Distinguished human rights lawyer and academic with over 20 years of experience litigating before the Russian Supreme and Constitutional Courts, the European Court of Human Rights, and United Nations bodies. Combines elite academic credentials — Ph.D., Cambridge; Fulbright Scholar, Harvard — with decades of frontline practice in Russia. Deep, specialized expertise in the Russian state's suppression of civil society, weaponization of the judicial system, "Foreign Agent" legislation, and persecution of political dissidents, anti-war activists, and marginalized groups.

Expert Witness & Advisory Experience

Country Conditions Expert Witness — U.S. Immigration Courts, 2024–Present
Retained by leading U.S. law firms, including Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP and Duane Morris LLP, to provide expert analysis in high-stakes political asylum and withholding of removal cases. Drafts comprehensive Country Condition Reports and provides oral testimony on the degradation of the rule of law in Russia, the application of "Foreign Agent" and "Undesirable Organization" laws, anti-war persecution, military mobilization and defection risk, state-sponsored persecution of LGBTQ+ individuals, and extradition risk under ECHR non-refoulement obligations.

Career Highlights

— Founder & Executive Director, Strategic Litigation Center / URFAQ (2018–Present): international NGO training legal professionals across Eurasia in strategic human rights litigation. Trained 700+ attorneys; alumni have filed 200+ cases with the ECHR and UN Human Rights Council.
— Visiting Scholar, Paris Nanterre University (2023–2025), hosted as a Scholar-at-Risk via IIE-SRF and French PAUSE fellowships following forced exile from Russia.
— Chair, Center of European Law, University of Humanities, Russia (2009–2022): directed the university's human rights law clinic and LL.M. program in international human rights law.
— Director (Chief of Party), Management Systems International (2011–2013): led a multi-million-dollar USAID-funded civil society program; oversaw 80 sub-grants to 48 NGOs across 20 Russian regions.
— Deputy Director & Senior Staff Attorney, NGO Human Rights Resource Center "Sutyajnik" (2001–2011, 2013-2019): led litigation resulting in landmark ECHR and Russian Supreme/Constitutional Court victories; organization ultimately liquidated by the Russian government under the "Foreign Agent" law.

Education

Ph.D. in Law (International Human Rights Law), Cambridge University, UK
Candidate of Sciences in Law (Ph.D. equivalent), Tiumen State University, Russia
LL.M. (International Human Rights Law), Essex University, UK
Law Degree (J.D. equivalent), Urals State Law Academy, Russia

Selected Fellowships

· IIE-SRF Scholar Rescue Fund Fellow (2023–2025)
· Fulbright Fellow, Harvard Law School (2020)
· Galina Starovoitova Research Fellow, Kennan Institute, Woodrow Wilson Center (2014)
· Reagan-Fascell Democracy Research Fellow, National Endowment for Democracy (2010)

Selected Publications

· Burkov, Anton, and Todd Brower, eds. Strategic Litigation of Public Interest Cases: US and Russian Best Practice.Moscow, 2020.
· Burkov, Anton. The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights in Russian Courts. Moscow: Wolters Kluwer, 2010.
· Burkov, Anton. "The Use of European Human Rights Law in Russian Courts." In Russia and the European Court of Human Rights: The Strasbourg Effect, Cambridge University Press, 2018.

Full CV, complete publication list, and sample redacted country conditions report available on request.