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Alexander Davidovich Goldfarb (a.k.a. Alex Goldfarb, russian: Александр Давидович Гольдфарб; born 1947 in Moscow) is a Russian-American microbiologist, activist, and author. He emigrated from the USSR in 1975 and studied in Israel and Germany before settling permanently in New York in 1982. Goldfarb is a naturalized American citizen.Alex Goldfarb, with Marina Litvinenko '' Death of a Dissident: The Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko and the Return of the KGB'', The Free Press, 2007, . He has combined a scientific career as a microbiologist with political and public activities focused on
civil liberties Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties may ...
and
human rights in Russia Human rights in Russia have routinely been criticized by international organizations and independent domestic media outlets. Some of the most commonly cited violations include deaths in custody, the widespread and systematic use of torture by ...
, in the course of which he has been associated with
Andrei Sakharov Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov ( rus, Андрей Дмитриевич Сахаров, p=ɐnˈdrʲej ˈdmʲitrʲɪjevʲɪtɕ ˈsaxərəf; 21 May 192114 December 1989) was a Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident, nobel laureate and activist for n ...
, George Soros, Boris Berezovsky, and
Alexander Litvinenko Alexander Valterovich "Sasha" Litvinenko (30 August 1962 ( at WebCite) or 4 December 1962 – 23 November 2006) was a British-naturalised Russian defector and former officer of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) who specialised i ...
. He has not visited Russia since 2000.


Scientific career

Goldfarb studied
biochemistry Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...
at Moscow State University and graduated in 1969. After graduation, he worked at the Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy in Moscow., Litvinenko Justice Foundation He emigrated from the USSR in 1975. He received a Ph.D. in 1980 from the
Weizmann Institute The Weizmann Institute of Science ( he, מכון ויצמן למדע ''Machon Vaitzman LeMada'') is a public research university in Rehovot, Israel, established in 1934, 14 years before the State of Israel. It differs from other Israeli u ...
in Israel. Back in the west, he continued his research with a post-doctoral program at the
Max Planck Institute Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (English Springer Spaniel), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of OBE) * Max (gorilla) ...
for Biochemistry in Martinsried, Germany. From 1982 to 1991 he was an assistant professor at Columbia University in New York. From 1992 to 2006 he was a faculty member at the Public Health Research Institute in New York where he led a U.S. government-funded study "Structure and Function of RNA Polymerase in ''E. coli''" with a total budget of $7 million. He also directed the project "Treating
Multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is a form of tuberculosis (TB) infection caused by bacteria that are resistant to treatment with at least two of the most powerful first-line anti-TB medications (drugs): isoniazid and rifampin. Some ...
in Siberian Prisons" funded by a $13 million grant from philanthropist George Soros.


Activism

After he emigrated, Goldfarb maintained contact with dissidents in the Soviet Union and was a spokesman for Moscow refuseniks. He translated for
Andrei Sakharov Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov ( rus, Андрей Дмитриевич Сахаров, p=ɐnˈdrʲej ˈdmʲitrʲɪjevʲɪtɕ ˈsaxərəf; 21 May 192114 December 1989) was a Soviet nuclear physicist, dissident, nobel laureate and activist for n ...
at press conferences in advance of his 1975 Nobel Peace Prize and helped organize the first American television appearance of Sakharov when Mikhail Gorbachev released the physicist from internal exile. From 1984 to 1986 Soviet authorities refused Goldfarb's father permission to leave the USSR after their unsuccessful attempt to make him collaborate and entrap American journalist
Nicholas Daniloff Nicholas S. Daniloff (born December 30, 1934) is an American journalist who graduated from Harvard University and was most prominent in the 1980s for his reporting on the Soviet Union. He was briefly detained by Soviet security services on espio ...
. Goldfarb was among the first political emigres to return to the Soviet Union after Gorbachev launched his reforms. Impressions of his first visit in October 1987 were published as a cover story in '' The New York Times'' magazine under the title "Testing Glasnost. An Exile Visits his Homeland". The story caught the attention of US philanthropist George Soros, leading to a decade-long association between the two men. According to Soros' biographer
Robert Slater Robert Slater (October 1, 1943 – March 25, 2014) was an American author and journalist known for over two dozen books, including biographies of political and business figures such as Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin, George Soros, and Donald Trump ...
, Goldfarb was among the first group of Russian exiles in New York whom Soros invited to brainstorm his potential Foundation in Russia. In 1991 Goldfarb persuaded Soros to donate $100 million to help former Soviet scientists survive the hardships of the economic shock therapy adopted by the
Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin ( rus, Борис Николаевич Ельцин, p=bɐˈrʲis nʲɪkɐˈla(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈjelʲtsɨn, a=Ru-Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin.ogg; 1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician wh ...
government. From 1992 to 1995, Goldfarb was Director of Operations at Soros' International Science Foundation, which helped sustain tens of thousands of scientists and scholars in the former Soviet Union during the harshest three years of economic reform. In 1994 Goldfarb managed Soros' Russian Internet Project, which built infrastructure and provided free Internet access for university campuses across Russia. That project created a controversy because of a conflict with emerging Russian commercial interests in the
ISP An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise private ...
field. In 1995, during the first months of the
First Chechen War The First Chechen War, also known as the First Chechen Campaign,, rmed conflict in the Chechen Republic and on bordering territories of the Russian FederationФедеральный закон № 5-ФЗ от 12 января 1995 (в редакц ...
, Goldfarb oversaw a Soros-funded relief operation, which ended disastrously with the disappearance of the American relief worker
Fred Cuny Frederick C. Cuny (November 14, 1944 – April 15, 1995) was an American humanitarian whose work spanned disaster relief, refugee emergency management, recovery from war and civil conflict as well as disaster and emergency preparedness, mitigation ...
. From 1998 to 2000 Goldfarb directed the $15 million Soros tuberculosis project in Russia. He worked with Dr. Paul Farmer to battle TB in Russian prisons, an endeavor described by the Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Kidder in his book '' Mountains Beyond Mountains''. Since 2001 Goldfarb has been Executive Director of the New York-based International Foundation for Civil Liberties, founded and financed by the exiled Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky.


Involvement in the Litvinenko affair

Goldfarb first met
Alexander Litvinenko Alexander Valterovich "Sasha" Litvinenko (30 August 1962 ( at WebCite) or 4 December 1962 – 23 November 2006) was a British-naturalised Russian defector and former officer of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) who specialised i ...
during his tuberculosis project in Russian prisons. In October 2000, at the request of Boris Berezovsky, Goldfarb visited Turkey where he met Litvinenko and his family, who had just fled from Russia. Goldfarb arranged their entry to the United Kingdom, an offense under British law, for which he was banned from visiting Britain for a year. His involvement would also "cost him his job with George Soros." When Litvinenko was poisoned in London in 2006, Goldfarb was his unofficial spokesman during the two last weeks of his life On the day of Litvinenko's death, Goldfarb read out his deathbed statement accusing Vladimir Putin of ordering the poisoning. Goldfarb later explained in interviews that he had drafted the statement at Litvinenko's request and that Litvinenko had signed it in the presence of a lawyer. With Berezovsky, Litvinenko's widow Marina, and the human rights lawyer
Louise Christian Louise Hilda Christian (born 22 May 1952, Oxford) is a British human rights solicitor. She is the daughter of Jack and Maureen Christian. Christian was admitted to the Law Society as a solicitor on 16 January 1978. In 1985,The ''Telegraph'' arti ...
, Goldfarb founded the Litvinenko Justice Foundation to campaign for the truth about his murder, and for the perpetrators to be brought to justice. He later testified in a libel suit, in which Berezovsky successfully contested the claim by Russian state television station RTR (now
Russia 1 Russia-1 (russian: Россия-1) is a state-owned Russian television channel, first aired on 14 February 1956 as Programme Two in the Soviet Union. It was relaunched as RTR on 13 May 1991, and is known today as Russia-1. It is the flagship ch ...
) that he had murdered Litvinenko.


Libel lawsuit against Russian TV channels

Following the attack on Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, UK on March 4, 2018, Russian TV network coverage of the incident named Goldfarb as the murderer of Alexander Litvinenko in 2006. Goldfarb sued two Russian TV channels,
Channel One Russia Channel One ( rus, Первый канал, r=Pervyy kanal, p=ˈpʲervɨj kɐˈnal, t=First Channel) is a Russian state-controlled television channel. It is the first television channel to broadcast in the Russian Federation. Its headquarters ...
and RT, for libel in US. The case is pending in US District Court for the Southern District of New York. On March 4, 2020, U.S. District Judge
Valerie Caproni Valerie Elaine Caproni (born August 13, 1955) is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Early life and education Caproni grew up in Columbus, Georgia, and attended Hardaway High ...
denied a motion to dismiss the case, ruling that New York had personal jurisdiction over the matter because Channel One Russia maintains a Manhattan studio where correspondent Zhanna Agalakova interviewed Goldfarb in relation to the allegedly defamatory story.


Writings

Goldfarb has written for the editorial pages of '' The New York Times'', '' The Washington Post'', '' The Wall Street Journal'', '' The Daily Telegraph'', and '' The Moscow Times''. He helped Litvinenko to prepare his book '' Lubyanka Criminal Group'' for publication.A. Litvinenko and A. Goldfarb. ''Lubyanka Criminal Group'' GRANI, New York, 2002. . With Marina Litvinenko, he later co-authored the book ''" Death of a Dissident: The Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko and the Return of the KGB"'', published in Russian as ''"Sasha, Volodya, Boris....The Story of a Murder."'' (Russia
Александр Гольдфарб – о Путине и Литвиненко


His books

*Alex Goldfarb and Marina Litvinenko. '' Death of a Dissident: The Poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko and the Return of the KGB.'' Free Press, New York, 2007. .


Appearances on TV

* Charlie Rose �
A conversation with Marina Litvinenko and Alex Goldfarb
* BBC Hardtalk �
Marina Litvinenko


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldfarb, Alexander 1947 births Living people Scientists from Moscow Russian Jews Russian microbiologists Russian political activists Israeli emigrants to the United States Jewish American writers Jewish activists Moscow State University alumni Columbia University faculty American microbiologists Soviet emigrants to Israel Russian dissidents 21st-century American Jews