Actor Liev Schreiber Headlines UnSanctioned Party to Support Ukraine at French Ambassador’s Residence
By • January 30, 2023 0 1924
French Ambassador Phillipe Etienne, along with Silverado Policy Accelerator founders Dmitri Alperovitch and Maureen Hinman, Tammy Haddad, John Katko, Mike Rogers, Edward Luce, Ryan Evans, Dan Jablonsky, Adam Ghetti, Kara Swisher and Kevin Sheekey, co-hosted the UnSanctioned party at the Residence of France on Friday, Jan. 27.
The goal was to bring together those sanctioned by Russia and their friends to support humanitarian efforts in Ukraine.
Special guest speakers were actor and activist Liev Schreiber, co-founder of BlueCheck Ukraine, a charitable network that identifies, vets, and fast-tracks urgent financial support to Ukrainian NGOs and aid initiatives providing life-saving and other critical humanitarian aid, and Ukrainian Ambassador Oksana Markarova.
Ambassador Etienne welcomed all and said to the Ukrainian ambassador: “We are honored to host in this residence the most important causes of our world, and the cause of freedom is one of them. Again, thank you very much for this unity, this solidarity of our democracies, with you, with your country, Oksana, is a priority of my country of France.”
Ambassador Markarova replied: “Dear Ambassador Etienne, dear Madame Etienne, you know the feeling is mutual. … Initially, the plan was for me to read the list of everyone sanctioned by Russia. But of course, as you know, the list of these wonderful people who will never be scared of this empty threats, like Ukrainian people, will never surrender and will never be scared of very real threats, is so long that we cannot name everyone, but we love, respect, and thank you. Thank everyone who fights for Ukraine, but also fights for everything that we all together keep so dear to us. Freedom, independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, our homes, the integrity of our families, just living the way we want to live. And this is something that unites us.”
Schreiber explained his nonprofit: “BlueCheck started back in March of ’22 as a response to people who wanted to know how they could support Ukraine. I felt it across the aisles, across the country, huge support, and just people weren’t clear on how to do it in an effective, efficient, and quick way, as it was a really acute problem. Fortunately, we teamed up with some extraordinary partners in Ropes & Gray and Integrity Risk International, who provide all the verification and vetting work for us pro bono. And we were fortunate enough to forge relationships at the embassies and in the Health Ministry and with the President’s Office.”
“Our idea is simply that no one is more capable or better suited to helping the Ukrainians than the Ukrainians themselves, as they’ve already proven time and time again. They’re incredibly resilient and strong people. And our idea was just to go to Ukraine, find out who the NGOs are on the ground, the independent groups that are providing aid and relief, and get support directly to them, without any middleman, as quickly as we could.”
Guests who were sanctioned by Russia included Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, State Department Spokesman Ned Price, Rep. Brendan Boyle, Rep. Rick Larsen, Rep. Doug Lamborn, Rep. Susan Wild, Susan Glasser, Chris Krebs, Bianna Golodryga and Craig Kennedy.
Other guests included Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, former Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe, Ambassadors Karen Pierce (U.K.), Geraldine Byrne Nason (Ireland), Stavros Lambrinidis (E.U.), Santiago Cabanas Ansorena (Spain), Miloslav Stašek (Czechia), Christina Markus Lassen (Denmark), Nicole Bintner (Luxembourg), Niamh King, Peter Baker, Jonathan Karl, John McCarthy, Elizabeth Falcone, David Butler, T.W. Arrighi, Abby Phillip, Kaitlan Collins, Josh Dawsey, Alex Marquardt, Olivia Nuzzi, Ryan Williams and David Adler.
Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, Chairman and Co-Founder of Silverado Policy Accelerator Dmitri Alperovitch and Chairman and Co-Founder of Silverado Policy Accelerator Maureen Hinman attend the UnSanctioned Party in support of Ukraine with actor Liev Schreiber at the French Ambassador’s residence in Washington on Jan. 27. Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Haddad Media.
BlueCheck Ukraine co-founder Liev Schreiber, Former Governor of Virginia Terry McAuliffe and U.S. Special Representative for Global Partnerships Dorothy McAuliffe attend the UnSanctioned Party in support of Ukraine at the French Ambassador’s residence in Washington on Jan. 27. Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Haddad Media.
Haddad Media CEO Tammy Haddad, Amy Ricchetti, Shannon Ricchetti, Counselor to President Joe Biden Steve Ricchetti and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco attend the UnSanctioned Party in support of Ukraine with Actor Liev Schreiber at the French Ambassador’s residence in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 27. Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Haddad Media.
