Eurasia

A bipartisan group of Members of Congress, government leaders, and civil society organizations gathered at the event hosted by the SFRC on September 17, 2025, to recognize the Kara-Murzas and those still imprisoned by the Kremlin. (Photo courtesy of NED Staff)

FY2025 Spending by Country | NED Active Grant Listing

In 2025, democratic aspirations across Eurasia unfolded under the shadow of Russia’s war on Ukraine and the Kremlin’s widening efforts to export repression and kleptocratic influence. Yet local leaders across the region continued to carve out space for democratic action. In Russia, despite unrelenting crackdowns, communities persisted in organizing, sharing information, and challenging the Kremlin’s influence campaigns. In Georgia and Armenia, citizens continued to assert their agency, as Georgians mobilized to defend their country’s democracy and European future, while Armenians pressed for protections of fundamental freedoms and more accountable governance amid a shifting regional landscape.

Central Asia experienced its own crosscurrents—tightened state control paired with rising public demand for good governance. In countries such as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, citizens more openly questioned Russian influence and voiced solidarity with Ukraine. NED-supported civic organizations worked to expand participation, increase transparency, and protect avenues for public engagement.

Access to information remained a defining fault line. As authorities restricted online freedoms, NED partners developed tools to keep people connected, collaborated with technologists to counter censorship, and expanded independent reporting in local languages, giving communities alternatives to state-controlled Russian media. At the same time, investigative journalists and anticorruption researchers exposed the transnational networks that underpinned authoritarian power.

Across the region, civic leaders—many operating under significant personal risk—proved that dignity and democratic agency endure even in the harshest environments. Their work demonstrated how strategic, locally rooted support can sustain democratic values in a region facing its most entrenched authoritarian challenges.

IMPACT SPOTLIGHT: TECH ACTIVISTS KEEP INFORMATION FLOWING TO RUSSIA

As the Kremlin escalates online repression, blocking VPNs, throttling platforms, and shutting down mobile networks, access to secure workarounds has become a critical lifeline. Projects developed by exiled Russian technologists have helped Russians navigate blockages by monitoring shutdowns, automating data collection to identify blocks and respond to outages, and using that data to support the VPN infrastructure needed to circumvent censorship. NED grantees now provide secure, uncensored internet access to more than a million users inside Russia, including civic activists, journalists, and politically engaged citizens who depend on reliable connections to communicate and access truthful information. By building in creative monetization tools, these IT professionals are also moving toward long-term sustainability to help ensure Russian citizens stay connected to the outside world.

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Event: The Kremlin’s Use of the Russian Orthodox Church in the War Against Ukraine

Since Russia enacted laws regulating “foreign agents” in 2012, a growing number of countries around the world are following suite. These Russian-style laws broadly stifle civil society and pose an existential threat to fundamental freedom and civic space. The International Forum for Democratic Studies is one of the leading platforms for research and analysis into this phenomenon.