Congress of Russian Americans


The Congress of Russian Americans is a non-governmental organization in the United States representing Russian-Americans and Russians. The stated purposes of the Congress of Russian Americans include preservation of Russian culture in the United States, protecting the rights of Russian-Americans, fighting Russophobia, and improving relations between the Russian and American people.

History

The Congress of Russian Americans was founded in 1973 by Russian immigrants to the United States, including white émigrés from the Russian Empire, who were opposed to communism. The original intention of the CRA was to prevent russophobia on the basis of Western anti-communism during the Cold War by advocating the distinction between the Russian national identity and Soviet communist ideology. In 1978, the Russian-American Chamber of Fame was founded in order to honor Russian immigrants who provided outstanding contributions to American science and culture, including television pioneer Vladimir K. Zworykin, the 1973 Economics Nobel laureate Wassily Leontief, the founder of Tolstoy Foundation Alexandra Tolstaya, and many other notable. Since the end of the Soviet Union in 1991, the CRA has extended its goals to include encouraging cultural and economic development in Russia, and aiding persecuted Christians and human rights activists within former Soviet states.
The Congress of Russian Americans is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and maintains a liaison office in Washington, D.C. for interaction with the United States government and other organizations. The CRA's known initiatives include attempts to nullify the Captive Nations law, which they regard as anti-Russian rather than anti-communist, since the list of "captive nations" did not include Russians despite being the first nation to fall to a communist regime. The CRA is also known for its opposition to the 2017 Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, criticizing the law as damaging to US-Russia relations and propagating russophobia.

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