Olga Medvedkov

Olga L. Medvedkov (, Olga Lvovna Medvedkova, born May 1949) is a Russian-American geography professor and peace activist. In 1982, Medvedkov and her husband Yuri were among the founders of the Group to Establish Trust between the USSR and the USA (known as Trust-Builders). The organization hoped to develop peaceful dialog between the superpowers during the Cold War. As it was independent from the official Soviet World Peace Council, group members were seen as dissidents and frequently followed and arrested by the police and the KGB. Despite Soviet suspicions of the Trust-Builders, the group gained support from Western anti-war activists. In the 1980s, various groups from Europe, Canada, and the US had their members meet with Medvedkov and her husband. She was arrested in 1983 and charged with assaulting an officer. International pressure and media campaigns called for her release. Although she was convicted, Medvedkov's sentence was suspended. She, her husband, and her children and parents were granted visas to emigrate in 1986. Relocating to Ohio, she became a professor of geography and director of the Russian studies program at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio. Provided by Wikipedia