Adam Michnik, Polish historian, editor-in-chief of ‘Gazeta Wyborcza’:

«The School is proof of the vitality of Russian thought and Russian civil society, which today is building the foundations of future Russian democracy. The consistency, pluralism and openness of the School and its projects has my highest respect and admiration. It is a real tribute to Russian democratic thought and Russian civil society, that the School has already existed for so many years, confronting all the wickedness of our world.»

Alvaro Gil-Robres, President of the Valsain Foundation and Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights (1999−2006):

«To build a democratic Russia, we need citizens educated in democratic values. The School promotes the democratic potential that exists in Russia. And the Council of Europe has a moral duty to these fighters for freedom and human rights.»

Pilar Bonet, correspondent, ‘El-Pais’:

«While the war continues and the political regime in Russia remains, the School can fulfil the important mission of unification and support; to be a platform for open discussion, not affiliated with any of the political forces opposing the regime of Vladimir Putin. Thirty years after its founding, the School again becomes an extension of the Moscow Kitchen, in which [Lena] Nemirovskaya and [Yuri] Senokosov received friends and held intellectual discussions until they were forced to leave the country due to increased repression.»

Nils Muižnieks, UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Belarus, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights (2012−2018):

«The School of Civic Education has not only gathered the best of Russian democratic society to its many events, but has also nurtured a critically thinking, democratic and European-oriented network of Russians from all over Russia and beyond. The School shows that there is a Russia waiting in the wings that is not brainwashed by Putinist propaganda, a Russia of culture and civic courage. We need to believe that Russia can win and to do all in our power to sustain and support it.»

Anne Applebaum, journalist, Pulitzer Prize winner in 2004:

From 1992 to 2021, Nemirovskaya reckons, more than 30,000 people—parliamentarians, city-council members, businesspeople, journalists—attended their seminars around the country on law, elections, and media. British editors, Polish ministers, and American governors came to speak; they got financial support from an equally wide range of European, American, and Russian foundations and philanthropists.