photo by: University of Kansas

A researcher and journalist who was part of the team that documented the poisoning of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny will be in Lawrence on Tuesday to discuss his role in an Oscar-winning film on the subject.

Aric Toler, an author with the investigative website Bellingcat, will participate in a question-and-answer session at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Burge Union on the KU campus. Following Toler’s presentation, audience members can view a free screening of “Navalny,” a 2022 documentary that won an Oscar for best documentary feature.

Toler is a 2013 KU graduate, having studied in the Department of Slavic, German and Eurasian Studies, which is sponsoring Tuesday’s event in conjunction with KU’s Center for Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies. Toler currently is the director of training and research for Bellingcat, and his reporting played a central role in the “Navalny” documentary.

Navalny, who has been the leading critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin and corruption in his administration, was poisoned in 2020. After nearly dying, Navalny returned to Russia, where he was immediately detained, which sparked mass protests in the country. Navalny currently is serving a more than nine-year sentence in a high-security Russian prison.