Maria Pevchikh appointed new chair of board at ACF International

Maria Pevchikh has become the new chair of the board at the Anti-Corruption Foundation International, says Alexey Navalny’s Telegram channel.

“Maria Pevchikh, the founder and permanent head of our investigative unit, has been appointed the new Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of ACF International. Her public work over the past two years has made her a bright political leader,” Navalny wrote.

Pevchikh’s predecessor at this position used to be Leonid Volkov. It is not reported what he is up to these days.

“It is up to Leonid to decide where he will focus his work from now on. We are not a government organisation with positions and posts. We have a formal structure, and ACF is a key part of it, but on the whole, we’re a political movement, a voluntary union of like-minded people (or, to use the Kremlin’s terminology, an extremist community). And there will always be a place within it for such an outstanding political manager as Leonid has proven himself to be on numerous occasions,” reads the statement.

Alexey Venediktov, the former chief editor of Echo of Moscow, posted a picture of a letter in support of Mikhail Fridman and his associates from the Alfa Group that runs Alfa Bank, seeking sanctions removal for Fridman and his partners. The picture showed that the appeal was signed by, among others, Leonid Volkov.

Volkov reacted to the allegations, claiming that his signature to the letter was “photoshopped”, but admitted signing an earlier letter asking for sanctions removal for Fridman, and announced that he would be taking a break from his “political activities” after “letting his colleagues down” by signing the letter.