Starting September 1, 2025, the Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF) will be led by a new Chief Executive Officer—Vladislav Romantsov.

Vlad first joined Alexei Navalny’s team in 2013, as a freshman volunteer during the Moscow mayoral campaign. He later worked in the Polls&Surveys department and, after graduating, joined the IT department. Since 2020, he has served as ACF’s IT director. We are proud to say that Vlad has grown with our team and is now ready to take on new challenges and greater responsibilities. Ivan Zhdanov, who has served as ACF’s CEO since 2018, is stepping down to focus on developing his own project—“The Most Important.”

Ivan’s leadership coincided with some of the most difficult years in ACF’s history: unprecedented government pressure, criminal prosecution, the forced evacuation of our team from Russia; the poisoning, arrest, and murder of Alexei Navalny. And then—the war. Ivan guided ACF through this period with honor. He was repeatedly arrested himself, and his father spent three years in prison on false charges—simply in retribution for his son’s work. None of this knocked Ivan off course.

We are deeply grateful to Ivan Zhdanov for everything he has done to strengthen our organization—for his professionalism, his dedication, and his loyalty to our principles. This change in leadership marks a new chapter in ACF’s history. As the leading organization of the Russian opposition, we have always believed that renewal and the rise of new leaders are among our greatest strengths—helping us grow, adapt, and move forward.