project.

The author of the photographs being presented at the exhibitions is the New York photographer Mikhail Friedman. Since 2008, he has been documenting the life, living conditions, and conditions of care of people infected with HIV and those suffering from tuberculosis in the countries of the CIS. Last autumn, with support from the IMR, Friedman continued his project in Russia, shooting tuberculosis clinics in Saint Petersburg and in Togliatti. Exhibitions of these photographic works by Friedman have been held in New York, Washington, Paris, Delhi, and Sarajevo. From 23 November through 8 December, they can be seen in Moscow in the “Fotosoyuz” gallery on Pokrovka.

Besides that, a conference dedicated to the memory of Vasily Aleksanyan will take place on 27 November at the Sakharov Center,** at which senior expert of the Institute of Modern Russia Vladimir Kara-Murza, Jr. will appear. A slide show of Mikhail Friedman’s works dedicated to people suffering from AIDS and tuberculosis will likewise be shown within the framework of the event.

More detailed information on the IMR project can be obtained on The Institute of Modern Russia website

* «Fotosoyuz» Gallery: ul. Pokrovka, d. 5 (metro «Chistye prudy» or «Kitay-gorod»)
Opening hours: Tuesday-Friday – 15.00-19.00, Saturday from 13.00-19.00
Closed: Sunday, Monday. Opening: Friday – gathering of guests at 18.00 (free admission)

** Sakharov Center: ul. Zemlyanoy val, d. 57, str. 6 (m. «Kurskaya», «Chkalovskaya», «Taganskaya»)
Conference: Tuesday, 27 November – 10.00 – 16.00 (free admission).